Protect Our Defenders

Military sexual-assault survivor advocacy nonprofit · Founded 2011 by Nancy Parrish; Senior Vice President Josh Connolly is its voice in its 2026 statements

The national organization dedicated to ending sexual violence in the military — and to representing the survivors the system leaves without counsel. It provides free legal and other assistance to survivors, including veterans and civilians the military itself provides no lawyer, through its pro bono network and intake. Active this year: an August 21, 2026 statement challenging the Pentagon’s progress claims, and support for a bipartisan bill that would finally let service members sue the military for sexual assault.

Why we carry them. When the institution is the accused, survivors need counsel the institution does not control — this is that counsel, free, with a decade of case record.

Start here — their essential work

• New Pentagon Report Claims Progress as Survivors Tell Protect Our Defenders the System Is Broken (2026-08-21) — Its answer to the Pentagon’s FY2025 sexual-assault report: lower reported rates may reflect fear of reporting, not fewer assaults — two of three victims still did not report.
• Bipartisan Bill Would Allow Servicemembers to Sue the Military for Sexual Assault (2026-06-26) — Backing the Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act, which would let service members bring the civil claims every civilian already can.
• Statement: Army Major Convicted of Serial Sexual Assault After Military Failed to Support 15 Victims — A conviction won with outside pro bono support because the Army provided civilian victims no legal or advocacy services of its own.
• Statement: Army Doctor Sentenced to 164 Months for 41 Counts of Sexual Assault (2025-01-15) — The maximum sentence in one of the largest military sexual-assault cases in recent history — and the unanswered questions about how the abuse continued across facilities.
• Statement: Army Doctor Pleads Guilty in Historic Military Sexual Assault Case; Court to Decide Fate — On the guilty plea in the Madigan Army Hospital case, and male survivors forced to go to the media before the institution would hear them.
• Army Major Charged with Sexual Assault-Related Charges Involving at Least 20 Alleged Victims — Its pro bono offer to survivors in the Washington-area case — many of them civilians entitled to no military-provided representation at all.

Summaries are ours. The work is theirs — we link to it, we don’t lift it. Visit Protect Our Defenders →