Share Your Story | Protect Our Defenders

Protect Our Defenders seeks to educate the public and policy makers by amplifying survivors’ voices. We understand and respect that speaking out is often very hard. Your voice is powerful. You can help bring this issue out of the darkness.

Stories submitted to Protect Our Defenders may be published publicly but you can choose to remain anonymous. We reserve the right to make edits for clarity and content.

***DISCLAIMER: If you are currently under the age of 18 and are sharing your experience with sexual violence (assault, abuse, etc.), please note that we are required to report claims of child abuse to a local child protective services agency or to local law enforcement.***

Your Email Address (this will never be published)
Your Phone Number (this will never be published)
Your Name (this will never be published without your consent)*
First Last
City/Town (this will never be published)
State (this will never be published)
How anonymous do you want to be?*
- It's fine to publish my full name with my story
- Only publish my first name with my story
- Keep me completely anonymous
What is your gender?*
- Female
- Male
What branch of the US Armed Forces did/do you serve in?*

E.g. US Marines Corps, or US Navy
What year did you enlist in the US Armed Forces?*
E.g. 1987
What year was your sexual assault?*
E.g. 1989
Are you still serving in the military?*
- Yes
- No
What year did you leave the US Armed Forces?*
E.g. 1990
Your Rank
Share your story.*
If your story is a long one, you may want to compose this in an external program such as Microsoft Word and then copy and paste it here.
Upload an image (optional)
Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.
Protect Our Defenders may publish this image, along with those of others, to help bring attention to this issue.
Upload discharge papers (optional)
Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, gif, png, pdf, zip, Max. file size: 512 MB.
If you would like to share a scanned copy of your discharge papers you may upload them here. If Protect Our Defenders ever publishes these, any identifying information such as service member IDs will be censored (including name if you have chosen to be anonymous using the checkbox at the top of this form). Allowed file formats: jpg, jpeg, gif, png, pdf, zip.