Free Paper Sample on Sexual Assault and Substance Abuse Issues Within the Military

Brief Issue Description

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

In the military, alcohol substance abuse and sexual assault are prevalent issues irrespective of the numerous efforts implemented to address them. The lack of progress within the army results from the complexities associated with substance abuse and sexual assaults. Nevertheless, irrespective of the various efforts implemented to address the issues, significant appreciation, and understanding concerning these complexities is appropriate. For instance, concerning substance abuse, addiction also serves as a growing problem, which also leads to the tremendous rise of the diverse sexual assault cases. When likened to the civilian sector, the rate of using alcohol among service members is approximately three times higher. When in the military setting, the service members are subject to diverse stressful conditions, leading them to result to alcohol to allow them in dealing with stresses associated with combat, war, and daily life (Farris & Hepner, 2016).

Moreover, sexual assaults remain a growing problem within the military to the extent that over 20,000 service members witnessed unwanted sexual encounter in 2014. tA majority of these sexual assaults surprisingly take place in combat settings. Estimates reveal that between 9.5 to 43 percent of sexual assaults occur among women and from 1 to 12 percent in the case of women. The DoD (Department of Defense) defines sexual assault as any form of intentional sexual encounter characterized through the use of intimidation, threats, force, or authority abuse, or even in cases where the victim does not consent (Castro, Kintizie, Schuyler, Lucas, & Warner, 2015). The DoD has introduced several problems for dealing with the issues, although the issues remain dominant. In this sense, it is ideal for the military to consider devising effective ways of dealing with the challenges to make sure that the service members manage to operate efficiently in their endeavors.

Research Plans

In identifying the sexual assault and substance abuse issues within the military, the study will gather information from web sources and journals. The sources will provide information concerning the problems affecting the military and the ideal ways of dealing with the challenge.

Anticipated Solutions

In coping with the growing issues of alcohol substance abuse and sexual assaults within the military, the DoD should consider devising definitive measures that would contribute to the decline in the cases of drug addiction and sexual assaults within the military (Castro, Kintizie, Schuyler, Lucas, & Warner, 2015). They should consider introducing measures for controlling misuse of alcohol as well as sexual assaults respectively. Because alcohol contributes to the rise in peoples vulnerability, it might also lead people to serve as sexual assault victims (Farris & Hepner, 2016).

Anticipated Course of Action

The ideal course of action for eliminating the issue of drug and substance abuse as well as sexual assaults, the DoD should consider implementing measures of reducing alcohol consumption among service members. It would be possible to realize this through introducing programs for reducing drinking, such as making sure that service members who abuse alcohol or other related substances are subject to disciplinary measures, including suspension from the force (Castro, Kintizie, Schuyler, Lucas, & Warner, 2015). Also, the military should also implement effective ways of identifying sexual assault perpetrators to make sure they receive the ideal disciplinary action upon engaging in such issues. The DoD should also consider introducing programs, which educate individuals concerning the benefits of refraining from alcohol abuse while at the same time adding other leisure activities, such as sports, which would allow the military members to deal with the stressful situations they encounter while in the force (Farris & Hepner, 2016).

References

Castro, C. A., Kintizie, S., Schuyler, A. C., Lucas, C. L., & Warner, C. H. (2015). Sexual assault in the military. Current Psychiatry Reports, 17(54), 1-13.

Farris, C., & Hepner, K. A. (2016). Targeting Alcohol Misuse: A Promising Strategy for Reducing Military Sexual Assaults? Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR538.html