08-03-2003 05:38									#1
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New York Times
March 7, 2003
Pg. 1

quote: Air Force Academy Investigated 54 Sexual Assaults In 10 Years By Eric Schmitt with Michael Moss WASHINGTON, March 6 — The Air Force has investigated 54 reports of sexual assault or rape over the past 10 years at the United States Air Force Academy, the secretary of the Air Force said today. It was the Air Force's first official accounting of reports of sexual attacks at the service academy, an Air Force spokesman said, and it included some reports that Air Force investigators could not substantiate. Nonetheless, the new figures were twice the number of such incidents at the academy that cadets have reported to Congressional officials in recent weeks. As such, the new figures showed a widening of the sexual assault scandal that has seized the service academy in Colorado Springs, stirred outrage on Capitol Hill and prompted three military inquiries, which will include reviews of the Naval Academy and West Point. On Capitol Hill today, the Air Force secretary, James G. Roche, said the number of women who have been sexually assaulted at the academy is probably much higher than 54, because many women undoubtedly were afraid or ashamed to report the abuses. "The part that is the saddest," Mr. Roche told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services committee today, "is that whatever the number is, 25, 50, there's probably another 100 that we've not seen." As Mr. Roche spoke in Washington, the top general in the Air Force, John P. Jumper, arrived in Colorado Springs for two days of meetings with cadets, faculty members, the academy's military leadership and community leaders. General Jumper, who will address the 4,000 cadets on Friday, planned to remind them that they have a duty to report anything they know about any assaults, Air Force officials said. Mindful of the Navy's mishandling of the 1991 Tailhook sexual assault scandal, Mr. Roche and General Jumper have vowed to investigate accusations that current and former cadets who reported sexual assaults or rapes faced indifference or even retaliation by academy officials. "We cannot bear the thought of a criminal being commissioned," Mr. Roche said, talking about the academy's role to produce new second lieutenants. "We can't bear the thought of a criminal flying around with a couple of thousand pounds of bombs under his wings." In addition to pursuing individual reports, top Air Force officials said today that preliminary findings of an Air Force inquiry suggested that the academy's culture and values had become increasingly divorced from the acceptable standards throughout the rest of the Air Force. "We're learning enough to realize that change must occur," Mr. Roche said. "Change in the climate, change in how we manage." Top Air Force officials have moved quickly to try to address the problems. Mr. Roche met Wednesday with Vice Adm. Richard J. Naughton, the Naval Academy superintendent, to discuss that academy's policies, and he plans to meet with the top officer at West Point. Mr. Roche and General Jumper plan to convene a group of women who are senior Air Force officers to review the findings and recommendations of the Air Force inquiry, led by the Air Force inspector general, Mary L. Walker. Investigators, who Mr. Roche said have met with six victims, are to submit their findings by the end of March. "The increase in reports that we're hearing only serves to underscore their commitment to get to the bottom of this in an urgent and comprehensive fashion," said William C. Bodie, the chief Air Force spokesman. The latest reports left senators sputtering in disbelief. "I'm stunned," Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said in a telephone interview after the hearing. Senator Wayne Allard, Republican of Colorado, said he believed that the situation at the Air Force Academy was worse than the Tailhook scandal — where scores of women complained that they were groped or assaulted by drunken pilots at a Navy booster group's convention — because the system had failed the cadets in this case. "The entire support and legal system at the academy appears to have failed," Mr. Allard said. "We really do need to instill confidence in the system so victims know when they report rape they know the rape itself will not jeopardize their career." In the last 10 years, two cadets have been charged with rape, Air Force officials said. One was acquitted, the other pleaded guilty at a court-martial and was sentenced to seven months in jail. In other cases, administrative action was taken because there was not enough evidence to prosecute, Mr. Roche said. More than 1,500 women have attended the academy in the last decade. Two other inquiries, by the Pentagon's top personnel official and the Defense Department inspector general, will examine the other military service academies for possible problems. In interviews this week, officials at other military academies said they had relatively few cases of sexual assault, and that they had rigorous systems to ensure that complaints were thoroughly addressed. Nonetheless, officials at several academies said they were monitoring the incident at the Air Force Academy to determine if their own efforts needed improvement. At the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., where 30 percent of the students are women, officials said they have had no incidents of sexual assault since at least 2000. A network of counselors is available 24 hours a day, and no complaint can be dismissed before it is reviewed by the superintendent, officials said. At the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, Long Island, where 11 percent of the students are women, officials said they have had three incidents in the past decades, which resulted in the trials of two men. One was acquitted and the other was sentenced to nine years in prison. In response to the Air Force episode, the school, which is operated by the Transportation Department, said it has put up posters around the campus aimed at illuminating the issue of sexual assault and harassment.

