The Honorable Donna F. Edwards
Sexual Assault in the U.S. Armed Services
June 12, 2013
Mr. Speaker, sexual assault in the military continues to be a serious problem. Given both the headlines and the reality, this is an understatement. It impacts thousands of servicemen and -women each year. And while Congress has investigated and discussed this problem for more than two decades, the issue remains pervasive. It’s time for us to act. Recent reports that assault is happening by individuals who are supposed to protect and command our servicemembers make this all the more concerning.
According to a recent 2012 Pentagon survey, an estimated 26,000 sexual assaults in the military occurred in that year. That’s a 35 percent increase since 2010. It means that roughly 70 servicemen and -women are sexually assaulted every single day. And I know from my own long history and experience of working on these issues that where there are 26,000, there are many, many more. And we know that only a fraction of these incidents are reported; fewer than 3,400 reported incidents every year.
Sexual violence has a longstanding impact on servicemen and -women and their families. According to the Service Women’s Action Network, while experiences of sexual violence are strongly associated with a wide range of mental health conditions for men and for women veterans, military sexual trauma is the leading cause of PTSD among women. Due to shame, guilt, or fear of not being believed, fewer than 15 percent of these sexual assaults are reported to the proper authorities.
As a former domestic violence and sexual assault advocate, I understand that coming forward is an unimaginably tough thing to do, and I commend every single one of the men and women who had the courage to come forward and name their accused. Their fear of coming forward is not imagined; it’s real. Victims of sexual assault face a lack of confidentiality, protection, support, and access to legal counsel once an incident is reported. This is profound in the military and it has profound consequences.
We have to act and stand together as a Congress and as a Nation to declare that the problem can’t go on, and we have to work now to stamp out the violence within the military.
We have to ensure that the Guard and Reserve have response coordinators available at all times regardless of their duty status, and to ensure that each service has a robust investigative team, with clarity and consistency among the services.
