Over a dozen U.S. veterans have filed a class action lawsuit seeking to force the Pentagon to reform its handling of sexual abuse. The group of more than a dozen women and two men each claim to have been victimized by rape and other abuses within the military. The suit alleges that sexual crimes generally go unpunished and that victims are often forced to continue serving alongside the perpetrators. One of the plaintiffs, Kori Cioca of the U.S. Coast Guard, told her story to the Associated Press.

Kori Cioca: "Well, long story short, I was raped. When I told my command, they waited. They didn’t do anything to help me. It’s like they didn’t care, it wasn’t important — I wasn’t important. The Coast Guard is the life-saving service, yet they didn’t save mine."

In another case, an Army Reservist says two male servicemembers raped her in Iraq, left her with severe bruises, and then distributed a videotape of the attack. The reservist says no charges were filed after their commander concluded she "did not act like a rape victim" and "did not struggle enough" on the tape. The lawsuit calls for creation of an independent third party to handle sexual abuse complaints instead of military commanders.