Pentagon reports decrease in Army sexual assaults for the second consecutive year

The Department of Defense published a report on Thursday revealing a decrease of nearly 4% in reported sexual assaults in the Army during fiscal year 2024, marking the second consecutive year of reduction in this criminal activity.

According to the report, there were 8,195 reported cases of sexual assault involving service members in 2024, compared with 8,515 in 2023 and 8,942 in 2022.

However, other military services experienced increases: the Navy reported a 4.3% increase, the Air Force a 2.2% increase, and the Marine Corps a slight increase of less than 1%.

Despite the decrease, Pentagon officials emphasized that the numbers remain alarmingly high and that many victims still do not report incidents.

Nate Galbreath, director of the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, noted that while progress in response processes is encouraging, the problem is probably much larger than annual reports reflect. 

In the same vein, the Pentagon also stated, "Sexual violence has no place in our military — it will not be tolerated, condoned, or ignored. Such actions undermine unit cohesion, readiness, lethality and fundamentally contradict our efforts to restore the warrior ethos.”