sexual assault up in the military

[USAFdoc]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060317/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_sex_assaults

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[Luba Licious]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060317/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_sex_assaults

You can look at it badly, as in more crimes reported, or positively because now people are coming forward and reporting what is going on. Now that there is all this training and people aren't afraid to report crimes, we can truly crack down on the lowlifes and start the court martials. No more hiding out for the criminals and perverts.

 

[USAFdoc]

You can look at it badly, as in more crimes reported, or positively because now people are coming forward and reporting what is going on. Now that there is all this training and people aren't afraid to report crimes, we can truly crack down on the lowlifes and start the court martials. No more hiding out for the criminals and perverts.

I look at it as another aspect in the military that was long overdue to get fixed, and it only became a priority after the scandal at the USAF academy went public. If not for that, it would still all likely be a "big secret" that everybody knows...like alot of other things mentioned on this site.

 

[Pemberley]

I look at it as another aspect in the military that was long overdue to get fixed, and it only became a priority after the scandal at the USAF academy went public. If not for that, it would still all likely be a "big secret" that everybody knows...like alot of other things mentioned on this site.

There is no way to get accurate statistics, of course, given reporting problems. The new reporting program they referred to in particular was targeted at the 18-to-22 year-old female enlisted airmen in the dorms (did anybody else on this board have to watch that video?) who might have experienced date rape, and I would be highly surprised if date rape is more of a problem in air force dorms than in major university dorms.

OF COURSE, even one airman-on-airman rape is one too many. HOWEVER, there is a fundamental difference between failing to weed out a statiscally expected number of pieces of scum during training on one hand, and having a major culture problem that encourages rape on the other.

The major culture problems I saw in the Air Force were generally caused by officers who were careerists, and they were absolutely uncorrellated with gender. During seven years in the Air Force, I never saw anything to make me believe that the misogynist image of the armed forces as portrayed in the mainstream media has a basis in fact, rather than in political agenda.

I think we must be careful in our criticisms... just because some things are seriously wrong with the Air Force doesn't mean ANYTHING bad that anybody says about it is true. I hate to see the honorable men I served with painted with this broad brush.

 

[USAFdoc]

There is no way to get accurate statistics, of course, given reporting problems. The new reporting program they referred to in particular was targeted at the 18-to-22 year-old female enlisted airmen in the dorms (did anybody else on this board have to watch that video?) who might have experienced date rape, and I would be highly surprised if date rape is more of a problem in air force dorms than in major university dorms.

OF COURSE, even one airman-on-airman rape is one too many. HOWEVER, there is a fundamental difference between failing to weed out a statiscally expected number of pieces of scum during training on one hand, and having a major culture problem that encourages rape on the other.

The major culture problems I saw in the Air Force were generally caused by officers who were careerists, and they were absolutely uncorrellated with gender. During seven years in the Air Force, I never saw anything to make me believe that the misogynist image of the armed forces as portrayed in the mainstream media has a basis in fact, rather than in political agenda.

I think we must be careful in our criticisms... just because some things are seriously wrong with the Air Force doesn't mean ANYTHING bad that anybody says about it is true. I hate to see the honorable men I served with painted with this broad brush.

I hope my dicussion never inferred that ALL USAF MEN, or even most, fit the description of rapist. It is probably a small percentage. I do beleive that USAF senior officials likely did all the could to "sweep this all under the rug" and in effect, ignore a serios problem (until the media gave them no choice but to confront it).

Your mention of civilian college dorms also having a similar problem reminded me of one of the most common responses I got from senior USAF officers as I worked my way up the chain of command with my concerns about patient care;

"it's bad on the outside (civ) world too" ( repeated Quote from senior USAF staff)

what a shame that leadership would set the USAF "standard" by the worse that the civilian world had to offer.