Jackie Speier: “I rise again today with a heavy heart to talk about sexual assault and rape in the military, an epidemic in this country…”

“I rise again today with a heavy heart to talk about sexual assault and rape in the military, an epidemic in this country that must be addressed. As I've said before, the Department of Defense, by its own statistics, has stated that 19,000 servicemembers, women and men, every year are raped by fellow soldiers. I will continue to share these stories until something changes. Survivors can email me at [email protected] if they want to speak out. Each of these soldiers was raped by another soldier, and each was subjected to a system of justice that protects the perpetrators and punishes the victims. The story I will tell today is the story of Corporal Sarah Albertson. This gets to the rot at the root of the justice system in the military, and that is: a commander, one person, has complete and total discretion in deciding how and if sexual assault and rape are dealt with. Corporal Albertson served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2008. On August 27, 2006, Corporal Albertson was raped by a fellow marine, a man who outranked her. That's right, he outranked her and raped her. Right after the rape, Corporal Albertson went to her commander to inform him of what had happened.…”