Some grim numbers cast a pall over what military service is like for women

Phenomenal numbers. Especially when you take into account the inevitable UNDERreporting of sexual harrassment and sexual abuse in deeply authoritarian systems where obedience and not making waves are indoctrinated early and often.

You think they'll put this in the recruiting materials directed at women? Get an education in the National Guard and Reserves, where six out of 10 of you will probably be harassed or sexually assaulted while on the job.

Here's another good question: why is the report so long OVERDUE? It was a 1999 study, to be released in 2001.

Link: Sexual Abuse Is Called Rife in Guard and Reserves.

Sexual Abuse Is Called Rife in Guard and Reserves

By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, September 30, 2005; Page A02

Sixty percent of women and 27 percent of men in the military reserves and the National Guard suffer sexual assault or harassment during their service, according to a long-overdue report released yesterday by a congressional committee. [emphasis mine]

The Department of Veterans Affairs report said its surveys showed that 11 percent of women serving in the reserves or National Guard experienced rape or attempted rape, compared with 1.2 percent of males. More than half of the incidents took place at a military work site and during duty hours, and in most cases military personnel were the offenders, it found.

Congress authorized the report in 1999 -- for completion in 2001 -- to investigate whether reserve forces experience sexual trauma at rates similar to those suffered by active-duty forces. The report concludes that they do, and suggests that the cost of treatment for victims is significantly higher than currently budgeted

[...]

Democratic lawmakers said they are especially concerned that the tens of thousands of military reservists -- including an increasing percentage of women -- serving lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan will not receive adequate care for any sexual assault when they return. Concern over sexual assault in the military has heightened in recent years amid reports of incidents among deployed forces, leading the Pentagon to adopt policies providing for "victim advocates" to assist service members in gaining help.

Rep. Lane Evans (Ill.), the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, yesterday in a statement criticized the Bush administration for "attempting to hide" the study.

[...]