Our military is a cesspool of sexual violence.

Currently trending as a fairly hot news topic is the Air Force's officer in charge of their sexual abuse prevention and response office being arrested for.....sexual assault.   While, this doesn't really come as a surprise to me one of the things this is highlighting yet again is the high rate of sexual abuse that happens in the armed forces.

There is much talk going on about how sex abuse numbers are rising in the military are rising.  Well, here's the thing.  The estimates on how many occur each year are rising.  This is alarming, but the real alarming part is that the estimates are just that, estimates, because only about 10% of the cases are reported.  While I'm sure (ok, I'm not, I hope there is, but I'm suspicious) that there is some good methodology behind the numbers, roughly 26,000 cases of abuse up from about 19,500 in 2010, I wonder if the real problem is the Pentagon has buried the issue so long the estimates look like they're increasing at a high rate simply because the problem is so under reported?  Or, if its really increasing at such an alarming rate, what can be done?

The power afforded officers in the military is great, as it should be, except the problem is this often leads victims to not report assaults.  Much like sexual assault on college campuses across the country, the potential damage to a victim's reputation and future is high.  Victims may be denied promotions, harassed by their peers, and any manner of other forms of abuse.

The very nature of the military does not make this a simple problem to solve.  Obviously a more conducive environment to reporting and prosecuting these crimes needs to exist.  Perpetrators should be punished as they would in civilian courts, and generals should not just be allowed to overrule a jury.

However, it seems that the military is far behind in enforcement and education even as they continue to further integrate.   You can argue against integration of the military all you want, that still does not excuse the crimes from happening.  

Its classic victim blaming.  "If those women weren't in the military this wouldn't happen."  

Well, ok, yes.  But they ARE in the military and while there is always going to be sex crimes, the alarming rates of 1 in 16 is just that, alarming!  Its somehow the women's fault they're abused simply because of their career choice?

The current high profile instance came while the officer in question was extremely drunk and began groping a woman he didn't know.  I often wonder how often alcohol is related to these cases?  Drinking and the military have long gone hand in hand, often as a form of self-medication to deal with psychological and physical pains.

The current culture of our military is a perfect breeding ground for sexual crimes and it does little to serve the victims or make real changes to prevent them from happening.  Hopefully Secretary of Defense Hagel and the Pentagon can come up with some real solutions to allow victims to come forward and begin weeding out those in our armed forces who prey on others.

Just because you cannot prevent all cases, does not mean much more couldn't be done to prevent some and bring justice for those who it does happen to.