'Appalling' number of sexual abuse cases revealed at U.S. Air Force base

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
1/24/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Misconduct found to run rampant at Lackland Air Force Base

Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas is the focus of an ongoing investigation into rampant sexual misconduct. As all U.S. airmen report to Lackland for basic training, the base has now been found to harbor nearly 800 cases of sexual assault - from inappropriate touching to outright rape.

Selected Airmen have begun wearing teal ropes, the color symbolizing sexual assault awareness and support - within the student population.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh says that there were 796 reports of sexual misconduct. The 2012 figure is a nearly 30 percent increase from 2011 when 614 cases were reported. Welsh says that the number could be much greater as many cases are never reported at all.

"Calling these numbers unacceptable does not do the victims justice," Welsh said. "The truth is, these numbers are appalling!"

Lackland has about 500 military training instructors for about 35,000 airmen who graduate every year. While one in five recruits are women, most instructors are men.

Welsh's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee gives impetus to the other military branches to halt sexual assault within their own ranks. Most disturbing, according to Welsh is that the fact that these assaults are that most of them are committed by fellow airmen.

The investigation released last November described abuses of power by bad instructors who took advantage of a weak oversight system to prey on young recruits.

The ongoing investigation, has found so far that 32 military training instructors allegedly engaged in inappropriate or coercive sexual relationships with 59 recruits and airmen at Lackland.

Six instructors have been convicted in court martial's on charges ranging from adultery, rape and conducting unprofessional relationships. Another nine instructors are awaiting courts martial. Two more received non-judicial punishments and there are 15 instructors still under investigation.

The Air Force has since changed the way it selects officers and instructors who train new recruits and created a special unit of lawyers and investigators to assist victims of sexual assault.

Welsh says that he has issued a "Letter to Airmen" earlier this month that said images, songs and stories that are obscene or vulgar are not part of the Air Force heritage.

Jennifer Norris, an Air Force veteran who pressed Congress to hold hearings on the misconduct at Lackland says that there is a sexual assault epidemic in the military. Medically retired in 2010, she says that she was sexually assaulted while serving in the Air Force -- but not at Lackland. She told the committee she frequently has seen well-intentioned reforms fall short.

Fundamental reforms are needed "to change a military culture and fix the broken military justice system," Norris says, who serves as an advocacy board member of the group Protect Our Defenders.

� 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Lackland, Air Force, sexual assault, investigation, misconduct

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1 - 3 of 3 Comments

RUSTY
3 months ago
THIIS IS SO SICKENING! Who do these men think they are anyway? They earn their way up to leadership and believe that it gives them the right to treat women without respect and to control them...This is a reason why some women have changed from heterosexual to become
homosexual because sexual abuse has been accepted as making a male believe that it makes
them a "man"...BULL! All it shows is their insecurity and disrespect...An insecure man is more
dangerous than a "Pit bull dog"...
It all starts 'in the home'...Parents use foul language, their children pick it up, it becomes the new language that then is accepted...No one corrects them...It's used on the streets, at school
where they are not reprimanded either...They go into the military service where the men believe it makes them tougher to use abusive language and they impose this disgusting
immoral attitude on the new young women recruits...Then they really believe that they're man enough to "make it " with any of the new young innocent woman recruits...Showing off
their muscles and "garbage mouths"! NO WAY! If anything they're repugnant!
Robert
3 months ago
Please don't take this the wrong way. I am a conservative.

1. We pay for the women's birth control now. Some guys might think since taxpayers pay for a women's birth control they in turn own their " ".

2. If a child is conceived the government will pay for the abortion.

3. What is the big deal?

I disagree with all of this however you can see how someone can get from #1 to #3 .

Stop abortions now. Sandra Fluke and anyone voting as she did should be ashamed.
David Graf
3 months ago
There is no excuse for sexual harrassment or worse in the military, the workplace, or anywhere for that matter. Let's focus in on the military. I know for a fact that such behavior takes place in at least two branches of our Armed Forces: the Army and the Air Force, , having served in both. What really catches one'e eye in the above article, is they zero in on Lackland, AFB. This is the basic training site for the USAF, the ONLY one. The Army has several. Kids (17-18 or so) , make up the majority of those trainees. Most are scared to death about everything! They are lower in status than ANYONE on base. Therefore, they are confused-- very much so.. If someone, ANYONE says jump, they are expected to ask, "How high?" That's their environment until they graduate from training. The TI's are like Drill Sergeants in the Army--men, and women, selected for their leadership skills, military knowledge, and a number of positive traits, one of which is morals. There are core values to be strived for. An NCO in ANY branch, is expected to take care of the troops assigned to them. The fact that Lackland is a training base, the TI's (NCOs) are like, well I hate to say this, "Gods" to these vulnerable kids. Sexual harrassment is just one area that the "unqualified" TI may take advantage of I say "unqualified" because there are more explicit words to describe these people that aren't acceptable for this publication. Courts martial, or non-judicial punishments (Article 15's) are in order for offenders, depending on the severity of the offense. If found guilty by court martial, , I would assume that a dishonorable discharge is imminent. It's too late by then! The offense has occurred. The brass is correct in their new criteria for selecting their leaders and taking other steps to address these occurrances. "Nip it in the bud" , so to speak. Let's touch briefly on vulgar language use, especially when marching or running. The Air Force shou have little problem getting people to comply to the "new" language. The USAF isn't a gung-ho force like the Army or Marines. For decades, both these services have a "kill or be killed", aggressive mindset. Along with that, I'm afraid, the language use will be a somewhat bigger issue. Such language has been part of the SOP (standing operating procedure) for years. Whether that is good or bad for completion of their mission, I don't know. As for language in the office, barracks or in the PX, there should be little problem enforcing that. As Catholics, we have to focus on OUR "training", teaching, and consciences. Naturally, there is no question where we stand on sexual harrassment or worse.. Preventing same if we are in the middle of such behavior, we know what we have to do. You're on your own with the language issue. If you are in the military, you know how difficult it will be to keep from going along with the crowd. Also, as Catholics, I think it's obvious we have never done that. The best thing we can do is pray for all people involved here. That's a good start.

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