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  1. Szulecki, Diane Associate Editor

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On this month's cover, U.S. Army generals attend the commencement ceremony for the annual observance of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM) at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. SAAPM is recognized by both military and civilian communities each April.

  
Figure. On this mont... - Click to enlarge in new window On this month's cover, U.S. Army generals attend the commencement ceremony for the annual observance of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images.

This year, the military chose the theme "Eliminate Sexual Assault: Know Your Part. Do Your Part" to focus its observance of SAAPM, encouraging not only awareness of the problem but active intervention to solve it. "[T]hat's not just a slogan, it's one of your missions," Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement. The Pentagon also noted its commitment to fighting sexual assault: "By sustaining the right command climate, ensuring leadership support, and empowering service members to safely intervene, we can create the environment to stop sexual assault as well as retaliation against victims who report it."

 

Despite increased attention and interventions targeting sexual assault in the military, it remains a pervasive problem for service members of both sexes, and can jeopardize victims' mental health. For an overview of how military sexual assault specifically affects men-including the barriers to reporting assaults and seeking treatment-read this month's CE, "Military Sexual Trauma in Male Service Members."-Diane Szulecki, associate editor