On the recordNovember 15, 2011
I rise again today to draw attention to the epidemic in our military of rape and sexual assault. Nineteen thousand women and men each year are raped or sexually assaulted in the military. Shockingly, almost one-third of female veterans of all generations say they have been sexually assaulted or raped while in the military, and more than 70 percent say they experienced sexual harassment while serving. In 2008 the Department of Veterans Affairs reported a total of 48,106 female veterans and 43,693 male veterans screened positively for military sexual trauma. The prosecution rate of sexual assault is alarmingly low. Only 8 percent of sexual assailants were referred to courts-martial or military court compared with 40 percent of similar offenders in the civilian system. This travesty is not being addressed, and I will continue to speak out on this floor until it is. Survivors can email me at [email protected] if they would like to speak out. Today, I would like to tell the story of one of the 8 percent that were prosecuted, the story of Colonel Michael Robertson, who commanded Fort Bliss' 31st Combat Support Hospital at Camp Dwyer, a military base and airfield in the Helmand River Valley in Afghanistan. Last week, Colonel Robertson was convicted by a military judge of 14 charges, including having pornography on his government computer, sexually harassing three women, and assaulting five women.…
