I did not want to watch this documentary. The Invisible War, a documentary on sexual assault in the military, has been sitting in my Netflix instant queue just waiting for me to decide it was the right time to view it. But when is the right time to watch a documentary on sexual assault? As it turns out, it’s NOW.

My women’s studies course does a “blog share” every Friday. At the beginning of the semester each student chose a feminist blog to follow. Every Friday we come together and share one interesting blog post with the whole class. We watch videos, view images, and share our thoughts. One of my students has been following the stories of two members of the armed forces, one an Air Force lieutenant colonel, and one a U.S. Army sergeant first class (both men work in sexual-assault prevention offices on their bases) who are being investigated for sexual assault. My students are angered by what they are learning and asked that we learn more about this issue.

So I knew I had to watch the documentary.

This is a film that everyone should see. It will leave you infuriated. This film follows the stories of women (and one man) who were raped while serving in the military. They share their stories - of the assault and of the aftermath - and each one is more horrifying than the next. One woman fights the VA for medical coverage for a broken jaw she sustained during her attack; one woman struggles with daily life because of the PTSD she now experiences. All of the victims struggle with relationships and jobs. And the military and our government does nothing but say, “We’re outraged. This must stop.” But the reality is, the system is set up to silence the victims of sexual assault in the military, and there is no movement being made to change this. The leaders can say, “We have zero tolerance for rape” all they want, but until some real changes are made, incidents of rape in the military are going to continue.

It’s time to write our representatives and demand that they make immediate changes to the way our soldiers must report rape (to their superiors, who are often the rapists) and how the military handles the victims’ cases (oftentimes they “lose” all the evidence).

It’s time to really support our troops.