07/27/2023
https://couragetoresist.org/counter-mst-support-veteran-seaman-annette-gunderson/
This is the case of one of my clients.
Excerpt: Annette was a 17-year-old who dreamed of being in the Navy. Unfortunately, her recruiter violated his leadership position and committed statutory r**e. He continued to abuse and manipulate her, even attempting to blackmail her into silence, so this brave recruit reported the crimes, and did so as an “unrestricted reporter,” meaning that the allegation was known by her future command when she shipped out to boot camp.
Unfortunately due to her having made an unrestricted report of sexual assault by her recruiter, she was targeted for abusive treatment by her command and she eventually reached a mental breaking point. She was then forcibly hospitalized and mistreated in that medical facility. Despite what she was going through, she was able to successfully testify against her old recruiter (ensuring his eventual guilty plea and conviction), but was also coerced into accepting a lesser discharge from the Navy, which meant that she had no access to counseling, legal or any other kind of transitional support when she returned back to civilian life. She has since worked hard to heal herself, but she has had to fight her debilitating disability largely on her own.
Due to the circumstances of her case (as the only known survivor of recruiter abuse, who made an unrestricted report of the abuse prior to shipping out to boot camp), Annette Gunderson has a unique opportunity to fight back and to ensure that what happened to her, doesn’t happen to anyone else.
July 26, 2023. Support Annette Gunderson, Veteran and MST survivor in discharge upgrade
