I get asked a lot why are all the numbers all over the board about MST. The VA says - 1 in 4, the military's - less than 7%, other sites - 20%, why are all the numbers so off? One of the mistakes many people do when looking at the stats is not looking at where the numbers come from. The VA's come from veteran users of the VA system that when asked the question about MST, their answer was yes. Does that mean that everyone who says "no" did not experience MST? No, not at all. It depends on who is asking the question, when it is asked and if the veteran wants to disclose.
As I have read on the VA sites this question is asked once, well I am sure that I am not the only one who has been asked the question more than once. In fact I get asked the question - during annual exams, upon meeting a new provider, periodically during appointments, and so forth. It does not matter that I have been in the VA system almost 25 years, and from the very beginning it was listed in my records that I was sexually assaulted. Not all veterans know they can receive treatment which related to their MST experience(s), even if they are not otherwise eligible for care at the VA. And not all veterans are eligible for care at the VA.

So the VA's stats (most) come from disclosure of the veteran who is using the VA system.

Other sites utilize a limited understanding of MST, thinking that it only involves rape. Plus their stats are even less viable since most do not have the ability to know who is and who is not a veteran. Many of their numbers are derived from within and out of the military, and only for sexual assaults.

The militaries numbers are from the sexual assaults which are reported, under both their reporting choices - restricted and unrestricted.

One part of MST experiences which is overlooked is sexual harassment. And unfortunately many sexual assaults are reported under sexual harassment. In the military there is two distinctive agencies which separate what is considered a crime, and what is sexual harassment. One to law enforcement, the other to EEOC (formerly called Social Actions). There have been many reports of sexual harassment that once heard should have been directed to law enforcement because it was a crime, but they were just taken as sexual harassment complaints, and even if founded, were never taken to law enforcement.

MST is the experience of sexual assaults and sexual harassment (that is repetitive and threatening in character). There lies the problem, numbers coming from single sources, for a complexities of experience from different agencies. I have yet to see anyone talk about the numbers of sexual harassment complaints when discussing the stats for MST survivors.