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This Is How Many Sexual Assaults in the Military Were Reported Last Year


Following in the footsteps of last spring’s deeply misogynistic Marine nude photo scandal, the Department of Defense has released a report indicating the number of sexual assaults reported in the military during the 2016 fiscal year—and the numbers are pretty shocking. The Department of Defense received a total of 6,172 reports of sexual assault during from October 2015 to September 2016. (For the record, the Pentagon report defines sexual assault to also include attempts at it, as well as “sexual contact crimes.”)

That figure represents an increase of 90 reported assaults from 2015 and a significant increase from 2012’s reported count of 3,604 sexual assaults. As shocking as that is, these latest numbers are actually a conservative estimate, as Reuters, which first reported the story, points out: The Pentagon estimates that during the 2016 fiscal year, less than one-third of service members who experienced a sexual assault actually reported it. The military actually believes that rather than tracking reported assaults, doing a biannual, anonymous survey gives a clearer picture of the scale of sexual assault: during its latest such survey detailing 2016 incidents, 14,900 service members said they experienced some kind of sexual assault. That number is down from 20,300 in 2014, but let’s all agree that that’s still a lot (and that any number more than zero is too many).

Back to the 2016 report: This year marks the first time the military has broken down the number of assaults by location. It does clarify, however, that just because an assault was reported at a certain military base, it does not mean the actual crime occurred there. “This is because victims of sexual assault in the Department of Defense (DoD) may report a sexual assault at a time and place of their choosing,” the report points out.

According to the data, which was also broken down by branch, Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia counted 270 reported sexual assaults, while the one in San Diego had 187. The Army’s Fort Hood in Texas had 199, and Fort Bragg in North Carolina counted 169 reports. When it comes to the Marine Corps, Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina had 169, and Base Camp Pendleton in California had 157. Outside the country, U.S. bases in South Korea totaled a combined 211 reports.

After seeing these numbers, it’s clear that further measures need to be taken to keep service members safe. One potential tech-y development that might help protect them is the LiveSafe app the military is currently testing, which is aimed at preventing or addressing sexual assault. Of course, blame for these attacks still falls squarely on the shoulders of the people who are committing these crimes—as well as the systems that fail in holding them accountable.

Related Stories:
–Military Academy Sexual Assault: 50 Percent Rise in Reports
–Marines Shared Naked Pictures of Servicewomen on Facebook (Without Their Consent)
–Sexism in the Military Is Alive and Well



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A Federal Judge Just Blocked Donald Trump's Transgender Military Ban


In an order-by-tweet that caught many people—including some preeminent members of the Department of Defense—by surprise, President Donald Trump announced in July that transgender men and women would no longer be allowed to serve in the military, reversing an Obama-era policy that allowed transgender recruits to openly serve.

Now, a federal judge has blocked parts of Trump’s proposed ban saying that transgender service members who have brought litigation forward against Trump “have established that they will be injured by these directives, due both to the inherent inequality they impose, and the risk of discharge and denial of accession that they engender.”

After introducing the ban on Twitter, Trump handed down an official directive outlining the policy in late August. Under his proposal, transgender recruits would be banned from the military, medical treatment funding for current transgender troops would be completely cut off, and Defense Secretary James Mattis would have power to expel transgender service members. In late August, Mattis put a temporary freeze on the ban when he announced that he would wait to put the policy into effect until a team of experts completed a study determining the effects it would have on current service members.

In a ruling handed down on Monday, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked parts of Trump’s ban related to “accession and retention.” In short, the aspects of Trump’s proposal that affected the recruitment and retention of transgender troops were struck down by Kollar-Kotelly’s decision. She did not, however, offer a ruling on the directive prohibiting funding for “sex reassignment surgical procedures,” saying that her court does not have jurisdiction over that aspect of the ban.

With Kollar-Kotelly’s decision, the military will now “revert to the status quo” in regard to transgender service members—meaning former President Obama’s serve-openly policy will live on.

Related: Senator Tammy Duckworth on Trump’s Trans Military Ban: ‘This Man Is Not Fit to Be Commander-in-Chief’



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Donald Trump Officially Ordered the Military to Ban Transgender Recruits


On Friday night President Donald Trump issued a directive banning transgender recruits from the military. It comes two days after news broke that a White House memo along these lines was being finalized to send to the Department of Defense. Along with the ban, the directive also bars funds for sex reassignment surgeries unless the transgender service member is already in treatment. What’s unclear from Friday’s official order, however, is whether transgender troops currently serving will be allowed to continue.

