POUGHKEEPSIE – Alyssa Carrion of Carmel is an MHA Dutchess Vet2Vet counselor in Poughkeepsie and she said her nightmare as a West Point cadet who, as a plebe in 2000, was raped in her dorm room remains endemic of the culture at military academies across the country. “Keep your head down and your mouth shut” to survive your four years at the academy remains the message to women at West Point, she said.
She advises other women, both her age and younger, who have faced the same kind of assaults, to speak out.
“I would absolutely love for more people to feel safe coming forward and having their stories heard because that is the only way to change the culture,” she told Mid-Hudson News.
Carrion said a task force formed years after her experience has not gone far enough to bring the issue to light and stop the assaults from happening and going unreported.
