Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the nation’s newest Army officers on Saturday that they’re now on the front lines of a new battle against the growing problem of sexual assault in the military.
Hagel drew applause at the graduation ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. when he told the crowd: “These crimes have no place - no place - in the greatest military on earth. Other threats to the health and the quality of the all-volunteer force are increasing – alcohol and drug abuse, suicide and mental illness, sexual harassment and sexual assault,” Hagel said. “You will need to not just deal with these debilitating, insidious and destructive forces but rather be you must be the generation of leaders that stop it.”
