Left untreated, domestic violence festers, only to flare up again and again. Subjected to dominance and intimidation, troubled families live in fear, bereft of a basic sense of security. Their home is not a safe haven.
Help is available, yet too often, battered spouses are afraid to ask for it.
Hiding bruises is less painful than letting people know what's going on at home. Defense officials aim to eliminate domestic violence within the military community. Klimp and Deborah D. Tucker, executive director of the National Training Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence in Austin, Texas, are co-chairs of the DoD Domestic Violence Task Force. Over the next three years, the congressionally mandated panel's findings and recommendations will direct DoD's campaign to end domestic violence. Panel members are now visiting bases worldwide to study the problem.