Jackie Speier

Skilled women and men are abandoning the military in response to a persistent plague of harassment, assault, and degradation.

But simply adding manpower will not address the personnel challenges of today and tomorrow.

In advance of the 20th annual Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive next Saturday, let us recognize the unsung heroes within our communities: our letter carriers. Take David Crestik from San Diego, who carried an injured elderly…

Are we looking at whether or not that is the appropriate action?

There have been cases where victims of sexual assault at the military academy were then given antidepressants or other drugs to help them deal with the PTSD, and then because they were on drugs, were not commissioned.

There have been lots of examples where there is a reluctance to report for fear that you will--reluctance to report a sexual assault for fear that you will get hit for underage drinking.

I would really like to hear how each of you are thinking.

There was a sense from the outset that women were unequal, that the physical standards for women were different.

I do remain concerned about the high number of female cadets and midshipmen who reported experiencing sexual harassment.

So this report, Dr. Van Winkle made note of it, shows that 47 percent of those who were polled said that they were sexually harassed at the military academies.

I think part of what we need to train everyone is that most of those who file reports are telling the truth.

That doesn't mean it didn't happen. It just means there wasn't sufficient evidence.

The numbers, as Dr. Van Winkle has pointed out, just don't support the kind of growth we would like to see.

And we wonder why victims don't want to report.

I am troubled by a number of things that happened.

Let me just tell you how extraordinary you all are and how grateful we are that you are here to testify.

Thank you for your bravery in coming forward and speaking so candidly about something so painful, and so very wrong.

Mr. Chairman, I am going to hold my questions till the end and allow my colleagues to my left to ask theirs.

With the support of Congresswoman Speier's office, I have decided to reapply for admission to the United States Military Academy.

With the support of Congresswoman Speier, I would like to return to the Academy to complete what I started.

Words alone are just words. If we have any hope of stamping out the systemic issue of sexual assault in our ranks, the tone must be set at the academies.

Even one sexual assault against these patriotic young individuals is too many, and we all know that the numbers of assault are far more than that.

In order to break the cycle, we need strong reforms to make clear that this behavior is not tolerated.

There is something going on where upper classmen believe that they can sexually assault lower classmen.

It appears more often than not when there is sexual assault or sexual harassment, that it is the victim that is moved, not the perpetrator.