Bad for Morale

by Angry Mouse
Daily Kos
Sun Mar 28, 2010

Gays in the military? Bad for morale and unit cohesion. Sexual assaults against women? Oh well. It's a problem, but hey, it's not that bad a problem.

The Department of Defense released an annual report on Tuesday showing an 11 percent increase in reports of sexual assault in the military over the past year, including a 16 percent increase in reported assaults occurring in combat areas, principally Iraq and Afghanistan.

And in case you think the majority of the 3,230 reports filed were relatively harmless cases -- you know, inappropriate jokes or the occasional playful ass-grab -- actually, no.

In the report, sexual assault was defined as rape, sodomy and other unwanted sexual contact, including touching of private body parts. It did not include sexual harassment, which is handled by another office in the military.

This isn't a new problem; in fact, it gets worse every year. It's so bad, there's even a name for it: Military Sexual Trauma. And the Department of Veterans Affairs offers treatment for it.

(Original here.)