A month after the death of a soldier from Brockton who was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas, a Congressional delegation from Massachusetts is calling for changes in how the military handles allegations of sexual assault.
At least nine soldiers at the U.S. Army base have died this year alone, including 23-year-old Elder Fernandes, an Army sergeant from Brockton. Just days after the Army dismissed Fernandes’ allegations of sexual assault against his superior, his body was found hanging from a tree about 25 miles from Fort Hood.
Three Massachusetts representatives were part of a delegation that visited the Army base for three days last week. They said at a press conference Wednesday that Fort Hood has a “toxic culture” around issues of sexual misconduct and deplorable housing conditions.
“There is a culture that promotes silence, not safety, a culture that rewards retaliation instead of trust,” said Rep. Katherine Clark, of Melrose. “We need to do everything we can to start changing this culture and support our servicemembers.”
Clark was joined by Rep. Stephen Lynch and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who also toured the base last week with other members of Congress.
All three lawmakers recently filed legislation that would change how the military handles allegations of sexual assault and misconduct by creating a special prosecutor in the military to investigate such cases.
Fernandes’ family does not believe Elder Fernandes took his own life and are still demanding a full investigation by the Army.
Isabel Fernandes, Elder’s aunt and a resident of Braintree, told GBH News Wednesday that she hopes the visit by Lynch, Pressley and Clark will make a difference.
“Hopefully they can get to the bottom of what happened,” she said. “We don’t believe he killed himself and the military is doing everything they can to cover it up. We want justice for Elder and all the other soldiers who lost their lives there.”
