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More than one-quarter of all women in the military reported sexual assault at least once over their military careers, the survey found.

Hetherington said from across the country, he is receiving a report each day of some type of harassment incident, but that is a good thing because it means harassment is no longer hidden or not being discussed.

“The important thing is that our soldiers are reporting them,” he said. “They are saying, ‘Look, I don’t accept that behaviour from someone on my team and I don’t accept this as being put upon one of my teammates, regardless of how innocuous it is.’

“There is still issues out there and we are doing more than I’ve seen in my 30 years in the service to address it … (but) we’ve got to get it to zero.”

Hetherington said it was important to leverage the courage shown by soldiers in battle to also stand up for their comrades.

“The courage that it takes to charge up a hill against machinegun fire that every one of these men and women are prepared to do, it’s that courage that they need to step in when there is any kind of maltreatment or discrimination or harassment. (It’s) taking the courage to step up and say I’m not going to stand for that.”

As for sufferers of PTSD, Hetherington said significant changes have been made in identification of sufferers and the creation of supports.

“It’s not just a soldier’s condition; we know that families have to deal with this as well,” he said. “We have come miles and we continue to develop.

“There is not a leader in the Canadian Army now that is not cognizant of the challenges that our soldiers face and how to look for the signs.”

Joint Task Force West is responsible for the conduct of domestic operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, while 3rd Canadian Division is responsible for all Canadian Army administration and operations from the Pacific Ocean to Thunder Bay, Ont. Both are based in Edmonton.

jgraney@postmedia.com

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