miranda peterson the programs and policy director joins me now.ll me about the retaliation that women face in the military when they report sexual harassment or sexual assault. >> they are dealing with trauma from that but 62% are saying that they are facing retaliation and this is not just hurt feelings because you weren't invited to a party or feeling left out. this is severe retaliation. this is being isolated from your unit. being harassed. being bullied. losing out on promotion opportunities or even being forced out of the military. so it's very severe. it makes it very difficult to recover from the assault and often leads to careers being ended. >> i know the military has been trying to solve this problem, has it made any progress at all in your mind? >> i think numbers speak for themselves. last year alone 20,000 service members are estimated to have experienced at least one sexual assault. that's just in the last year. 62% continue to say they were retaliated against. that's the vast majority of survivors. it really speaks to a system that

miranda peterson: good morning. my name is miranda peterson. i'm the policy director. i would like to recognize the incredible work of human rights watch human rights watch and shining the light of this devastated issue. we have been honored to work with them on this report. i'd also like to acknowledge survivors who were here today and who contributed to the report for demonstrating so much strength and shared stories of retaliation and reprisal. this report exposes the grave reality for the majority of survivors of sexual assault in the military. retaliation is the norm and is often severe. superiors either look the other way or are engaged in retaliation as well. this report affirms what we see daily through our pro bono network to a servicemembers who face retaliation have nowhere within the system to turn and most likely no one will be held accountable. this leave survivors with two practical survivors solutions. you can either suffer in silence or leave the military that you love. last year as you heard according to the pentagon, 62% of the victims who reported t

video which will be five minutes and then megan rhoads will summarize our findings and then miranda peterson, program and policy director from protecter defenders, will give a few remarks. after that, vicki phipps, who recently last week, left the army we'll get her perspective from someone who was a commandser and witnessed retaliation and experienced retaliation herself, and then at the end we have sayre a bridges whoa will do most speaking in the video but will also be available to answer questions about her experience in the air force, and i'm sarah senior counsel in the u.s. program and human rights watch. >> reporting sexual assault in the military is not easy. you hear these stories. they all have the same ending. never ends well for the victim. i've been in the military -- i joint in the milner 2008 before all of this happened, my initial goal was to outrank my father, who served for 33 years. >> we interviewed 150 service members and veterans across all branch's the military who experienced retaliation after reporting sexual assault. >> administrative punishment and all that. >> we'