A Department of Defense survey reports the number of military sexual assaults rose from 19,000 to 26,000 in two years, and according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 20 percent of women and 1 percent of men have been victims of military sexual trauma. Many more cases may still be unreported due to real or perceived reprisals against the victims, nonresponsive leadership in all ranks, or simple human shame.
Said John E. Hamilton, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, “Sexual predators have no place in uniform much less in civilian society. We demand all punishments be swift, severe and publicized to the maximum extent as a deterrent to others, and to validate that a zero tolerance policy means zero tolerance, period.”