Trump’s order also applies to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard. According to the New York Times, it falls largely to Defense Secretary James Mattis to come up with how to implement Trump’s order—and to decide whether transgender troops can stay. Mattis’ decision, according to a press briefing about the memo reported by NPR, will be based on how their “continued service affects military effectiveness, lethality, resources and unit cohesion.” He has six months to come up with his proposal, according to the Times.

Trump’s ban marks an end to an initiative from President Obama’s administration that allowed the military to recruit transgender people into the armed forces. The current president had first announced his proposal in a series of tweets in July, saying, “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming … victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

Trump’s tweets caused an uproar, with people accusing Trump of discrimination when it came to his arguments about why trans people shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the military. Case in point: the military actually spends more on Viagra than it does for trans health care—so the President’s point about medical costs being the issue is pretty weak.

When asked at Friday’s briefing if the President’s announcement was discriminatory, a White House official responded, “The president is the president for all Americans, and during last year’s campaign he was the first GOP nominee to talk about LGBTQ issues at the GOP convention, but he also was critical of the Obama administration’s change in that longstanding DOD policy.” He went on to say, “He’s going to continue to ensure that the rights of the LGBTQ community, as well as all Americans, is protected. This policy is based on a series of national security considerations.

Many people, including Senator Tammy Duckworth who served in the army in Iraq, have spoken out against Trump’s ban by arguing that gender identity has nothing to do with the ability to serve the country. If someone is able to do the job, that’s all that matters.

On Saturday morning, the ACLU announced that they’d be filing a lawsuit against Trump on Monday.

We’ll keep you posted with where this goes.

Related Stories:
–Senator Tammy Duckworth on Trump’s Trans Military Ban: ‘This Man Is Not Fit to Be Commander-in-Chief’
–President Donald Trump Bans Transgender People From Serving in the Military: Celebrities React
–Donald Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Is Set to Go Into Effect Within 6 Months, According to a New Memo



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Donald Trump's Transgender Military Ban Is Set to Go Into Effect Within 6 Months, According to a New Memo


Nearly a month after Donald Trump tweeted that transgender men and women would no longer be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, the White House is reportedly preparing to send guidance to the Department of Defense and give the Pentagon the formal power to implement the President’s policy.

As The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday (via CNN), the administration is finalizing a memo that will give Defense Secretary James Mattis six months to implement the stipulations of the ban. Among them: The military will no longer be allowed to recruit transgender people and medical treatment regimens for current transgender troops will no longer be paid for by Pentagon. Further, it would give Mattis the authority to expel transgender service members by setting new standards for deployment.

Though the memo has not been finalized, a source familiar with the document confirmed that it will likely be handed down within the “coming days.” In a statement released Wednesday evening, the Pentagon said that it “has not received formal guidance from the White House as a follow-up to the Commander-in-Chief’s announcement on military service by transgender personnel.”

“The Department continues to focus on our mission of defending our nation and ongoing operations against our foes, while ensuring all service members are treated with respect,” the statement read.

As noted by The New York Times, Trump’s “order-by-social media” in late July “caught senior military officials by surprise and short-circuited the customary interagency policy process that attends such sweeping decisions.” The Pentagon was unclear as to how such a ban would be implemented but the White House assured the Defense Department that they would work with them to develop a plan that matched the President’s tweets. (White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to comment to the Times about any forthcoming memo.)

Like Trump’s initial tweets, the latest development in the transgender military ban is drawing plenty of public ire. A statement from Ashley Broadway-Mack, the president of the American Military Partner Association President (the country’s largest organization for families, partners, and spouses of LGBT service members), slammed the reported memo saying, “[The President’s] foolhardy assertion that transgender service members are not able to deploy is simply not rooted in fact.

“Transgender service members are just as deployable as any other service member. These brave men and women are already risking their lives for this country around the world,” Broadway-Mack added. “They have earned their right to appropriate medical care, and President Trump’s attempt to rip that away is beyond unconscionable.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also condemned Trump’s policy, tweeting Wednesday night: “This is NOT how you keep America safe. Period. #ProtectTransTroops.”

Related: Senator Tammy Duckworth on Trump’s Trans Military Ban: ‘This Man Is Not Fit to Be Commander-in-Chief’



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