Army Times: Amid debate over sexual assault in the military, Fort Leonard Wood investigator stays focused on victims

The Army Times reports:

“Predators in the military are unafraid because they know an unwritten code shields them,” Nancy Parrish, president of Protect our Defenders, said at a news conference last year. “Young women who sign up to serve in the armed forces are more likely to be raped or sexual assaulted than killed by enemy fire.”

Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for military rape survivors, has spearheaded a lawsuit against the Pentagon on behalf of eight victims. The suit charges Department of Defense officials with having a “high tolerance for sexual predators in their ranks.”
[…]
But victims’ advocates are not convinced. Brian Purchia, a spokesman for Protect Our Defenders, notes that of the estimated 26,000 cases of unwanted sexual contact in the armed services last year, more than 90 percent victims never reported their assault.

“We have a system where one conflicted and often biased individual, the accused’s commander, has the authority to exercise their unilateral opinion, regardless of the evidence, on whether a case is objectively investigated and tried, and whether the perpetrator receives just punishment,” Purchia said.

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