Veterans Post

Addressing military sexual assault

By Freddy Groves
| 11:04 a.m. June 5, 2013

Winter Park - Maitland Observer
Neighborhood

Last year, 26,000 service members were sexually assaulted while serving in the U.S. military.

That’s a sentence that ought to make any decent person feel sick. There’s even a handy acronym for it now: MST, for Military Sexual Trauma. Worse, of the estimated 26,000 victims, only 3,400 reported the incidents. That speaks volumes about what kind of help the victims expected to get from the military — retaliation.

MST was all over the news recently when some of those responsible for preventing sexual assault at military bases were arrested for sexual assault. The Defense Secretary was appalled, as he should be, and ordered all 25,000 people in assault prevention roles to be re-certified by July 1. Heads are rolling.

If you were a victim of sexual assault while you served in the military and never reported it, I hope you do now. If you didn’t get help, take advantage of the assistance and treatment that’s available. You can recover.

From the Department of Veterans Affairs’ website section on sexual assault, here are some of the emotional responses to sexual assault: feelings of numbness; trouble with attention, concentration and memory; relationship problems; trouble sleeping; and problems with alcohol and drugs. Untreated, it can lead to diagnoses of PTSD, anxiety disorders, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse.

In addition, even if you’re not eligible for VA care, you can receive treatment for military sexual assault. Every VA facility has a coordinator to help direct you to the right services and programs.

Whether you’re a veteran or on active duty, if you were a victim of military sexual assault, get treatment. You can be whole again. Your care and treatment, especially now, are most likely to be top-notch.

And for those who doubt the pervasiveness of sexual assault in the military, rent the documentary “The Invisible War” from Netflix.