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Source: The War Horse
A Navy submariner who said she was sexually assaulted multiple times. An Army major who chose to never report her assault. A Marine Corps sexual assault response coordinator who worries she is being discriminated against because she’s a woman. A former Defense Department sexual assault victim advocate of the year.
Over the past several weeks, The War Horse spoke with a dozen current service members across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines about their experiences with sexual assault in uniform—as survivors, advocates, and allies.
“I want to have faith in the system because I think a lot of progress has been made,” one Army sexual assault survivor who works in Army medicine told The War Horse. “But for me, it’s unknown.”
As the military continues to grapple with its past treatment of female members and considers its future leadership under President Donald Trump, their voices are critical.
But having a say isn’t part of the deal when you’re in the military. Service members are restricted in how they can weigh into a debate now roiling Washington over the nomination of Pete Hegseth as the nation’s next Secretary of Defense. He is defending himself from allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive alcohol use.
The War Horse wanted to capture their sentiments at this critical juncture—about what they’ve experienced during their service, their thoughts about the future, and why they continue to serve their country. Our interviews included officers and enlisted ranks, as well as men and women, and represent a range of geographic locations and military specialties.
We’ve agreed not to name them to protect those who are survivors of sexual assault and to allow others to freely share their views on the military’s treatment of women and their hopes and worries about the next four years.
“If we start to turn away from being inclusive and if we start to treat people without dignity and respect…I can see the culture changing,” said the Army survivor, who worries about “a cancerous effect.”
“We’re a stronger service because of our differences.”
A Positive Trend?
The military has struggled for decades to stem its problem with sexual assault, regardless of which party has held the White House. Some estimates suggest that as many as one in four military women are assaulted. But only a fraction choose to report their assaults. Nearly two-thirds of all women who report sexual misconduct say they experience retaliation, according to Pentagon data, and a 2020 GAO report found that women are nearly 30% more likely than men to leave military service.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon released data it hailed as “cautiously optimistic,” showing that the number of sexual assaults in the military decreased for the first time since 2015. But 11 of the 12 service members we interviewed said they were worried about the future: If Hegseth is confirmed as secretary of defense, the top two positions in the military chain of command will be filled by men who have been accused of sexual assault.
“It’s disheartening to see the mechanisms of power appear indifferent to these serious accusations,” an Army infantry sergeant told The War Horse. “We need leaders who reflect our highest ideals, not ones who undermine them with a lack of accountability.”
Half of the service members we spoke with identified as sexual assault survivors. Two other service members said they have experienced sexual harassment or gender discrimination. Three work or have worked in sexual assault prevention and response in the military. Some say they reported their assaults formally, others did not. Some have watched fellow service members struggle with stigma and the aftereffects of assault.
Hegseth’s path to defense secretary is in question as allegations of heavy drinking and past misconduct emerge. But most of the service members who spoke with The War Horse said the very fact of his nomination, whether or not it survives, shows a disregard from the very top for their service and the barriers that women—and men—still face in expecting a workplace free from sexual violence.
“It doesn’t matter if Pete Hegseth is never confirmed,” one officer, who has been recognized by the Pentagon as a victim advocate of the year, said. “The fact that he was even nominated is setting back where we are in the DOD culturally by an amount that is personally terrifying and professionally, having worked so hard to get us to a different place, infuriating.”
Military’s Drinking Culture
Sexual assault rates have remained high and convictions stubbornly low across the military branches, despite more than 150 congressional requirements and 50 different initiatives from secretaries of defense aimed at stemming the problem over the past 15 years. Last year, only 16% of reported sexual assaults went to court-martial, according to Pentagon data. About 40% of those cases were then dismissed or the alleged perpetrator was released from the military in lieu of completing the court-martial.
The number of sexual misconduct cases had long been on the rise when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took charge at the Pentagon. He has made addressing sexual harassment and assault and improving military culture a priority during his tenure. In 2021, he commissioned an independent review board to study the problem and last year oversaw the implementation of one of its primary recommendations: transferring the decision on whether to prosecute sexual assault cases from the military command to an independent office, a move long sought by victim advocates.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin participates in a Sexual Assault Survivor and Advocate roundtable from the Pentagon in 2021. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jack Sanders)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin participates in a Sexual Assault Survivor and Advocate roundtable from the Pentagon in 2021. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jack Sanders)
Austin has also signed off on the board’s 81 other recommendations, which range from increasing survivors’ access to civilian care to improving Pentagon oversight of alcohol policies. Advocates for sexual assault survivors have frequently pointed to the military’s heavy drinking culture as a factor in its difficulty stemming sexual abuse in uniform.
The New Yorker and other news outlets have reported that Hegseth’s alleged history of alcohol use caused problems for him in previous jobs, a concern that has been at the center of Hegseth’s recent conversations with lawmakers whose support he will need to be confirmed as defense secretary. Last week, Hegseth—a Fox News host and former Army National Guardsman—promised to stop drinking if he gets the job.
The New Yorker also detailed a whistleblower report that described a history of personal misconduct and sexual impropriety, including allegations that Hegseth sexually pursued female employees at Concerned Veterans for America, the nonprofit he ran from 2013 to 2016, and that he brought his team to a strip club where he had to be stopped from joining the dancers onstage.
