Base Boston: It’s where many victims of sexual assault in the service get sent.

This is about a friend of mine.

After decades of being all but ignored, the issue of sexual violence in the military has been the focus of a firestorm of attention in recent months. The Oscar-nominated documentary The Invisible War has done its part to give a face and a voice to the crisis, while Congress is working to address the issue with fervor, implementing several new laws to protect members of the armed forces, and holding a flurry of hearings in the past few months to discuss further legislation. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has called sexual assault within the ranks “unacceptable,” and President Barack Obama has said that the perpetrators of violence are “betraying the uniform.” Meanwhile, the number of reported sexual assaults jumped 34.5 percent in the past year, to 26,300.