Can we entrust nuclear weapons to an institution that has rape as a primary value? That is the question Americans face with the U.S. Air Force Academy rape scandal. The bottom line is that male upper class Air Force cadets are raping lower class female cadets. And it now appears that the rapists have official support for covering up what has happened from the Air Force chain of command.
Air Force institutional values exhibited at Colorado Springs have more in common with the Serbian Army in Bosnia or with Saudi Arabia than the moral values Americans expect from their military. The corrupt "honor system" at Colorado Springs has gone so far as giving demerits for having sex in the barracks to women cadets who reported their own rape. The only difference between the Air Force and the Gulf Arabs is the lack of "honor killings" for rape. The Air Force settles for merely killing a female cadet's military career.
In testimony before the Senate on Thursday, Air Force Secretary James Roche reported 54 rapes or sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy. Google searching on "Air Force Academy rape scandal" will give you a fair idea of what is going on. These threads over on the Free Republic.com web site here and here are also useful.
This reaction from Colorado's Congressional delegation lays out the real issue:
"Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said he believes the situation at the academy is worse than the 1991 Tailhook Scandal — when dozens of women complained they were groped or assaulted by drunken pilots at a Navy booster group's convention — because the system has failed the cadets in this case."The entire support and legal system at the academy appears to have failed," 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."
Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has accused the academy's top commanders of mishandling rape allegations and said they should be removed. But a spokesman for Roche and Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper issued a statement refusing to blame the academy's top brass."
HELLO!
As an American catholic, I say the following with some feeling: Who the hell do Roche and Jumper think they work for?
The Catholic Church!??!
CTD
It is a feature of hierarchy with limited accountability that power is abused, whether in the Catholic Church or the American military. Members of the U.S. Air Force do not answer to the Vicar of Christ on earth, whose "mission statement" includes forgiveness of mortal sins, for abuses of power. Airmen answer directly to the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is intended to enforce "good order and discipline." When the UCMJ fails or is inadequate they answer to the people of the United States through their elected representatives in Congress and the Presidency.
To date, the rapists of the Air Force Academy haven't had to answer to either the UCMJ nor to the American people. While rumors of this situation have swept the Colorado Springs for years before Air Force Secretary Roche admitted to it in Senate testimony.
The simple truth is this. Rape at the Air Force Academy isn't about sexual gratification. It is about power. The rapists want to drive women out of the Academy. Rape is a tool for them to do that just as it was for the Serbs at Foca to ethnically cleans Muslims. (Physical abuse and hazing by upper classmen against male lower classmen is related as both involve the same males with ego problems.) This behavior is being abetted by Air Force officers at the Academy who have made abuse of power and neglect of duty the heart of the Air Force's institutional culture.
The following is from a soon to be published law journal article from Bob Harmon, a retired US Army M.P. officer and head of the Marin Country California ACLU:
In 2002, cadet Andrea Prasse was expelled by an “honor court” eight days before her graduation from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, on the word of one prosecution witness, a jilted male cadet. “I didn’t lie or cheat. My teacher says I didn’t lie or cheat. My group members say I didn’t lie or cheat. And then this one cadet says that I did, and they find me guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” February 12, 2003, as this Article was going to press, a Denver TV station reported that female cadets at the Air Force Academy, when complaining of rape, were ostracized, disciplined, or drummed out of the Academy, an existing sexual-harassment program notwithstanding. One cadet’s experience:LIZ [cadet, a rape survivor interviewed under anonymity]: And they told me I was to expecting a number of Form 10s. They said Class D hits are coming down ... JOHN FERRUGIA [reporter]: Which are reprimands? LIZ: Right, right. Punishments. One for sex in the dorms, for being raped. One for alcohol because he, my perpetrator, was buying alcohol for my classmates and coming back to me and telling me I owed him for it. Not monetarily, but in favors. The Third Class D hit was for fraternization because he was an upperclassman and I was a freshman. JOHN FERRUGIA: You are telling me that you reported a rape and that you are getting a reprimand for having sexual activity in the dorm? LIZ: Right, right. I was flabbergasted. I was really just floored. I remember I started to cry, because I looking at these officers and they all know that everything I have done is the right thing to do. I’ve been standing up for what I believe in. My case was so strong ... JOHN FERRUGIA: What is the message to other women? LIZ: To not at all talk. Who wants to talk when they are going to be punished? I mean each Class D hit is grounds for disenrollment.
Also consider the chilling implications for wider Air Force institutional culture that this sfgate.com article on the rape of Sharon Fullilove has:
"The case was closed with no arrests or punishment. Fullilove, who is now a biology major at the University of Arizona, said the man who raped her graduated and is in the Air Force.Her mother, Air Force Lt. Col. Michaela Shafer, said investigators treated the family poorly.
