Jackie Speier: “I rise again today to talk about military sexual trauma. It's a cancer, it's ubiquitous, it's unabated, and regretfully…”

“I rise again today to talk about military sexual trauma. It's a cancer, it's ubiquitous, it's unabated, and regretfully, unaddressed. There was Tailhook in 1991. There was Aberdeen in 1996. There were scandals at the military academies. There were hearings, there were reports, there were toothless recommendations. So here we are, again, with yet another scandal. At this very moment, military training instructor Luis Walker stands before a court martial for raping and assaulting recruits at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Walker's job is to train freshly minted new Air Force recruits, many of them still in their teens. In all, there are 28 charges against him and 10 victims. Walker is a sexual predator. On Tuesday, a victim testified that right after graduating from boot camp, Walker approached her while she sat outside on a bench waiting for a bus that would take her to technical training school. Walker came up and ordered her to get some bleach from a supply room, and then he followed her. Once inside, he closed the door and took off his training instructor's hat. ``I'm not here for bleach, am I,'' she asked. While Walker had intercourse with her on a couch, she wondered, ``My God, I hope he has a condom on.'' On Wednesday, another victim testified that while on laundry detail one day, Walker showed up and told her to follow him to get some towels, but to wait 5 minutes so the surveillance cameras would not capture them going up together.…”