Last week, 3rd Congressional District U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, introduced a bill called the Protecting Military Honor Act of 2017. The bill puts safeguards in place to prevent service members from being wrongly discharged for conditions resulting from sexual trauma. For veterans, this bill improves the process by which they may seek redress for wrongful discharges, according to a press release from the congresswoman.
Herrera Beutler successfully added two amendments related to her legislation to the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the U.S. House Friday.
“Our service members who have survived a sexual assault have already been through so much, I can’t imagine compounding that trauma with the damaging impact and stigma of carrying an ‘other than honorable’ discharge around for the rest of their lives,” Herrera Beutler said. “Unfortunately, we’ve discovered that this has happened to tens of thousands of military veterans.”
Beutler added, “The very least we can do when someone who is willing to die for our nation has reported an assault is ensure their rights are preserved. Assault survivors in the military are more likely to suffer from PTSD than other combat veterans; they’re more likely to need counseling, care and assistance, and the last thing our country should do is turn its back on them. We can’t undo the assaults these individuals have endured, but we can make sure that justice is on their side. This bill begins to restore that justice.”
