U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel Allyn, U.S. Navy Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michelle Howard, U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry O. Spencer and U.S. Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen. John Paxton appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support on March 25, 2015. (Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory/MEDILL NSJI)

WASHINGTON – Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., asked top U.S. military brass for an update on the current status of military sexual assault cases within the armed forces in a Senate hearing Wednesday.

The hearing, hosted by the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, focused on the current state of U.S. military readiness, especially under the influence of sequestration.

Those who gave testimony included U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel Allyn, U.S. Navy Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michelle Howard, U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry O. Spencer and U.S. Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen. John Paxton.

Ayotte, chairwoman of the subcommittee, said that she would be remiss if she didn’t take time during the hearing’s question and answer period to ask for such a status report from the senior leaders of the four military branches.

The four witnesses each gave a description of how their respective service was working to combat the problem of sexual assault in the military.

Listen to each of their responses:

United States Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel Allyn:

United States Navy Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michelle Howard:

United States Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen. John Paxton:

United States Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry O. Spencer:

What do you think of the officers’ responses? Are they consistent with your own research and reporting on sexual assault in the military? Sound off on Twitter by tweeting to @NatSecZone with the hashtag #NatSecSoundoff.

Under the new policy, new recruits will not be allowed to have tattoos that show below the elbows and knees or above the neckline, Chandler told troops. Current soldiers may be grandfathered in, but all soldiers will still be barred from having any tattoos that are racist, sexist or extremist.

Once the rules are implemented, soldiers will sit down with their unit leaders and “self identify” each tattoo. Soldiers will be required to pay for the removal of any tattoo that violates the policy, Chandler said.

““We’re just waiting for the secretary to sign,” Army Sgt. Maj. Raymond Chandler told troops during a visit to Afghanistan.

(HT Natalie Jones for flagging the story).

“The Army put a lot of focus on domestic violence because there’s been a lot of political pressure,” said Dr. Rene Robichaux, social work programs manager at Army Medical Command. “There hasn’t been a concurrent interest in child abuse.”

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Campbell said he was not aware of the extent of the epidemic. . . .

Of the 29,552 cases of child abuse and neglect in active-duty Army families from 2003 through 2012, according to Army Central Registry data, 15,557 were committed by soldiers, the others by civilians — mostly spouses. . . .

The Army’s child abuse and neglect epidemic is tragic and rapidly getting worse: Last year’s 3,698 reported cases of abuse and neglect represented a 40 percent increase over the 2,626 in 2009.

The causes are not fully explained or understood anywhere, but the spike in abuse and neglect cases dovetails with the grind of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a policy of allowing people with criminal backgrounds into the ranks.

While the rate of abuse within Army families is significantly lower than the population as a whole — 4.5 per 1,000 vs. 27.4 — “the number of Army cases has spiked 28 percent between 2008 and 2011, while the number of civilian cases has increased by 1.1 percent,” Army Times reported.

Graphic from Army Times story on epidemic of child abuse in Army families.

There was a potential suicide on average every 1.2 days for active duty and inactive reserves combined, about same as a year ago. For inactive reserves, however, a potential suicide every 3.1 days a year ago is now every 2.3 days. Among active duty, it’s one every 2.4 days vs. 2.1 days in the first half of 2012.

The rise in suicides among inactive reserves compared to active duty began in late 2012 and has continued almost each month for most of this year. For June, inactive reserves were again lower than active duty, 8 vs. 14. The increase is not necessarily surprising given the recent drawdown in troops in Afghanistan and declines in active duty personnel.

The table below shows year-to-date data for this year and 2012.

SOURCE: National Security Zone analysis and aggregation of Pentagon data.

Each month, the Army reports potential suicides for the previous month, broken down by active duty and inactive reserves (Army National Guard and Army Reserves), and by number confirmed and still under investigation. Each release updates numbers from the previous month’s release, and includes a running year-to-date total, as well as annual totals for the previous year. The latter are updated during the first months of the following year to reflect additional confirmations.

Review and download our archived monthly and annual data on military suicides.

MILITARY SUICIDES: Potential suicides among inactive U.S. Army reservists troops are up 25% through March compared to the same period a year ago, data from the Army shows. The number of potential suicides among active duty soliders is down 9%.

Reserve inactive suicides drove the increase, with 20 more potential suicides in the first quarter vs. 2012. The number of potential active duty suicides declined by four.   

Army suicides were up significantly last year compared to a year earlier — 325 either confirmed or under investigation among active duty and inactive reservists, compared to 283 confirmed the year before. Across all military branches, active duty suicides were up 16% over 2011, with the Army comprising the largest share, data released earlier this year show. 

View more data, including downloadable spreadsheets.

UNEMPLOYMENT:  Unemployment among 9/11-era veterans dropped slightly in March compared to the month before — 9.2% vs. 9.4%, but edged up slightly for women to 11.8% compared to 11.6%, new federal data shows.

The rate for 9/11-era women was up from a year ago — 8% v. 7.4% — while the overall rate for men and women combined was down to 7.1% from 7.5%. 

The rate for all veterans in March was up slightly to 7.1% from a month earlier, but showed improvement over the 7.5% rate in March 2012. A total of 783,000 veterans were unemployed in March. Of those, 207,000 — or 26% — were in the service since 9/11. The civilian unemployment rate in March was 7.4%.

Review and download the unemployment data.

For 2011, there were 165 active-duty suicides and all cases are closed.

Numbers also could rise for non-active duty troops. For 2012, there were 143 potential suicides, of which 117 have been confirmed and 26 remain under investigation. In 2011, there were 118 confirmed suicides in the National Guard and Army Reserves, with the Guard making up about 70% of them. 

The Associated Press and others earlier in January reported 349 potential active duty military suicides for 2012 across all military branches, including 182 in the Army — the largest share of all. The 349 total was a 16% increase over 2011.

View 2012 data by month.

SOURCE: On the Beat chart based on U.S. Army data

SOURCE: On the Beat chart based on U.S. Army data