A culture that fosters sexual assaults and sexual harassment persists despite prevention efforts,...

MY COMMENT:
You end on the most important thing. People vs Mission. The misison of the military is to win armed conflicts. So why not do the things you know will optimally win conflicts? Instead there is enormous waste of personnel, time and financial resources on trying to fix somjething that simply shouldn't exist. In our PC world of gender equality we can't seem to get out of our own way. Men and women are NATURALLY attracted to each other. Homosexuals are attracted to each other. A few of each are predators. And what do those things have to do with winning armed conflicts? Women can fight. There is a long history of women being effective in battle, including Molly Pitcher, Harriet Tubman, and Leighann Hester, to name a few. Many countries have all women military units that contain effective and efficient warfighters. The ABILITY is not in question, setting the envoronment for success is the question. Women and men are separated in sports at around 12 to 13 years of age for a reason. They are physically different in ways that makes it easy to predict with 99% accuracy one's ability in certain sports, such as collision and contact sports. Looking at sport performance at the highest level, the best women are better than most men. In the military, those who make it through basic training and boot camp are acceptable, but there are always those who push the envelope, who score above the highest percentile. These are your elite soldiers, sailors, airmen/women, Coasties and Marines. The women among these can be effective warfighters, IF they are allowed to serve TOGETHER instead with men. All women units would not completely eliminate sexual harrassment and sexual assault, but a combination of single gender forces and a return to "Don't ask, don't tell," with its focus on behavior, would eliminate almost all of the problem and then allow the military to focus on mission first, people always. We can admit that human sexuality has no place in the military, but if we don't DO something about it, it will continue to consume us. Just like with hurricanes, tornados, tidal waves, earthquakes, forest fires and volcano eruptions, humans cannot always control nature, and human sexuality contains a powerful natural force that cannot be trained out of people. Personal integrity and values determine a person's actions, not surveys, focus groups and training. The morality of individuals sets the stage for success or failure, and most of that is hard-wired before a person joins the military. Separating the genders, especially for combat arms, will allow the focus to remain mainly on the mission and the effective defense of this country. We've been chasing our PC tails for too long on this.