Last week, the United States' Joint Chiefs of Staff and commandant of the Coast Guard banded together and released a letter detailing a 32-star strategic direction for the armed services on sexual assault. This new initiative took place the same week as a summit for US military sexual assault survivors convened in Washington, DC.
In the letter, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld, the vice chairman; Gen. Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff; Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, chief of naval operations; Gen Norton A. Schartz, Air Force chief of staff; Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps; Air Force Gen. Craig R. McKinley; chief of the Nation Guard Bureau and Am. Robert Rapp Jr., commandant of the Coast Guard emphasized the focus for sexual assault should be on prevention and response. They also stressed a call for leadership from commanding officers to lead the charge to take the strategy seriously.
The plan also laid out five lines of effort when addressing sexual assault: prevention, investigation, accountability, advocacy, and assessment.
Sexual assault has been brought up for several years now as a concern for the US military. In the last two years 6,350 cases have been reported with an estimated 86% of sexual assaults going unreported. Some of the reasons victims have stated for not reporting the offenses include the investigations being handled by their alleged attacker or fear of backlash for disrupting the cohesion of the unit.
A documentary detailing the struggles of service members who have been victims of sexual assault took home awards this past January at the Sundance Film Festival. The filmmakers behind "The Invisible War" have supported the initiative of the top military officers but also have their own recommendations:
Have all sexual assault complaints referred to a command that is outside of the victim's chain of command, so there will be no conflicts of interest
Create a sexual assault database within the Department of Defense that is required to share information with the Department of Justice civilian sexual offender database.
End it's practice of diagnosing victims of sexual assault with personality disorders and then discharging them from the military without being eligible for benefits.
Issue a formal apology to the hundreds of thousands of women and men who've been sexually assaulted in the military over the past 75 years.
In the end, what is important is the awareness that has been given to sexual assault by the US military and its emphasis on prevention. Sexual assault prevention is more than teaching "no means no." It is addressing the attitudes which lead to sexual violence, a desire to force power and control over another.
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