Pentagon: Young, Single Women on Navy Ships Most Likely to be Sexually Assaulted

The 4-year-old results of a survey about sexual abuse on U.S. military installations around the world, including ships, have finally been released.

Several Army and Marine bases in 2014 — Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, Fort Lewis, Fort Campbell, Fort Bliss and Camp Lejeune — had more than 500 reported sexual assaults on men and women.

Young, unmarried women on Navy ships were more likely to be assaulted than any other group in the military, according to the results released Friday. “Of the 15 highest-risk installations for Navy women, 13 are ships or clusters of ships, including 8 of the 10 aircraft carriers,” the study said. The report also said that on one ship, one in 25 men were assaulted.

The Air Force had the lowest assault risk rate.

The Pentagon was reported as one of the safest places to work.

The Pentagon commissioned the nonpartisan Rand Corp. to conduct the study and then contested the group’s findings, delaying the release of the results for years.

Don Christensen, president of Protect Our Defenders and the former top prosecutor for the Air Force, said the delay was “extremely disappointing.”

The delay means that the findings do not likely portray an accurate account of what is currently happening on the bases.

The findings, however, present a harrowing picture of sexual abuse across the military, which has had a long history of ineffective efforts to stem the tide of sexual abuse on its installations.​

VOA’s Steve Norman contributed to this report.

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