My boyfriend was sexually assaulted when we were in the navy. Then I made the mistake of speaking up. Credit: Thomas James

My boyfriend was sexually assaulted when we were in the navy. Then I made the mistake of speaking up.

I will probably always regret speaking up. Thomas James

I think there were seven witnesses, but I remember only four distinct faces.

We were sitting in a waiting room of the Judge Advocate General’s building of Naval Base Kitsap on the Kitsap Peninsula. Inside the courtroom, there were high ceilings, brass fixtures, pews for spectators, flags, and wooden jury benches that rose up like stadium seating. Men in dress uniform stood as sentinels at every exit and by every important figure present.