Sexual Assault In the Military Up

The New York Times reports that reports of sexual assault reports in the military were up 11 percent overall in fiscal year 2009 and 16 percent in combat zones, to 3,230 total reported attacks. 53 percent of those reported assaults were committed by one servicemember against another. The military's attributing that rise to policies that encourage victims to come forward and report assaults, rather than on an actual increase in the number of attacks occurring, but it's hard to know whether that's true or not. The story notes:

Of all the assaults, Ms. Whitley said, a vast majority, 87 percent, were male on female, while 7 percent were male on male. The typical case, she said, was an assault by an 18- to 25-year-old junior enlisted male service member on a woman, with alcohol involved.

While of course the vast majority of servicemembers comport themselves in a way that does credit to the military and the government as a whole, the fact that the military can come up with this profile suggests a cultural problem that's probably worth targeting. Teaching people to drink responsibly and to behave responsibly when they drink is a worthwhile project in any context.