Air Force calls number of sex assaults "appalling"
Female airmen march during graduation at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio June 22, 2012, in this image made from video. / AP Photo/John L. Mone
WASHINGTON The Air Force recorded an "appalling" number of reports of sexual assault last year even as it worked to curb misconduct in the wake of a sex scandal at its training headquarters in Texas, the service's top officer told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Gen. Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, said there were 796 reports of cases ranging from inappropriate touching to rape. The 2012 figure is a nearly 30 percent increase from 2011 when 614 cases were reported. The number could be much greater, Welsh said, because 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!"
Welsh's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee underscores the challenges it and the other military branches face in stopping sexual assault within the ranks. Even more disturbing than the number of reports of sexual assault is the fact that most of these crimes are committed by fellow airmen, Welsh said.
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The scandal at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio continues to unfold nearly two years after the first victim came forward. All U.S. airmen report to Lackland for basic training. The base 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.
The preliminary results of Air Force investigation released in November described abuses of power by bad instructors who took advantage of a weak oversight system to prey on young recruits.
The investigation, which is ongoing, has found so far that 32 military training instructors allegedly engaged in inappropriate or coercive sexual relationships with 59 recruits and airmen at Lackland, according to the Air Force. Six instructors have been convicted in court martials on charges ranging from adultery, rape and conducting unprofessional relationships. Another nine instructors are awaiting courts martial. Two more received non-judicial punishments. There are 15 instructors still under investigation.
The Air Force has 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 said he has stressed to the Air Force's officer corps and senior enlisted ranks the importance of eliminating sexual misconduct from the ranks. As part of that effort, Welsh 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.
An Air Force veteran who pressed Congress to hold hearings on the misconduct at Lackland said there is a sexual assault epidemic in the military. Jennifer Norris said she medically retired in 2010 and 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," said Norris, who serves as an advocacy board member of the group Protect Our Defenders.
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The solution is simple- no females in the armed forces.
The inclusion of females in the military is a political gift to feminist activists. There is no biological, rational or scientifical proven validation for female inclusion in armed forces.
Women have lower entrance standards for all tests for all three branches of the defence forces.
Female soldiers are shorter and smaller than men, with 45-50% less upper body strength and 25-30% less aerobic capacity- essential for endurance"
They lack the mean IQ, white matter, have less than 40% the upper body strength and lung capacity of male counterparts. The female skeletal system is less dense, and more prone to breakages
Boot camp males 35 pushups, 47 situps and 2 miles in at least 16 minutes and 36 second
Boot camp females: 13 pushups, 43 situps 2 miles in 19 minutes and 42 seconds.
Nobody left behind? You expect a woman to fireman lift a 150lb male with kit more than 50 feet?
Oppsing forces including civilians find female soldiers an amusment, not a deterrent, nor intimidating.
Less than 10 of the world's military's use female soldiers in any number, due to LACK OF MEN VOLUNTEERS- this is solely due to economic issues.
The largest adversaries USA may face have tiny amounts of female soldiers- India, China, North Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Russia, etc.
There is nothing a woman soldier can do that a man can perform better and still function as a front-line combatant.
British Ministry of Defence issued a report
The MoD of the U.K has decided to retain Women's Exemptions from Direct Ground Combat due to phsyiologic al, psychological and biological issues
Read Capt. Katie Petronio, USMC, Marine Corps Gazette "Get Over It- We are Not All Created Equal".
Iraq Vet 2 tours USMC
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.