TORONTO -- Warning: This story deals with themes that some might find distressing

A Canadian veteran is speaking out about being sexually assaulted during training, telling CTV National News he felt “completely betrayed” by the chain of command when he reported it to his superiors.

Justin Hudson says that he was repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted by two other male soldiers while training to be an aerospace officer 10 years ago.

He alleges that in one incident, a soldier held him down while he was sleeping while another groped him.

“At this time when I was experiencing this, I felt fear,” he said. “When it was over I just tried to bury it.”

Hudson alleges other incidents where the same individuals at different times followed him into bathrooms, pinched his buttocks, exposed themselves to him and, at other times, took out their genitals and rubbed their exposed penis on his leg or rested their clothed genitals against his arm in class.

“I believe I shouted at him, and I believe I told him to f--- off,” Hudson said. “That’s sexual assault.”

The ordeal severely affected him.

“I went from having a healthy state of mind to basically feeling totally worthless, feeling like my human dignity was trampled on, totally attacked [and] feeling completely embarrassed,” he said.

Hudson alleges when he reported the situation to his superiors at the time, the lieutenant just “stared him down” and “acted like he didn’t care.”

He also claims he was unfairly punished by poor performance reviews after he reported what happened.

Hudson says he was so distressed by the alleged assaults and the response he received from his superiors that he left the military, left Canada, and changed his name.

“I felt completely betrayed by the chain of command,” he said. “Part of the reason why it took me so long to get over it, and part of the reason I left Canada is because I felt completely betrayed, and hurt, deeply, deeply hurt. I felt like the chain of command turned on me, they betrayed me.”

“I felt like the Canadian Armed Forces betrayed me.”

Hudson said he recognizes that both men and women are affected by sexual assault, but that men may struggle with coming to terms with and processing it.

“A man may possibly feel like he doesn’t want to talk about it because it’s sort of like attaching his manhood or his masculinity, so he hides it in a different way,” he said. “I didn’t want to talk about it because of the state of mind I was in. I didn’t want to bring up the memories of it…you just go from a point where you’re completely destroyed inside, completely destroyed, to building yourself back up again.”

Hudson said the assumption or societal expectation that men should just “man up” or that they should be able to handle sexual assault is not reality.

“That’s not the case…it could affect any man,” he said. “Just because you’re a man doesn’t mean you’re immune from sexual assault or sexual misconduct, if you’re ganged up by a couple of people, you’re going to be mentally affected by that. “

Hudson’s story comes at a time of reckoning for the Canadian Armed Forces as the institution has been rocked by successive scandals of sexual misconduct, sexual assault, sexual harassment, mismanagement of complaints along with allegations of cover-ups, obstruction and misconduct.

Several high-ranking officers have been the subject of said allegations, leading to a veritable revolving door of senior officers stepping down or stepping aside, including former defence chief Jonathan Vance and the military’s human resource officer Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan, who took over for Vice-Admiral Haydn Edmundson who stepped aside due to a police investigation of alleged sexual assault.

Newly appointed defence minister Anita Anand, in one of her first acts in the position, announced this week that she had accepted retired Supreme Court judge Louise Arbour’s call for the transfer of investigations and prosecutions of military sexual misconduct cases to civilian authorities.

Arbour recommended all criminal cases of a sexual nature in the Canadian Armed Forces, including historical cases, be referred to civilian authorities, including cases currently under investigation unless said investigation is nearly complete.

A joint statement issued Friday by the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal and the Director of Military Prosecutions acknowledged “the current crisis of public confidence in the military justice system,” and “consequently …will implement Mme. Arbour’s interim recommendation immediately.”

Charlotte Duval-Lantoine of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute said the new process of handling sexual misconduct cases in the military still leaves questions unanswered.

“What happens if allegations are made during deployment?” she said to CTV National News. “We have questioned if this really removes the barrier of reporting because the influence of the chain of command is still there.”

And while Duval-Lantoine said that the armed forces are “finally seeing change” that is going to “send a shockwave” through the institution, there is still much to consider.

“The piece that is not being addressed with this recommendation is prevention,” she said. “We’re asking questions about how sexual assaults are recognized and how we can support victims better…but we are not talking about the root problem that would lead to those sexual assaults.”

Military law expert Michel Drapeau called the move “a game changer.”

“I think they got the attention of the brass and a would-be assaulter that there’s a new sheriff in town and things will not be handled the same laissez-faire way that’s been the same for the past 20 years or so,” he said to CTV National News.

Hudson is cautiously optimistic about the changes, but says the culture change in the military is happening “at a snails pace.”

“I support her position on that completely,” he said of Anand referring the transfer of sexual misconduct cases to civilian authorities. “It just appears to me that there’s been too many people, throughout the entire military including the prosecutor’s office that just don’t take this sexual misconduct seriously.”

In the future, Hudson says he wishes to go back to the military career he was so looking forward to having before his ordeal.

He has filed a new complaint against his alleged assaulters.

“I’m in a good state of mind,” he said. “I’m mentally ready to rejoin the military, I want to rejoin the military.”

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The following is a list of resources and hotlines dedicated to supporting people in crisis:

National Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419

Hope for Wellness Helpline (English, French, Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut): 1-855-242-3310

Trans Lifeline: 1-877-330-6366

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868

ShelterSafe (a national list of women’s shelters and transition houses): sheltersafe.ca

Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime: Call 1-877-208-0747 or Text: 1-613-208-0747

Hope for Men: hopeformen.ca

Men & Healing: menandhealing.ca