we will be bringing you all the news, of that g-20 meeting that is taking place in st. petersburg an obama's initialive to try to get some support for sper srepbgs in sir kwrapbd we'll be fil. when victims are looking for help. do you hear a difference in their stories today? have things advanced over the past almost two decades? >> i have yet to hear a successful prosecution story from a victim that felt like she or he had received justice. i look forward to hearing about more convictions. however, until it's taken out of the chain of command i think we're still dealing with a friendship issue here with the boss. >> what would that look like. >> if the boss knows the rapist. >> how would that do going up the chain of command? >> just like civilians we get medical professionals, we have mental health professionals, we get access to support and encouragement. in the military you don't get any of that if you don't go awol. at this point, it's very difficult to be released from your military contract after reporting rape. and when you're feeling like you're trapped in the unity and you just want -- unit and get out of the military the military doesn't make it easy so you are stuck there and you are on that base most likely with the rapist or his friends or his community. and you're stuck. and -- or the option is, you can do an expedited transfer for the victim. which would remove the victim from the area. where she or he has been receiving support. and transfer them to a whole new base. and take their records with them so the new base gets to know what just happened at the old post. >> katy weber, thanks very much for sharing your situation. a rape crisis counselor and a veteran of the u.s. army. thanks katy. >> thank you.

>> coming up, taking control of the investigating cases outside that military chain of command. stay with us.

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>> we must acknowledge that even here, even in our military we've seen how the misconduct of some can have effects that ripple far and wide. those that commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime. they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong. >> that's president obama at the military academy graduation this year. joining us in our studio is morris davis, from charleston south carolina, connie best, from the medical university of success. and also in our studio j.d. gordon, retired, former pept gone spokesman. connie beft, is experiencing sexual assault in the military different than experiencing sexual assault when you're a civilian? >> there are similarities and some that are the same. i think different in the civilian community they may work and live in the same area that the person that assaulted them lives. they may be in the same squadron, the same unit and they may also live in the same dormitory or barracks. you don't have that same overlap in the civilian community. but otherwise a rape that's experienced by victims, the same. they are people and they have been traumatized whether they are male or female. and that is probably a larger component that they experience it the same no matter if they're a military member or a member of the civilian communities. >> and connie best people who enter the military they get strong internally, as well as physically. what is it like when they are able the tell people, they've experienced it, can they point the finger that they're not at fault?

>> i think victims are you know, they're individuals or people, they experience it differently. but i think one of the things is, it is still a little bit stigmatizing to say that they are a rape victim. we wish that was not so. because if it was not so then they would come forward probably earlier and get interventions and treatment and medical treatment particularly maybe even legal intervention at an earlier state. but a victim of a sexual assault is traumatic to people, doesn't matter that background and doesn't matter if they are military or civilian. it does change them, it is a life changing event. >> j. d, everything from war fatigue to the economy in general, how do the external forces impact the situation? >> well, i think that military morale is low right now. we've seen an all time high for military suicides, they're double since 2001 and if you count the military they're triple. i think the extended words, the decreasing benefits are really pushing the military to where you have problems. and one of the problems is an increase in sexual assaults. now i think on balance sexual assaults are lower than when i first came in the military. they were 47 lent then, they are much less now. >> do you have numbers for that or anecdotal? >> anecdotal, when i first joined the military in the '80s aa midshipman sexual assaults were relative ly common. they are less common now because the culture has changed. they can't be overin politicized because a lot of the gray area cases will become black and white cases. >> how do you take the responsibility and put it in the right place? members of the military facing a lot of challenges, if you perpetrate an assault you're still to imlaim. you can't blame the culture at large, how do you deal with that? >> you need a balance. secretary hagel is doing right thing to address it. you can't let it go unchecked. you have to address it. you can't do things like he's looking to do like transfer or reassign the people that accuse the accusers, that will hurt morale further because basically if you are saying that anybody who is either an accused or accuser you can transfer them, i think a lot of people are miserable in their circumstances both from the accused and accusers, to transfer a person out is appliqué a get out of jail free card and could result in worse morale. >> do you believe that? >> even an allegation of a sexual assault is a difficult problem. >> mang imagine that if you are

a victim and still have to work with a person earn who assaulted you. >> i have seen cases, not often but someone who an alleged victim realized they were on a path of trouble and this was used as kind of a hands off me, i'm an alleged victim. so it is a difficult problem. what i really think the military needs to do though is change the culture. not treat the illness after it's happened, prevent the illness. >> how would you do that? >> when we came in the military there was a boys club environment, anything goes, testosterone environment. but now that we have women in the military, openly serving gays and lesbians, we have got to make this where you don't assault your team about mates. it's one team, one fight, male, female, gay, straight. there is no one worse than someone being a child sex abuser, there ought to be a stigma attached to being a sexual abuser. >> dr. best how does the culture need to change in order to help prevent sexual assaults? >> i don't think there's any magic bullet or one particular way. i think it takes a combination of training, they have a saying in the military death by powerpoint, you don't want to do that. you want to address the issues that are there, you want to try to change the culture. there are a lot of interventions, bystander interventions where you say to people, even though you're watching it, you are not engaged in it, you oar participant in it, and you don't assault people in your unit or your squadron. i think it is a multipronged approach to it, i think having accountability within the legal system is another part of that. if people are not brought forth in terms of being held accountable there then that's an issue. i think you really have to step back. you have to learn what you can do. the military can take some pointers from the civilian community just as the civilian community can take pointers from house -- >> sorry but we're out of time. thank you so much to all of you for joining us today. that's it for now from the team in washington, d.c, an from me libby casey.

welcome to al jazeera. the obama administration is planning to widen the attacks on syria. the president is believed to have ordered the pe ordered theo expand the list of targets beyond the 50 that were identified. they are using french aircraft of hit specific strikes in addition from tamahawk cruise missiles in the eastern mediterranean. other options are b stealth pomers which carry satellite-guided weapons. the