SEXUAL ASSAULT IN OUR ARMED FORCES

Marooned recently in a medical office, I decided that even one of the "news" magazines would be superior to the ubiquitous television set. In it I discovered that the numbers of reported sexual assaults in the military have been

for 2007, 2688
2008, 2908
2009, 3230

where the increase from 2008 to 2009 was 11%, and 16% in combat areas.

In the true spirit of the novel 1984 - that is, more is less, less is more - Pentagon officials find these data "encouraging," of all things! They feel that more victims may be coming forward and are pleased by that.

The typical case: an enlisted man between 18 and 25, and a female victim either military or civilian.

The estimate is that only 20% of military, sexual assault victims report, and I hope the Pentagon does not find that encouraging insofar as it reflects the true extent of these rotten crimes. I would also guess that a goodly percentage of non-reportage is from cases of assault by a higher-ranking enlisted man. Some years back there was a considerable scandal about non-coms extorting sex from lower-ranking women and threatening them greater bodily harm if they reported. What a slick outfit!

As a matter of fact I find all this highly DIScouraging, and any woman that would volunteer for such duty strikes me as foolhardy. Parents should make female children aware of the risk, and other parents should learn enough parenting to avoid raising rapists as sons.