experiencing sexual assault right now, they need to have some type of special victims unit or something protecting them while they re in service. and then also people who report sexual assault and then are systemically put out or systemically given bad conduct discharges, i think that those really need to be reviewed much more closely before they allow them to go through. so there s multiple steps that need to happen. i don t think it s a one-size-fits-all. i definitely don t think training is just going to change it. i absolutely believe that we need to have prosecution actually happen and that these perpetrators need to be put on the national registry for being sex offenders so they don t come out into the community and harm civilians as well. as you know, the number of service members, brigette,
anonymously reporting sexual assault grew by 30% in the past two years alone. that according to a recent pentagon report released last week. is this sudden spike in numbers because more people are refusing to stay silent in the face of these kinds of assaults? absolutely not. those numbers are not from more people reporting. it s more people are being sexually assaulted. so we need to have some things in place that actually help with the issue. removing people like this sergeant who is, you know, perpetrating in uniform, i don t believe that people who wear a uniform and who rape should be considered service members. i mean, they should absolutely be stripped of any dignity as it relates to military service. and so if we don t do those types of things first, people aren t going to come forward. and then people aren t going to get the help that they need, you know, after that. brigette mccoy, thanks very