Being in the military means job security, admiration from people around you and a sense of nobility that most jobs don’t have. It is a commitment to a cause greater than yourself. Being in the military means a sense of camaraderie and friendship unlike anything in civilian life—if you’re a man.

If you’re a woman, being in the military can often mean getting raped or sexually assaulted; in a survey of female veterans, more than one third said they had experienced sexual assault. Often, rapes go unreported and women have to serve alongside their rapist as they get told by their superiors to say nothing. Being a woman in the military means not drinking water after 7 p.m., say female soldiers deployed overseas, to avoid getting raped going to the bathroom at night.

More than 19,000 servicemen and women were raped or sexually assaulted in 2010, according to Department of Defense statistics, with the Pentagon admitting that only 13 percent of rapes are reported.

And even if the crime is reported, the statistics are grim: only 8 percent of reported sexual assaults end in conviction, with an unthinkable 80 percent of those convicted of sexual assault charges released on honorable discharge. In many cases, unit commanders are hesitant to do anything because it would get them in trouble—it’s easier for them to ignore the problem.

Veterans filed a class action lawsuit against Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld this February to change how the Pentagon deals with charges of sexual assault. As it stands, the Pentagon largely does nothing. The Pentagon has essentially ignored the recommendations in the 18 reports on sexual assault conducted in the last 16 years.

Some would argue that in a time of war, when America is embroiled in conflicts in two countries, all military attention should be focused on the enemy. Yet, it’s precisely for this reason that we need to devote resources to the problem of military rape: when America is involved in the longest running conflict in it’s history, we can’t afford to shortchange our soldiers. They are more important than ever before, and when we subject them to a dangerous military culture, how can we expect them to fight for us?

Something needs to change in the way the military deals with sexual assault. The military is taking steps in the right direction with a sexual assault victim’s hotline they created recently, but that’s not enough. Commanders need training to deal with such crimes, and need to act in the best interests of the people in their unit. Women (and men) need and option to anonymously report sexual offenses. Right now, everything about the process is transparent, causing many women to be mocked or ostracized when the information becomes public. There is a sense of grandeur and dignity to serving in the military unlike any other profession in our country. If we want to keep it that way, we need to protect the people protecting us.