As previously reported, many female soldiers are reticent to report sexual assault while it's happening for fear of being ostracized. "A typical scenario is it's either a supervisor or someone at her level, in the same military unit. If you come forward, you're tattle-telling on a comrade," USA Today notes.

All service branches are expanding their sexual assault prevention programs, says Kaye Whitley, who heads a pentagon office created to address these issues. Next year, according to USA Today Whitley will be launching an effort to educate 18- to 24-year-old men about assault prevention. The VA report does not specify whether or not the perpetrators of these sex crimes were from the armed forces or if they were one of the many independent contractors in Iraq. If you'll recall, many of the female contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, most notably the brutally gang raped Jamie Leigh Jones, also suffered a great deal of sexual trauma in the field.

However, the pull of being ostracized is still going to be strong for many female soldiers. The VA survey detected such a high percentage of assault because all patients seeking medical care at the VA hospital are directly asked if they've been sexually assaulted. "They may not tell if they are not asked about them," study co-author Amy Street tells the LA Times. What's interesting is that the rate of sexual assault among deployed women in the armed forces is slightly lower than the rate of sexual assault among VA health care users overall. 21.5% of all women in the armed forces suffered from sexual assault or harassment, says Street, but researchers are not entirely sure why.

Sexual Abuse Rates Of Deployed Female Soldiers Detailed In Study [Los Angeles Times]
15% Of Female Veterans Tell Of Sexual Trauma [USA Today]
Sexual Trauma Afflicts 15 Percent Of U.S. Veterans: Study [Reuters]

Earlier: US Army Finally Vows To Prevent Sexual Assault In Its Ranks
Jamie Leigh Jones

The Army is now encouraging soldiers to confront inappropriate sexual comments and alert higher-ranking soldiers about misconduct. However, many sexual assault advocates point out that this encouragement runs counter to the Army's entrenched culture of deferring to highly ranked officers.

Army veteran Susan Avila-Smith, who runs the advocacy group Women Organizing Women, tells the Journal, "Most people keep quiet because they don't want to believe it happened to them or because they're scared of what will happen if they speak up." The Journal also quotes former medic Ellen Wainwright, who says she was involuntarily discharged for psychological reasons after she reported being repeatedly raped and sodomized by a higher-ranking enlisted soldier in Baghdad two years ago. "It would have been better for me to have kept my mouth shut," Wainwright says.

Oh, and about that 2.6 soldiers per 1,000 figure? Other reports show that 6.8% of active duty military women reported unwanted sexual contact, so the problem is probably bigger than the Army is willing to acknowledge. General George Casey has promised a "zero tolerance" policy for sexual assault in the Army, but with with a culture of deference based on rank, will soldiers really be willing to narc on someone higher up on the totem pole?

Rate of Sexual Assault in Army Prompts an Effort at Prevention [WSJ]

Earlier: Don't Ask, Don't Tell, And Try Not To Be A Woman
Is The Military Finally Going To Do Something About The Sexual Harassment Of Soldiers?