THIS IS HOW TO HONOR OUR VETERANS

Dear Friend: Would you ask a commander without flight training to fly a fighter jet or a commander without medical training to perform surgery? Then why do we ask commanders who don't have legal training to make legal judgments about serious crimes like sexual assault?  Now is the time. We need your help to fix this — write your Senators right now.  The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014 is currently scheduled to come to the Senate floor next week and we urgently need your help to ensure that the Military Justice Improvement Act is included as an amendment. This legislation would reform the military justice system by moving the decision-making on whether and how to prosecute serious offenses, like sexual assault, out of the chain of command and give these decisions to trained, experienced military prosecutors.  This Veterans Day, we need you to do the right thing and honor our soldiers by making the reforms needed to address the rising number of sexual assaults in the military, improve our nation's military justice system and strengthen — not weaken — the role of commanders so they can concentrate on actually improving the climate in their commands that can help prevent sexual assaults.  They work to protect us every day — now protect them when they need it most.  Until perpetrators see that they will be held accountable for their acts, the number of sexual assaults is not likely to go down. And until survivors of sexual assault have confidence in the military justice system, the number of reports of such assaults is not likely to increase. This legislation works to instill that confidence.  We are just about 10 Senators away from passage — make sure your Senators do the right thing.  Together we have fought for months to bring the Military Justice Improvement Act to a vote, and now there is a bipartisan group of Senators who believe our service men and women deserve better. Please help show that you do, too.  Sincerely, Nancy Duff Campbell  Co-President  National Women's Law Center