betrayal in the ranks

Debora Johnson

By Amy Herdy
Denver Post Staff Writer

Post / Kathryn Scott Osler
Debora Johnson and her dog Echo live in Denver.

At Fort Gordon in Georgia, women on base "were encouraged to drink in our rooms, because rape was an issue there," said Debora Johnson, who joined the Army in 1969 at age 18.

Johnson and four other female friends agreed to watch one another's backs. Invited to a party, they reminded one another of their deal. Yet after half a drink, Johnson said, she felt very disoriented. "Later on I learned I was drugged," she said.

"I have a shadow memory of that night. Two men helping me up a flight of stairs. I woke up the next morning" with a man raping her.

VIDEO
Debora Johnson was drugged at a party, and one of three women gang raped that night. A few months later, more bad news.


With therapy, Debora Johnson is making progress, but she has sustained some permanent losses.

One of her girlfriends also was in the room. Silently, they got dressed.

As they were leaving, they saw a group of men outside the door. At that point, Johnson said, she realized she had been gang-raped.

She said she reported to the officer on duty, a female lieutenant, that she had been gang-raped. "She wrote nothing down. She told me other women had been raped at that party that night and other women reported the rapes, but nothing had been written down."

Ashamed and demoralized, Johnson did not try to report her assault again.

Months later, Johnson realized she was pregnant from the assault. Her command scheduled her to get an abortion, records show.

After the abortion, the Army gave her an honorable discharge.

"I wanted to stay in, and talked to the major," Johnson recalled. "She said, 'We don't want people like you in the military."'

Back home, Johnson became promiscuous, which experts say is a common reaction to sexual trauma. She became pregnant again and scheduled an abortion. The nurse reviewed her medical records and became angry because Johnson was having another abortion, she said.

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Debora Johnson's abortion record

The procedure involved injecting her with saline solution, which caused her to have a miscarriage. "So to teach me a lesson, (the nurse) left the baby there all night, curled against my stomach," Johnson said, crying at the memory.

"I didn't think it was fair to have kids after that. I feel like a murderer."

She retreated into an isolated life. "I buried it deep, and I forgot."

In 1990, she watched the movie "The Accused," with Jodie Foster portraying a woman who is gang-raped. "I fell apart. Couldn't stop crying. The memories came back."

She began counseling, which she continues. Still, she is angry. "I don't get along with people. I get fired from jobs."

In 1991, Johnson began receiving benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder related to her rape. To this day, "I'm deathly afraid of hospitals," she said. "I have to take a tranquilizer before I do a dental procedure."

She has found an unusual way to cope: her white standard poodle, Echo. "I hate to admit to being afraid of doing things," Johnson said, and Echo helps. She takes him everywhere. "People say, 'You don't look blind. What's wrong with you?"'

And although she jokes that Echo is her service dog for "being crazy," Johnson wants others to realize she is a sane person coping with a horrible trauma. "People who know me know I'm not crazy. I'm really not crazy. If you want to join the military, join the military. But by God, watch your back."