A new study on sexual assault shows young, unmarried women aboard ships face the highest risk of sexual assault. Photo by Specialist 3rd C...
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By Nicholas Sakelaris, UPI
Younger, unmarried service women of lower rank in the U.S. Navy face the greatest risk of sexual assault, a new study said Friday.
The nonpartisan RAND Corp. compiled data from 170,000 active military troops in 2014 to assemble the report, which the Pentagon fought for years.
The report says the majority of Army and Marine Corps assaults of men and women happen on a few large installations -- and that women on Navy ships are at the greatest risk. The report also found that 13 of the 15 highest risk locations are ships, including eight of the 10 aircraft carriers.
The Navy's location with the greatest risk is the Naval Support Activity Charleston facility in South Carolina, where the report said one in six women risk being sexually assaulted. That's the highest risk of any military station.
The Army posts with the highest risks are Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., Osan in South Korea and Ft. Drum in New York. Women in the Marines face the highest risk at the Yuma Air Station in Arizona, 29 Psalms Combat Center in California and the Beaufort Air Station in South Carolina. The risks range from 10 percent to 15 percent.
The Air Force has the lowest risk of assault, the analysis concluded. The USAF posts with the highest risk were Laughlin in Texas and Altus and Vance in Oklahoma.
The safest places, where risk is lowest, were the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and other Washington, D.C., area headquarters.
The study found that on one particular ship, one in 25 men were assaulted -- though RAND won't name the vessel.
The Pentagon has been criticized for delaying the report and not giving people more information.
"It's extremely disappointing the Pentagon would delay releasing this report," said Don Christensen, president of Protect Our Defenders. "The report contains never-before-seen-risk estimates by installation."
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