by TChris

It's hard enough to be a soldier in an environment that makes it difficult to identify the enemy. It's all the more difficult for women, who have to defend themselves not just from enemy attacks, but from men who are supposed to be on their side.

The number of sexual assaults of female soldiers is hard to pin down, in part because the crime frequently goes unreported. The numbers are nonetheless disturbing.

Defense Department numbers show that from August 2002 through October 2004, 118 cases of sexual assault on military personnel were reported in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. But the Miles Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps victims of military domestic violence and sexual assault, reports that it was contacted by 258 military assault victims in the combat theater during that same time span. That number rose to 307 through mid-February, according to the foundation.

According to an investigation by The Sacramento Bee, the problem extends beyond rape.