Looks like the Air Force needs some house cleaning done.

Note: I got this from the Army Knowledge Online site so I didn't include a link. They took it from the New York Times.

	08-03-2003 05:44									#2
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It's utterly disgraceful. I can't believe these sacks of **** hold commissions now.

Will they actually punish those responsible?

	08-03-2003 05:46									#3
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I imagine we'll have a quick and thorough investigation, followed by a swift coverup and stonewall session.

	08-03-2003 05:59									#4
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The Air Force Academy is already under pressure because they let it go too far and now there are Congressional eyes peering into Air Force affairs. Perhaps the other Academys will lern something and take extra steps to be sure this crap doesnt keep happening. Of course, you think they would have learned something from tailhook.

	08-03-2003 06:08									#5
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Reminds me of that movie, "The general's daughter", or something.

	08-03-2003 06:09									#6
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my brothers a senior at USAFA...pretty high on the food chain i hafta say but still it'll go by the way side quickly

	08-03-2003 13:13									#7
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we seem to have 2 of these threads.

	08-03-2003 13:22									#8
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident we seem to have 2 of these threads.

Not anymore

Since this thread was started first, the other one has been closed with a link to this one.

	08-03-2003 13:24									#9
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Ah ok I didn't see this thread, my bad.

	08-03-2003 13:29									#10
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copied and pasted

I'm still having trouble believing these stories.

I'm sure rapes happend. But with cadet who are training to be officers? They aren't your average grunt.

There is the possibility these women are making this up. But it's not PC to say that, so pretend I never said that

but I was in the military and I never saw or heard about anyone getting raped. And we are talking about enlisted types.

That's why this story is so shocking.

Terrible news.

If these claims pan out, then I say throw the book at the male cadets. I'm talking 20 years at least.

	08-03-2003 13:31									#11
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quote: Originally posted by Azazel Reminds me of that movie, "The general's daughter", or something.

That movie was quite bad, IMO, actually.


As to state my relatively ignorant opinion about the solutions:

quote: Originally posted by MichaelTheGreat : A serious effort at investigation and prosecution, coupled with life at hard labor sentences for rape and two general article provisions would help too. Part of the problem is the whole upperclassman vs. plebes and cows system. What needs to be done there is the same thing done in the real service - look at the difference in rank as being rife for abuse, and proscribe sexual relationships between upper and lower classmen in the academies, the same way that in the real military they are proscribed between officers and enlisted, or between NCO's and enlisted in the same command - that way, even if the upperclassman claims consent, he's still a screwed goose, busted out of the academy, and hopefully with a nice bill to reimburse the taxpayer

	08-03-2003 13:33									#12
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I guess perhaps it is different in the enlisted ranks.

Because on navy ships women routinely have sex with entire divisions. This of course is voluntary. So I guess since they give it up so readily there is less chance of rapes .

But seriously. Perhaps there are more rapes in the cadet field of the military because of the competition and power structure. Perhaps some of these male cadets feel threatened with the increased competition and still see the elite officer school as a boy's club. This in not the case in the enlisted ranks.

So maybe more rapes do occur "higher up"

This is terrible indeed. They need to act tough on these guys and restore order.

