The Government Should Provide Assistance for Sexually Assaulted Victims in the Military

A soldier is one of the most honorable professions in society. These men and women risk their own lives in order to protect the citizens of America. Soldiers take part in selfless acts of fighting for their own country, and such an honorable duty deserves respect. Over the years, statistics have surfaced as soldiers have come forward, claiming to have been sexually assaulted while in the US military. This is not at small number of individuals, 46% of the U.S. military have been sexually assulted.6 The U.S. government needs to take action, to protect these people who have always protected us. The senate needs to pass a legislation that will protect the victims, put the assailants away, and treat the trauma that these individuals have faced.

The corruption around sexual assault in the U.S. military is overwhelmingly devastating. Many women would report cases of rape just to be told that they were lying, or that there was not enough evidence or that their rape kit had been lost.7 In some cases, the attackers would be the victim’s commander; these officials did 25% of sexual assaults.6 The military has huge power in this nation and have been using their power to cover up their own criminal acts. It is difficult for the victims to come forward for these horrible assaults. Women that do come forward either lose their ranking or nothing’s done because the person they go to is friends with the assailant. It is believed that over 85-90% of rapes in the U.S. military go unreported. Over the years, floods of people have come forward, yet the number of unreported cases remains the same.6 The documentary Invisible War did a tremendous job on bringing this problem into the eyes of the public and to our government, which recently passed legisl...

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...orward about their attacks. The only way these attacks are going to stop is if more people come forward and the criminals are punished for their actions. In the documentary a women had stated that rapist are reparative criminals, this is why they need to be jailed for the safety of those in the military but also for those in society.7 The next part addressed is care to the victims. These attack are highly traumatic, women and men need the appropriate care in order to overcome this upsetting obstacle they have faced. This legislation should be passed to help protect these women and men whose dreams have been destroyed by the trauma that they have faced. The more people that report these attacks, the more criminals will be put away, and less incidents of rape will be seen in the U.S. military. This will make it safer for the people now and for people in years to come.