On the recordDecember 7, 2011
I rise again today for the 13th time to talk about a stain on the American people, a stain on the American Government. I'm talking about military assault and rape. I'm talking about the 19,000 soldiers each year who are victims of sexual assault or rape in the military. Those are figures by the Department of Defense. Yet only 13 percent will report because they know that if they do report, they will be summarily removed from service. In fact, 90 percent of them are involuntarily honorably discharged from the military after they report a rape. So what are we doing about it? Well, I have good news this morning to report. A few weeks ago, not far from here, a nonprofit organization, Protect Our Defenders, was born. It was launched to give voices to survivors of sexual assault in our military. More than 6,000 Americans have signed survivor Terry Odum's petition, whose story I've told here on the floor. Terry's petition demands Congress take the reporting of sexual assault and rape outside the normal chain of command. I imagine many of my colleagues have received emails and tweets or Facebook messages from their constituents about this issue. This is a movement, and we must address it. Our troops protect us, and we must protect them. Both Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree that we need to fix this system. Today, I'm going to tell you the story of Petty Officer Amber De Roche. Petty Officer De Roche served in the Navy from December 2000, to December 2005.…
