By Ellie Seta
<[email protected]>

In 2003 the Department of Defense (DOD) report found that one-third of women veterans who sought health care benefits from the Veterans Administration (VA) reported that they had experienced rape at some time during their service. Of the one-third who said they were raped, 37 percent of them said that they were raped multiple times and 14 percent claimed they were gang raped. In previous research compiled by the VA and DOD, 60 to 78 percent of active duty women were sexually harassed.

In 2007, 1,344 investigations of sexual assault cases were filed within the military and involved 1,469 subjects. Despite this number, the command only took action on 249 cases and court-martialed 103. The commanders claim that they could not act on nearly half of the cases due to lack of evidence.