Rape worse than death?

In my feminist theory course, we've had some discussions and debates about the role of women in the military. Framed within that debate in the class was the idea that women are nuts for wanting to be part of the military, considering if they are caught, they will be raped. My classmates couldn't believe that any women would lay herself open to that potentiality by choice.

I remember feeling uneasy about the whole debate and yet incredulous too -- why do so many women fear rape so much? And why, in debates about the military, is rape framed as the deciding reason why or why not to join up? It would seem to me that having to kill another human being would be far worse than rape, that it would be more damaging to the soul. And wouldn't your own death be worse than rape? If given a choice between rape and death, wouldn't you choose life? And be proactive about tactics to avoid rape, so long as you safe-guarded your health? Isn't avoiding rape all about maintaining your health and your life, after all?

Apparently not, according to this Alternet article. It lays bare details on the circumstances of the numbers of US female soldiers in Iraq who consciously chose to not drink water after 2 or 3pm, in order to not feel a need to urinate during the night. Apparently, the path to the latrines are unlit and this lays female soldiers open as potential victims to predatory males. And the males were their own platoon mates.

The confounding issue? The heat. It reached as high as 50C degrees. At that heat, frequent and plentiful hydration is necessary and going without water for extended periods of time can be lethal. Tragically, in the case of many of the female soldiers, it was lethal.

Yet still, despite knowing this, many female soldiers consciously chose to avoid water and liquids so as to avoid the risk of rape. And many of them paid for this choice with their death, expiring in the middle of the night from dehydration.

After learning about this, I'm left questioning my assumptions about rape and patriarchy and power and the military. The structural inbalances in this situation are huge and the path these women seemed to have needed to navigate was littered with obstacles against them. I can't pretend to begin to understand their complete situation, true, but at the same time, it would seem to me that there should have been ways around this.

Call me a pessimistic realist, but I had to laugh bitterly at the US Army's Sexual Assault Prevention motto, An Army of One, Caring for All and their own Human Resources Commander's pledge/call to action that soldiers "require us to provide the world-class human resource support they deserve". Despite the command's assertion that "the Army is committed to supporting and caring for victims of sexual assault and to ensuring that victims and offenders are treated according to Army policy", it would certainly as if Command is unable and indeed unwilling to back up those words.

Obviously, whistle-blowing and working within the Army system hasn't worked for the women serving. What I don't understand, then, is why they didn't find ways to take matters into their own hands? What about the buddy system? Or a pail under your bunk? Or carrying their guns when they had to go after dark? Aren't these women trained to kill? Weren't there ways for them to defend themselves? Wasn't there other ways to deal with the threat that wouldn't have resulted in so many perishing?

Don't get me wrong...I am not blaming these women for their victimization and for paying the ultimate price for attempting to avoid it. I am not exonerating the structural factors that legitimated the behaviour of the male servicemen and turned a blind eye to the very real problem and the tragic loss of life. But when the structure fails you, when the system turns a blind eye, as the resourceful, smart and capable woman you must be to be serving your country overseas, couldn't you find a way to ensure your own surivival? Isn't your own life worth that?

Was the situation so bad for those women soldiers that they saw their condition as hopeless and viewed rape as worse than death?