Swords to Plowshares

A critical concern among the veteran services community is the drastic rise in Military Sexual Trauma. This story in the Army Times highlights the rates of MST in the Army.

Army sexual assaults top all services combined

An internal Army-wide message issued Tuesday by the Army chief of staff states that sexual assaults “continue to occur at an unacceptable rate” as the service in 2007 “accounted for more assaults than the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force combined.”

The message, which did not focus on any specific location or group, states that there were 1,516 reported cases of sexual assault in 2007 among 590,000 active and mobilized soldiers representing a 2.6 assault rate per thousand.

The Army data, which was contained in a March 14 Defense Department annual report to Congress on sexual assaults in the military, showed that the vast majority of Army sexual assault victims were 24 or younger, in the ranks of specialist and below and more than 90 percent female, according to the message.

The “all Army activity” message which was posted at the Army Knowledge Online Web site and obtained by the Army Times, announces that Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and Army Secretary Pete Geren have directed the Army G-1 to lead a general officer steering committee to review the Army’s Sexual Assault Prevention Action Plan. There’s more…