Military Sexual Assault Paper

Military sexual assault is a pervasive problem throughout the military, despite numerous initiatives to end it. While the military is starting to see an increase in sexual assault reporting, there’s still a fraction of men and women who choose not to report (Groves, 2013). Sexual assault is alarmingly common in the U.S. military, and no one dares to speak up about it. Statistics report that thirty-eight service members are sexually assaulted a day and not enough has been done to address this under-reported issue (Castro, Kintzle, Schuyler, Lucas, & Warner, 2015). That being said, this paper will analyze two articles on military sexual assault and integrate the articles highlighting points of similarity and differences on the subject. A couple of key findings the authors discussed about working with victims of military sexual assault is that most of them under-report because it’s difficult to prove in both military and civilian courts (Castro et al., 2015; Groves, 2013). In the military, sexual assaults are handled within the chain of command and that means the victim’s commanding officer has the ability to intervene at any point: to stop an investigation, reduce a sentence or even set aside a conviction (Castro et al., 2015; Groves, 2013). Therefore, victims find it discouraging to disclose or reach out because of how much authority the victim’s commanding officer has over them. Second key point the authors discussed was the importance of education and awareness about military sexual trauma when working with this population (Castro et al., 2015; Groves, 2013). Often times this is be a barrier or failure to treatment because of the lack of programing or effective training in ending sexual assault within the military. The authors discussed that in order to work towards ending military sexual trauma, there needs to be an awareness around the issue first. In the articles some of the strengths that stood out were the consistency of statistics and root causes of military sexual trauma. Both articles provided a decent amount of references from credible sources and literature that expands on how prevalent this issue is. The articles also discussed the importance of resources and interventions through the use of scholarly references, thus providing substantial amount of evidence on how to intervene when working with population. Other strengths from the article included the amount of information on military sexual assault and how it affects not only one the individual, but their whole psych-social demographic. Moreover, the articles had some weaknesses that included the lack information on which military service branch is mostly affected by military sexual assault. It would be nice to know the statistic of which military branch is being affected the most and intervening from there in terms of interventions or outreach. The articles also lacked on the topic of what’s currently being done to address the issue, does any information exist that can explain any increase or decrease of military sexual assault. The articles would be appropriate to use in clinical practice because …show more content…
I was completely uneducated on the issue as far as what victims have to deal with when it comes to speaking up about their assault. In addition, the report has to undergo military and civilian court therefore the process is very lengthy and tedious. It reminds me a lot like what civilians have to go through with domestic violence. Victims of military sexual trauma could get discourage of the process, in addition to feeling threaten by their perpetrator. I also learned that military sexual assault could happen to any gender, not only women. Therefore it’s important to ask veterans or service members if they ever experience sexual assault during service. There are those few who will deny but it’s important to build rapport in order for them to open up about it. Also, what I found useful to know when working with this population is the result of military sexual assault makes it harder to transition back into civilian life. Sexual assaults are a major reason that some service members leave the military, especially females. I believe this is an area that needs special attention because even some end up homeless when the transition into civilian life becomes too difficult. These articles provided ways to increase the awareness of civilian providers for when they do end up working with victims of military sexual