Protect Our Defenders and Volare Partner to Expand Pro Bono Legal Access for Survivors as Fort Hood Court-Martial Looms
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2026
Contact: Brian Purchia, 202-253-4330, brian@protectourdefenders.com
***PRESS RELEASE***
As Sec. Hegseth Moves to Shift Authority from Independent Military Lawyers to Political Appointees — Partnership Expands Attorneys for Survivors
Washington, D.C. — [March 16, 2026] — Protect Our Defenders (POD) and Volare today announce a strategic partnership to expand and strengthen access to pro bono, high-quality, independent legal services for military-connected survivors of sexual assault and abuse, as both organizations face increasing demand. This collaboration unites POD’s survivor-centered support, advocacy, policy reform, and frontline expertise with Volare’s national pro bono legal infrastructure – ensuring that survivors of military sexual assault have expanded access to trauma-informed, professionally trained legal support and advocacy. The announcement comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launches a sweeping review of military lawyers that could further erode the legal guardrails meant to protect survivors and enforce accountability.
Recent revelations of widespread abuse and assault at Fort Hood’s Darnall Medical Center underscore the critical need for qualified independent legal services for our service members and their families. In cases like the Fort Hood abuse investigation – where the military justice system does not provide adequate victim support – POD and its Pro Bono Legal Network often become the only source of confidential, pro bono advocacy and legal support available. POD is currently assisting survivors connected to the Fort Hood case, including assistance as the case moves toward trial.
“Together, POD and Volare are building a coordinated national approach to survivor support,” said Nancy Parrish, CEO and Founder of Protect Our Defenders. “When the military justice system fails to provide survivors with timely, professionally trained attorneys and advocates, this partnership ensures servicemembers, veterans, and civilians are not left to navigate it alone.”
Military-connected survivors face unique barriers to enforcing their rights, including complex jurisdictional systems, geographic isolation, leadership failures, and limited access to attorneys with dedicated trauma-informed victims’ rights training. As a result, survivors are frequently forced to navigate high-stakes proceedings without independent representation – particularly in the early stages, when legal decisions can determine the entire course of a case.
“What we are seeing at Fort Hood is not an isolated failure – it’s part of a pattern,” said Parrish. “For more than a decade, POD and the attorneys in our pro bono network have stepped in where the system has failed, and demand for our services has only grown. The scale of the crisis is stark: nearly one in four women experience sexual assault during their military service, then must endure a lengthy, often dysfunctional and retraumatizing legal and administrative process.”
“As military justice reforms expand survivors’ rights, access to attorneys who specialize in enforcing those rights has not kept pace – especially during critical early proceedings,” said Bridgette Stumpf, CEO and Co-Founder of Volare. “By partnering with Protect Our Defenders, we are creating an expanded national pathway from survivor intake to specialized legal representation, strengthening both survivor support and systemic accountability.”
The impact of independent civilian representation is evident in recent landmark cases. With the 2025 prosecution of Army physician Col. Michael Stockin – one of the largest sexual assault cases in recent military history – POD’s Pro Bono Legal Network was instrumental in connecting survivors, identifying patterns of abuse, and ensuring victims had the legal support necessary for the case to proceed to conviction. POD played a similar role in the Batt case, in which a senior Army medical officer was convicted in 2025 after leadership failures left survivors without adequate protection or support.
This partnership formalizes and expands POD’s existing work. POD will continue to serve as a trusted first point of contact for survivors, offering advocacy and survivor-centered guidance, while Volare provides the national referral infrastructure needed to quickly match survivors with pro bono attorneys who have the right expertise for their cases. Volare is widely recognized for excellence in crime victims’ rights enforcement, including its nationally respected DV LEAP program.
For many survivors, these legal pathways are the only avenue to justice. Because the Feres doctrine bars service members from seeking accountability in federal court for harms suffered while on active duty, survivors are often left with no recourse beyond the military justice system itself.
About Protect Our Defenders
Protect Our Defenders is the pre-eminent national human rights organization dedicated to ending sexual violence, victim retaliation, misogyny, and discrimination in the military, and combating a culture that has allowed abuse to persist. POD provides free, confidential advocacy and legal support to servicemembers, veterans, and civilians while advancing systemic reform.
Learn more at protectourdefenders.com.
About Volare
Volare is a national pro bono organization advancing justice for survivors of sexual and domestic violence by connecting them with expert legal representation, appellate advocacy, and holistic survivor support through a proven national referral model.
Learn more at volare-empowers.org.
Media Contacts
Brian Purchia Bridgette Stumpf
Protect Our Defenders Fdn CEO and Co-Founder, Volare
brian@protectourdefenders.com press@volare-empowers.org
(202) 253-4330 (202) 742-1727
