by Ashley Ford

 The epidemic of sexual assault in the U.S. military is resurfacing in the media and showing one of the downsides of joining the military. In a survey of active-duty members, approximately 26,000 males and females said they have experienced some type of unwanted sexual contact while in the military, according to a 2013 Department of Defense report.

Sexual assault and harassment have been covered up by military commanders, often by suppressing the charges or discouraging victims from filing charges. When members of the military are sexually assaulted, raped and sometimes even killed, it raises the question of how one of the most powerful institutions in the world can not protect its members. Doing so leaves families lost and hopeless, looking for answers.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has been trying to pass a bill that would remove military commanders from decisions over the prosecution of sexual assault cases in the military and armed forces. The bill, however, has been blocked by the Senate several times.

The LaVena Johnson story in 2005 is a prime example of a sexual assault cover-up. Her death was officially ruled a suicide by the Department of Defense. The ruling left her family in shock because they had spoken to her the day before and she said everything was OK and she was coming home for a holiday. If her family had not looked into it, they would have still been blind to the fact that she was sexually assaulted and murdered, and that the military removed body parts, as found by the second autopsy, which was funded by CBS.

The 19-year-old was said to have shot herself in the head, but the second autopsy found that she had been brutally raped before her death. She suffered a broken nose, missing teeth, acid burns on her gentials and abrasions on her body, all of which were inflicted before her death, which the DOD still ruled a suicide.

It seems like the so-called “good guys” are committing bad acts. Members of the military whom the United States praises for protecting our country are sexually assaulting fellow soldiers. The number of perpetrators in the military may be greater than the number of incidents of sexual assault reported because the victims are either too afraid to state the names of their attackers or because the alleged crime was just dismissed.

Of the estimated 26,000 sexual assault cases, only 3,374 were reported in 2012, which means there are thousands of sexual assault acts that are overlooked. Some victims may not report an incident because they think that the commanders are not going to protect them from the assailant coming back.

Sexual assault happens to men in the military as well, according to recoveryranch.com, a rehab program for trauma recovery.

“VA records show that one in every 100 male veterans treated by the VA reported being sexually traumatized by fellow servicemen during their military careers,” according to recoveryranch.com. “Given that 18 million of the 24.5 million veterans don’t use the VA health system and that the majority of sexual assaults go unreported, the numbers are undoubtedly much higher.”

Sexual assault has no place in the military. Many people may join the military because of the benefits and overlook the accusations about how much harm people in their own ranks could do to them.

It should not be overlooked at all. Sexual assault should not even be thought of, and if it is done under any account, the guilty servicemen should be dishonorably discharged.