When young men and women enlist in the United States armed forces, they do so for a variety of reasons: to serve their country, for patriotism, as part of a family tradition. Some seek to travel and see the world or to learn valuable skills, others to earn benefits for a future education. Some will make careers in the service, others will do but a single tour of duty. But we are sure that none of them sign up to become victims of sexual assault by their comrades in uniform.
With a population of 2 million people in active duty and the selected reserve across the Pentagon’s branches, there are all kinds of sexual offenses from improper touching up to rape. The strict chain of command in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Forces, so crucial to force effectiveness, had long interfered with the ability of victimized personnel (mostly women, but some men) to seek justice. No one has done more to reform and improve this dreadful situation than Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
For a decade, New York’s junior senator worked doggedly to overcome the calcified resistance of the top brass and their many powerful friends on Capitol Hill to allow for the independent investigation of sexual crimes and their prosecution. Each year she tried and each year the old system stayed in place that allowed commanders to be involved in the prosecutions within their ranks. Gillibrand finally prevailed in late 2022. The hiring of 2,500 people to staff up the new regime is underway.
Last week, came the Defense Department’s annual report from the SAPRO (the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office) that shows that in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30 there was an estimated 19% decrease in unwanted sexual contact for active duty women and an estimated 13% decrease for active duty men when compared to the year prior.
Those numbers come from a confidential survey, which is conducted every other year. The online survey found that more than 29,000 active-duty service members said they had sexual contact, compared with nearly 36,000 in the 2021 survey. The drop is the first in eight years.
For actual sexual assaults, the decline was about 5%, from 8,942 down to 8,515. While a clear improvement, that figure, 8,515, is still the third-highest number of reported assaults since DOD started maintaining such records.
Gillibrand sees some hope, saying, “This report shows a promising trend,” but “despite progress, there is still too much troubling news in the report.” She is right, as everyone who took the oath to defend the country should not have to fear being attacked or assaulted by their colleagues, all of whom took the same oath.
Of the 2,500 new personnel needed to establish fully independent prosecutions of crimes against members of the service by other members of the service, the Pentagon is somewhat behind on the hiring. More than 1,000 have been brought on thus far, but the brass insists that the full complement will be in place by the 2028 fiscal year.
While the statistics are gathered from actual incidents, we don’t know how many assaults went unreported, as victims perhaps feared that they would not be taken seriously. That was definitely a problem in the past. We can only hope that under Gillibrand’s reforms, victims will feel confident coming forward.
