In 1993, North Carolina became the last state to abolish the marital rape exemption. I had just graduated from UNC-Greensboro wide-eyed and bushy tailed as they say, and was honored to assist attorneys fighting for that change. Years later, after being certified in the Army's inaugural class for Special Victims' Counsel (the name changed from Special Victim Advocate to this DURING the course - I still have the brochure), and after getting my first National Guard victim-spouse-client, I discovered that the Department of Defense has two separate systems for reporting sexual assault, and distinguishes sexual assault in two categories.
The first is “other than spouse/intimate partner or child” sexual assault (DODI 6495.02), and is reported via Sexual Assault Response Coordinators (“SARCs”). The second is for assaults involving “a spouse, intimate partner, or child under 18” (DODI 6400.01), and is reported via the Family Advocacy Program (“FAP”).
In a nutshell, per the regulations, there are different processes for reporting “regular rape” v. “spouse/dependent/intimate partner” rape. While both allow restricted and unrestricted reports, they're processed differently - on a different reporting form - that gives information and access to other services, such as a military victim advocacy and information about availability of Victim Counsel.
To complicate, this applies only to Active Duty. If the perpetrator is a National Guard servicemember not on Active Guard Reserve (AGR) status, there is no FAP reporting option. Impact is that there is no access to expedited transfers, Lines of Duty (which opens up benefits to services), or military victim advocacy for National Guard- connected victims of “domestic sexual abuse” (defined in DODI 6400.06).
Ruth's Truth and Food for Thought: Rape is rape: Should systems and organizations treat it differently?