	08-03-2003 13:51									#13
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Just a quick link to the other thread:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthre...&threadid=79855

...so people don't wonder where the hell the MtG quote came from...

	08-03-2003 16:11									#14
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident There is the possibility these women are making this up. But it's not PC to say that, so pretend I never said that

Sometimes it does happen but 54 cases? 1 case maybe but I find it hard to believe that all 54 women are lying.

btw what happened in the tailhook scandal? that one must have passed me by or I've just managed to forget it...

Women have sex with all the people on the ship? Do they not have jobs to do on board? Or are they just the ship's bicycle?

	08-03-2003 19:30									#15
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i cant find the quote now but the thing she said about sexual awareness training, and then that the academy said to let those go. what crap is that woman going to spew out next?

	08-03-2003 19:39									#16
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jesus christ dissident... you're turning into Rush Limbaugh... wtf happened to you man?

Anyways... I heard an interview with the Secretary of the Air Force on NPR. He sounded very committed to solving the problems that lead to these sexual assaults. And the women aren't making them up in the 54 cases. In those cases there is evidence of rape. There are many other unsubstantiated claims of rape that date back years that will be looked at later.

The Secretary made the point of saying this isn't an Air Force problem, this is an Air Force Academy problem. It has to do with the culture of the AFA. This kind of thing doesn't happen at other Air Force institutions.

	08-03-2003 21:45									#17
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I pretty much gave my feelings on the other thread.

quote: Originally posted by Charlemagne120 my brothers a senior at USAFA...pretty high on the food chain i hafta say but still it'll go by the way side quickly

How does he like it there? Hvae you gotte a chance to talk with him since this scandel broke?

	08-03-2003 23:09									#18
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Oh I imagine that some of those 54 cases are legit. And the ones that are, well I expect maximum punishment for the guys involved. But often when you have that many, some are just made up for various reasons. Although in the military, you cannot sue, so I am unsure why they would make this up. Perhaps that many women were raped.

In any case, I have no idea what the climate is on the air force academy. I have never been there. So I cannot say for sure what happened.

I just can't believe that this kind of thing still goes on.

But the air force needs to prosecute these rapes to the fullest extent of the law. How could they have this go on?

	09-03-2003 01:06									#19
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okay good Diss, you scared me for a second there.

	09-03-2003 03:32									#20
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Sounds like any other University to me.

	09-03-2003 08:20									#21
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quote: Originally posted by SlowwHand Sounds like any other University to me.

They, along with all the other service academys, pride themeselves with being more than just another univerisity. I think if they claim to be superior, they should prove it with actions and not words.

	09-03-2003 13:05									#22
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quote: Originally posted by Sava jesus christ dissident... you're turning into Rush Limbaugh... wtf happened to you man?

Please say it ain't so. I'd rather be a liberal than be Rush Limbaugh . I don't want to be fat and deaf

I'll correct the problem somehow.

	09-03-2003 13:29									#23
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quote: Originally posted by SlowwHand Sounds like any other University to me.

From what I have read, it seems that their was fear that allegations of rape would not be taken seriously or could ruin ones career in the air force if the victim told. I don't think people would have to worry about not be taken seriously by the university or having potential career in academia ruined if they reported it to a student juidical board at a normal university?

	09-03-2003 13:46									#24
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also in a university the student can sue.

In the military you are not allowed to sue your employer.

	09-03-2003 13:56									#25
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I don't think the rapes are what concerns everybody, as terrible as that might be. Rather, it's the top brass's response to the rapes.

Personally, I can see where it's a touchy issue. Being accused of a rape would ruin a career, whether real or made up.

	09-03-2003 14:01									#26
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especially as an officer. Their career advancement is based almost entirely upon what reviews they get from their superior's.

	09-03-2003 14:36									#27
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They don't make it clear whether these are cases where the assailant is known or likely known, or whether these 54 include cases where the identity is unknown.