Congresswoman Louise Slaughter says there's been a 50 percent increase in the number of reported sexual assaults in the military since 2012.
She delivered opening remarks at today's Serve. Honor. Support. Symposium at Nazareth College.
The non-profit CDS Monarch, through its Warrior Salute program, organized the event to raise awareness of Military Sexual Trauma, or MST.
Tom Tartaglia is program development manager for the program.
He says the Warrior Salute program's mission is to help veterans with traumatic brain injury and/or post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
And PTSD is a derivative of MST with 85 percent of people with military sexual trauma having the same symptomology as those with PTSD.
Tartaglia says both men and women are victims of MST.
He says his group offers a private and subtle approach, serving veterans with individualized counseling and treatment.
Moving forward, Tartaglia says they want to find other community agencies that can help with what is a major issue in the military.
Congresswoman Slaughter said there's no doubt sexual assault in the military has reached epidemic proportions, and its essential victims get receive the care they need.