NEW DATA SHOWS 4% DIP IN SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY

There’s new data for sexual assault in the military, and it has dropped by 4% from fiscal 2023 to 2024, which shows a big improvement with the Defense Department's efforts to protect military members.

However, it’s important to note that there are still many sexual assault victims who are scared to file a formal complaint against the assailant, as some are in high ranks or with power, which people in the government shouldn’t tolerate.

Reports of Sexual Assault in the Military

There was a statistic released on Thursday, and the department officials have received 8,196 sexual assault reports in 2024, originally 8,515 in 2023, which involved service members.

In 2024, a total of 6,973 reports involving troops being assaulted by their fellow military service members, wherein the total went down by about 4% lower than in 2023 and nearly 5.5% lower than in 2022, as the largest decrease was in the Army, which is a one-year drop of about 13%.

The majority of the reports of sexual assault in the military came from young women, and there is just over 1% of all men who served in the military who had been sexually assaulted by their peers.

Director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, Dr. Nathan Galbreath, said in a statement that officials are being encouraged by the continued rates of reporting.

“The warfighter ethos values respect for one’s comrades in arms, and sexual assault and sexual harassment are antithetical to that ethos,” he said. “Preventing these crimes is essential to maintaining a unified mission-ready military.”

Officials say that they are feeling hopeful because lots of service members are still coming forward to report military sexual assault, which is brave of them. While the goal is to stop these incidents from happening at all, they believe it’s a good sign that service members feel more comfortable speaking up. It shows that awareness efforts might be working, even as the military continues to focus on preventing every case of sexual assault.

Has Military Sexual Assault Reduced?

It’s true that there’s a decrease in sexual assault in the military, as according to the data from AP, the decrease was a 13% drop in the Army, and this is the largest military branch.

However, in the Navy, the number has increased to 4.3%. The Air Force has a 2.2% increase, and the Marine Corps has a less than 1% increase in data.

With the 8,195 recent total of military sexual assaults, about 512 military service members reported an assault that happened before they entered the military. Along with that, 641 civilians said that they were assaulted by a member of the military.

The government is highly encouraging service members to come forward and speak up and get any support that they might need.

Additionally, the complaints for sexual assault in the military went from 2,980 in 2023 to 3,014 in 2024. Most complaints were filed by female military service members, and the most accused were male.

Signs & Indicators to Look Out For

While the report shows a decreased number, we never know what might happen, as it can still increase. The signs of sexual assault can be different depending on the person and their situation, but to help out service members, we need to look out for each other.

These are some general indicators you can look out for:

• Avoiding people or places for no clear reason
• Not taking care of themselves like they used to
• Hurting themselves or talking about ending their life
• They have trouble sleeping, experience nightmares, or are not able to sleep at all
• Experiencing sudden mood swings; they feel really down, or they might be anxious all the time
• Acting differently than usual or pulling away from others

Resources & Access to Help

The truth is, people who have harmful intentions will do what they want, and we can never anticipate that. But what we can do is to protect ourselves from these people.

The military provides regular training on sexual assault and harassment because it helps service members know what to look for, how to step in safely, and how to report it if something happens to them.

This training is a big help to service members because they will be more aware that this is really happening. So, everyone should be open to this topic, as we all know that victims of sexual assault are afraid to speak up, but if we have a training for them, they know they have support if they report a situation.

Additionally, commanders' reports on sexual assault and harassment risks should also be conducted regularly because these reports can help leaders see these kinds of situations early, and we can prevent them from happening to other people in the military.

We can see that the recent drop in reported sexual assault cases in the military is a step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of work to do because every case matters, and even one is too many.

Military service members should have sexual assault training, continued support from the government, and open conversations about it, or even therapy, because these are all important to create a safe environment.

Being a victim of sexual assault is no joke, because what comes with it is trauma. Even though sexual assault in the military may be decreasing, the effort to stop sexual assault for good should still be improved moving forward.

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Sources:

• Sexual Assault Reports in the U.S. Military Fell Last Year, Driven by a Sharp Decline in the Army, AP Reports
• Military Sexual Assault Reports Dropped by 4% in the Last Fiscal Year