“I’ve been kind of floored by how culturally accepted and culturally propagated toxic masculinity is within the services,” a female Air Force pilot who deployed to Afghanistan told The War Horse. “I think that it’ll only be made even more palatable.”
In 2017, a woman accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her at a conference in a report to police in Monterey, California, though no charges were filed. He maintains the encounter was consensual. Tim Parlatore, Hegseth’s lawyer, has acknowledged in media reports that Hegseth paid the woman an undisclosed settlement in 2020 in exchange for her signing a nondisclosure agreement.
“The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” Hegseth told reporters in November.
Don Christensen, the former chief prosecutor of the Air Force and former president of Protect Our Defenders, which works to end sexual assault in the military, said that type of accusation at the top of the military chain of command may make it harder for survivors to find justice.
“Here you have a guy who has a police report that looks like hundreds of police reports I’ve read on sexual assault, where there’s alcohol involved, where the victim has a spotty memory,” he said.
“Those are the kinds of allegations we see day in and day out in the military.”
‘Oomph That We Need’
As Hegseth works to shore up support on Capitol Hill, he is facing a Congress with the highest-ever number of female veterans.
Sen. Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, a retired Iowa National Guard lieutenant colonel and herself a survivor of sexual assault, has publicly expressed reservations on Hegseth’s nomination. After two meetings with Hegseth in the last week, Ernst said she is committed to seeing him through the confirmation process, though she has not indicated whether she will vote to confirm him. She told reporters on Monday that Hegseth has promised to select a senior official who will work toward preventing sexual assault in the military.
The War Horse reached out to Hegseth and his lawyer for comment about the concerns raised by the servicemembers with whom we spoke. We did not receive a response.
President-elect Donald Trump has also been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. Last year, he was found liable in a civil court for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in 1996 and ordered to pay her $5 million.
At the beginning of his first term in office, Trump enjoyed support within the military, according to polling from Military Times, though that support fell off as the 2020 election approached. A GOVX poll this June found that 66% of active duty service members intended to vote for Donald Trump.
One Navy officer, who transferred to the reserves after her sexual assault, told The War Horse she did not know much about Hegseth, but she does not believe the allegations against Trump.
“I am very excited for President Trump to be our commander-in-chief again,” she said.
Like other service members who spoke with The War Horse, she was frustrated with the way the Navy handled her assault report. But she worried the military is too focused on things that take away from core skills, and she said she hoped that under Trump, the military would focus on higher quality, but fewer and more efficient training for things like preventing sexual assault.
“I feel like we have lost a lot of our tactical mindset,” the Navy officer said. “And I feel like he [Trump] will have that oomph that we need to be warfighters again.”
But other servicemembers who spoke with The War Horse said they worried that dismissing the value of diverse contributions will undermine unit cohesion and mission readiness, arguing that the two men’s histories could signal a tacit acceptance of similar behavior in the ranks.
“You are now being given permission by the uppermost leadership to degrade your fellow service members,” an Air Force officer said.
“I think that if people try to push back against that, they have a very easy argument to say, ‘Well, that’s what the president says or thinks,’ or ‘That’s what the SECDEF says or thinks.’”
‘Life-givers, not life-takers’
Hegseth has repeatedly said that the military’s commitment to diversity undermines its lethality, lamenting in his book, The War on Warriors, what he called “a more empathetic and effeminate military.” He has said that women should not serve in combat.
“[Women are] life-givers, not life-takers,” Hegseth told conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro this summer.
“Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes,” he wrote in his book. “We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units.”
Pete Hegseth speaks with service members during New York’s Fleet Week in 2019 for the program Fox and Friends in the Morning. (Photo by Mass Communication Spc. Seaman Apprentice Brianna Thompson, U.S. Navy)
Pete Hegseth speaks with service members during New York’s Fleet Week in 2019 for the program Fox and Friends in the Morning. (Photo by Mass Communication Spc. Seaman Apprentice Brianna Thompson, U.S. Navy)
Earlier this week, Hegseth appeared to roll back his comments, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity that women are “some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors.”
“I look forward to being a secretary for all our warriors, men and women, for the amazing contributions they make in our military,” he said.
Women made up about 18% of active duty servicemembers in 2022, the most recent data available, ranging from 9% of the Marine Corps, which has the lowest percentage of women, to nearly 22% of the Air Force.
Almost a decade after the defense secretary at the time Ash Carter removed the ban on women in combat, about 4,500 women serve in combat roles in the Army and the Marines. More than 150 women have completed the grueling Army Ranger course.
Women who spoke with The War Horse said they were worried that Hegseth’s view on women in the military could directly impact their careers.
“I am very happy I was selected to serve in a combat role,” a Marine who has also worked as a sexual assault response coordinator told The War Horse. “I want to deploy. I want to do my job. I want to do the things I’ve been trained to do.”
But Hegseth’s views could impact women’s decisions to join the military, says Rachel Van Landingham, a retired Air Force JAG and a professor at Southwestern Law School.
“Why should I serve in a military that doesn’t value me and that I don’t think has my back?” she said.
Most of the service members who spoke with The War Horse said they would hesitate to recommend the military to young women today, or would only recommend it with extreme caution.
“The military,” Van Landingham said, “needs to be doubling down and being able to maximize the potential of everyone that’s actually willing to raise their hand and serve, which is still a tiny, tiny percentage of our overall country.”