The Importance Of Sexual Assault In The Military

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Sexual assault happens everyday whether people know it or not and it can happen to anyone. Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without consent. It doesn’t just happen on campuses, at the mall, or even just walking down the street, it can happen almost anywhere and at anytime. Sexual harassment can happen to anybody, even people in the military get sexually assaulted more then people would expect. In the military, it usually happens with a higher ranking member assaulting the victim(lower ranking member) and the victim feels that they can’t do anything about the harassment unless they want to get into trouble for what has happened to them. In a 2014 survey it was revealed that 65% of military members were sexually harassed while on an installation or on a ship (“Site-Wide”). The main reason it happens in the military is when the higher ranking member abuses their power to take advantage of a situation. …show more content…

However, no one would want to serve if they knew about all the sexual harassment crimes that are not reported on each year because of the actions taken against the victim and not the attacker. Emily Vorland (Army Lieutenant), was deployed in 2009 to Iraq when she was sexually harassed by a higher-ranking male officer. She told her commander what happened to her and was told to put in a formal complaint about the incident which led to an investigation. At the end of the investigation, the Army turned their back to her and said that she, “acted inappropriately, engaged in consensual sex and was lying about it”(“Military Sexual Assault”). Vorland was discharged from the Army when she returned home from Iraq in 2010. What has happened to Vorland, has happened to many others in the past and will continue to happen if the chain of command does not get stricter about sexual assault in the

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