Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy

While serving in the Coast Guard I had a broom handle shoved up my ass and then twisted by two shipmates. Part of me died that day.

** This anonymous U.S. Coast Guard Survivor Testimonial was originally submitted to “The Pettiest Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard” on Facebook in May of 2024 and re-published by MLAA. MLAA does not know the identity of the author and has not verified any of the claims or allegations made in this testimonial. Light formatting changes for readability, or redactions for PII may have been applied before publishing. **

Whelp, here’s mine.

In 2007, I was a fresh-faced MK3, happy to be in the Coast Guard. When the boat pulled in port for the holidays, I took some duty for one of the guys that stood by for me so I didn’t have to worry about being on duty for the birth of my son.

While I was on a round checking the armory in deck berthing, I was pushed to the ground, held down by the BM3 and BM2, and had a broom handle shoved up my ass and then twisted.

Afterwards, I was on the fantail talking to the FS1 who had the OOD and was told that if he went forward to talk to the captain about it, the whole boat would know that I got butt fucked by a broom. Part of me died that day and I’ve never recovered.

15 years later, I’m assigned to Sector Buffalo. It’s 2022 and the SARC, [REDACTED], comes to the station looking for volunteers to become Victim Advocates. I talk to her and tell her I’d like to be a VA and make a report. She asked me for my email address to reach out to me later to ensure I have the resources that I need to make a report as well as sign up. A week goes by and I get an email asking me to fill out the paperwork to become a VA. No mention of the SA, no questions, no nothing. It took me over a decade to reach out, only to be ghosted when I did so the sector could hit its goal of having a VA at every unit.

I’m not reaching out to drive a bus over the SARC or the sector. I’m reaching out to show that men can become victims as well and very little is done to try to ensure they are taken care of when it does happen and are expected to keep rolling with the punches. I want people to feel like someone at least cares what happens, and after that, I can understand how people can feel that nothing will happen. I’d appreciate you keeping this anonymous to prevent possible retaliation because I’m fully expecting this to get out of hand.

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