Lt. Col. Teresa James, a 35-year veteran of the West Virginia National Guard, stood in front of about 200 people Thursday morning to talk about her experience as a whistleblower who was retaliated against by a general after she reported that she was sexually assaulted by a fellow officer.
Speaking in slow, measured sentences, James told the crowd about the assault, about her reluctance to say anything for fear that it would hurt her career and then, after female soldiers in her command complained about the same officer, her decision to report her experiences.
Then she told the audience that exactly what she'd feared had, in fact, come to pass: A half-decade-long bureaucratic slog that derailed her career, made her leave her home in West Virginia and has not yet resulted in significant punishment for either the officer who assaulted her or the general who retaliated against her after she reported it.
"This is the only analogy I know to use," said James, a St. Albans native who served in Iraq in 2009 and 2010. "I left a combat zone and came into a firefight. And the firefight was in my own backyard, in my own state, with the people who I should be able to respect and trust."
James spoke at a conference organized by the Department of Defense's inspector general, in honor of National Whistleblower Appreciation Day. Her case is the first time that the inspector general has ever substantiated a reprisal for reporting a sexual assault, according to the IG's Office.
"Being a whistleblower has a stigma attached to it, I mean it truly does," James said. "You're labeled as a troublemaker, a snitch, not a team player."
The conference, in suburban Washington, was to raise awareness for whistleblower hotlines, like the one run by the inspector general that James called to report the retaliation. The ensuing investigation took three years, during which time, James hired two lawyers to help handle a process she called overwhelming.
The problem of retaliation against whistleblowers and those who report sexual assault is broadly acknowledged to be widespread.
A 2014 DOD-commissioned study found that 62 percent of women who reported a sexual assault to a military authority were retaliated against in some way. Another 2014 DOD report found that 59 percent of those reporting assaults received some form of social retaliation and 40 percent received some form of professional retaliation.
James was sexually assaulted in 2006, by a superior officer, charges that were substantiated by a DOD investigation.
She didn't say a word.
"I was ashamed, and I blamed myself and, at the time, my career was thriving," she said. "So I came back home and I didn't tell a soul. I kept that secret to myself; I tucked it away."
It wasn't until four years later, when she returned from her tour in Iraq, that she took action.
Women under her command complained of sexual harassment by the same officer, charges that she reported.
"The work environment was so bad that one of my subordinates would not even walk to the restroom without an escort," she said. "These women came to me, and I had a duty and an obligation to do the right thing."
Those charges were substantiated by a separate DOD investigation.
In 2012, James reported her sexual assault.
"I felt very guilty for what happened to the other women, and I felt like I could have done something and should have done something, and I lived with that guilt," she said. "Because, again, I was thriving."
Two months after she reported the assault, she was given an unfavorable Officer Evaluation Report.
Brig. Gen. Charles Veit gave James the unfavorable report - "I've never had one in my life," James said - because her allegation of sexual abuse brought to light favoritism that Veit had shown toward her assailant, the IG report found.
Prosecutors in Arkansas, where the assault took place, chose not to investigate because the statute of limitations had run out.
James said the West Virginia National Guard could have prosecuted, but also chose not to.
Lt. Col. Todd Harrell, a West Virginia National Guard spokesman, did not return requests for comment Thursday. Harrell said in May that the Guard had "vigorously pursued administrative remedies."
The inspector general's report did not find evidence that Gen. James Hoyer, adjutant general of the West Virginia National Guard, retaliated against James for reporting the sexual assault.
James was medically discharged, but said that friends of hers in West Virginia have been investigated for allegedly giving her information about the National Guard and her case.
"I'll never forget those phone calls: 'Teresa, I'd love to help you, I'd absolutely love to help you, but I fear for my job,' " she said, tearing up as she spoke. "If I had a dollar for every time somebody told me that, I'd be a rich person right now."
She moved to Florida, to try to start a new life, desperate to get away from the whole experience.
Veit remains with the National Guard, while they await a recommendation from the secretary of the Army on what actions to take.
The officer who assaulted James was forced into medical retirement, but "he's making more money than I did, and I did nothing wrong," James said.
"How do you get a survivor or a victim of sexual assault to report wrongdoing," she asked, "when the accused and the people who are guilty of these crimes, nothing happens to them?"
The Inspector General's whistleblower hotline can be reached at 1-800-424-9098 or www.dodig.mil /hotline/hotlinecomplaint.html.
Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.