“There is no indication that this increase in reporting constitutes an increase in crime,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, director of the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. “We assess that this unprecedented increase is consistent with a growing confidence in the response systems.”
The campaign to raise awareness included plastering contact information for sexual assault prevention officers across military bases, especially inside bathroom stalls. And top military officers have traveled to bases around the world speaking out on the issue.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that sexual assaults are a threat to both women and men in the service, and that the Pentagon should do more to combat a culture that discourages victims from stepping forward.
In particular, Defense officials aim to encourage more men to report sexual assaults, which can be a challenge because male victims often worry that coming forward will make people think they are weak and trigger questions about their sexual orientation.
In most cases, however, assault is an issue of power of abuse rather than sexual orientation.
“There is still a misperception that this is a women’s issue and women’s crime,” said Nate Galbreath, the senior executive adviser for the Pentagon’s sexual assault prevention office. “It’s disheartening that we have such a differential between the genders and how they are choosing to report.”
The Associated Press reports that 14% of the cases in the Pentagon report involved male victims.
The military has long struggled with the issue of victims not reporting sexual assaults. Too often, victims have said they were afraid to report incidents to ranking officers for fear of retribution, or said that their initial complaints were outright ignored.
A 2012 anonymous survey found that about 26,000 service members said they were the victim of some type of unwanted sexual contact or assault. That same survey found that, by the raw numbers, 14,000 men reported having been sexually assaulted compared to 12,000 women.
Secretary Hagel is ordering six new initiatives, including efforts to get more male victims to come forward and a review of alcohol sales and policies. He says the review must address the risks of alcohol being used as a weapon by predators.
Hagel will also press for a renewed emphasis on prevention and the need to take some of the programs various services have been conducting and use them across the military.
Those include programs that urge troops to intervene when they see a fellow service member in trouble or being harassed. There may also be an effort to work with bars and stores that sell alcohol around the bases to educate their employees, offer menus when they serve drinks and review hours of liquor sales.
Prosecutions of sexual assault perpetrators who were subject to the military justice system have also increased, increasing from 66% in 2012 to 73% in 2013 – of course, there’s still room for improvement.
You can read more on this issue in the Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201405011358/NATION/305010058
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Military Sexual Assault Reports Up 50%, Officials Seek to Increase Awareness first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>And now, the U.S. defense industry is adapting to a national military strategy more reliant on technological superiority than on amassed hardware or troops. As defense professionals at the Pentagon and beyond revise their military plans, they are seeing an increasingly acute need for these talented STEM workers.
The importance of keeping foreign-born, graduating STEM students in this country cannot be overestimated.
Part of the need for foreign-born STEM workers is driven by a simple principle of supply-and-demand economics. The number of available H-1B visas is limited, and many of these STEM workers need the visas to immigrate to the United States. Currently, only 85,000 visas are granted each year. Many foreign-born, would-be STEM professionals come to the United States to study on student visas, but when they graduate, those who cannot obtain an H-1B visa must return to their respective home countries.
The recent budget-driven sequester cut spending in all federal departments, and those cuts have impacted the outlook for future defense strategy. The Obama administration has already reduced military outlays in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, it seeks ways to cut back troop levels and jettison unnecessary, expensive weapons systems in order to maintain an efficiently lean, economical military.
As part of that strategy, the Defense Department has placed a premium on technological advances. But restrictive policies on immigration limit the number of H-1B visas to a total that does not meet the existing demand. The shortage of visas may crimp the Pentagon’s objectives.
Immigration policy troubles the Pentagon, but it is not their only quandary. Competition also affects requiting: many foreign-born STEM graduate students primarily seek a career in Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas. Employment with the defense establishment is often less tempting and, even more often, less lucrative.
A bill that would grant U.S. citizenship to immigrants with advanced STEM degrees passed the U.S. Senate last year, but it has sputtered in the House. Meanwhile, Defense Department officials have publicly emphasized the need for new technologies.
“We must maintain our technological edge over potential adversaries,” said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration attorney in Texas. Before selecting an lawyer, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their website at http://www.visatous.com.
<!– Social Buttons Generated by Digg Digg plugin v5.3.6,
Author : Buffer, Inc
Website : http://bufferapp.com/diggdigg –>
The Pentagon estimates that there may have been as many as 26,000 sexual assaults perpetrated against military members in 2012, a dramatic jump from the estimated 19,000 assaults which occurred in 2010. The numbers are difficult to correlate, as many assaults are never reported. According to both studies and surveys conducted by the military and by independent agencies, alcohol abuse was a factor in almost 50 percent of sex abuse incidents.
Horoho spoke at SHARP, the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention conference at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland last month. She reported that troops are routinely asked about their level of alcohol consumption at medical appointments, as are their family members.
Drinking issues have been dealt with previously by various means, from barrack sweeps for beer and liquor to random breathalyzer testing to therapeutic efforts. This new push, to prevent problem drinking before it starts, is a sea change. She stated that the new push is focusing on prevention of alcoholic abuse both in barracks and off-base. Army barracks will be swept more often for alcohol in personal spaces, while the Marine Corps is now performing random breathalyzers tests to base-based troops on base.
Alcoholic consumption and sexual assault are frequently linked behaviors; a significant number of the reported sexual assault occurred when service members had also been socializing in settings where alcohol was consumed, or the alleged sexual perpetrator was often reported to have been drinking prior to the assault.
The Army is now pushing for increased confidentiality for members who request help for a drinking issue, Horoho added. The potential stigma involved in having a chain of command know that a service member is work gin on a drinking issue is likely keeping many troops from accessing treatment, Horoho said.
The public recognition that alcohol plays a major role in the number of sexual assaults and sexual abuse is a change; Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently stated that while sexual assaults and sexual abuse in the military was due to a complex number of issues, one of the largest factors was alcohol use.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Military Renews Focus On Drinking In Wake of Sexual Assaults first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>