"They told me my daughter was a liar," she said. "They looked me in the face, a fellow officer, a superior, and told me my daughter, who had been raped, was a liar.""
Under Art. 2 of the UCMJ, cadets are subject to military law, Art. 120 on rape is a capital offense "Death or other punishment as a court-martial may direct." Either the commandant of the academy, Brigadier General Sylvanus T. Gilbert or the next higher two-star is the General Court-Martial convening authority and should have long since ordered an Article 32 (pre-trial) investigation.
That has not happened.
Instead the USAF brass, starting with Ai Force Chief of Staff Jumper, is doing an 'eek-a-mouse' routine pretending to be concerned while the evidence trail grows cold. Meanwhile Air Force Secretary Roche has stated that most of these alleged cases of rape and sexual assault will not be reopened because of the inability to prove them in court.
Does anyone else detect the politically terminal cluelessness in this remark by the Air Force Secretary?
“Roche told cadets at a symposium Thursday that sexual abuse would not be tolerated.In Friday's interview, he said academy officials in many cases have lacked the evidence needed to pursue criminal charges. More needs to be done in such cases to inform cadets who report the assault, he said.
"We want to start involving the chain of command sooner so these women know exactly what to expect,'' Roche said.
The secretary also said the victim counseling program - now staffed mostly by cadets - should be broadened to include more officers and qualified adults.”
In so many words “Please tell the chain of command that has helped your rapists in the past, to bury your story too.” For this stupidity alone, Rouche needs to be fired. This happened on his watch. He is as accountable as the Air Force Brass.
What we have here is a systemic failure to enforce the UCMJ. This failure neither begins nor ends with female cadets. Ed Offley at Soldiers for The Truth (WWW.STTF.ORG) wrote this story about the Graney twins at the Air Force Academy.
In the summer of 2001 Charlie and David Graney entered the Air Force Academy. In early 2002 David Graney was braced to attention by a 3rd classman (sophomore) who had been drinking. A 1st classman (senior) discovered this, turned the sophomore in and David had to testify before the honor board. The friends of this 3rd classman took it upon themselves to begin a campaign of harassment that included a very much against the regulations physical beating. David reported this to the Academy Officer Commanding (AOC).
Nothing happened for months. Davis parents then began pestering the Academy Administration over this and they finally investigated...using upper class cadets involved in the harassment campaign against David. These upper classmen did get David’s abuser to admit hitting him, but they white washed what he did. David was then moved to another cadet unit and completed his school year with excellent marks.
The fall of the next year in 2002, 14 weeks into a 17 week semester, David was expelled from the Air Force Academy for “excessive demerits.”
David’s parents official reply from Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Dallager, via Ed Offley's article, said:
““Command action was taken to correct the actions involving the 13 [of 22] allegations [by Cadet Graney’’s parents] that were substantiated or partially substantiated,”” Dallager wrote. ““Due to Privacy Act rules, I cannot go into specific details of the directed punishments. I can, however, assure you that those individuals now know their actions were wrong, and do not meet the standards of this institution or the United States Air Force.””However, Dallager went on to indicate that Cadet Graney’’s disenrollment was justified by the number of demerits and other mis-steps that had resulted in his being put on probation. The general declined to re-open the disenrollment procedure and told the Graneys that it was his decision to recommend a ““commissionability”” grade of 5 which permanently blocks David Graney from ever being eligible for an officer’’s commission in other programs.
Translated from USAF-ese with a Chuck Yeager accent: "Yep, Cadet David Graney was too honest to be allowed to stay in the Air Force and his abusers were too stupid to avoid getting caught in their abuse of Cadet Graney. So, because I had to work to cover it up, I am making sure your son cannot be an officer in any American military uniform. Now quit bothering me."
The integration of women into the Air Force Academy has failed. It failed because the officers running the Academy wanted it too. And it has resulted in serving officers, who as cadet sergeants lied to cover up rape, who are now coming of age as colonels and generals in the USAF hierarchy. How can we trust such men to make policy choices that affect the life and death of thousands or to operate planes worth hundreds of millions of dollars. How can we trust the Air Force as an institution with our with nuclear weapons? What kind of policy and moral choices will those who’s professional character was formed at Colorado Springs make?
At a minimum, these men will go on making major political mistakes again and again (Like CoS Jumper just did in supporting the Air Force Academy Brass) that will cost them political support, public good will and money for their military service. The USAF's institutional culture is so run down that men of good will and character cannot make a difference.
This means the USAF's human, institutional and physical capital will be so depleted by these mistakes of politics and policy over time that the eventual abolishment of the service will be an anti-climax. All the politicians looking for pork for their districts and states have to do is pressure and nudge now and again, then stand back and let the Air Force Academy trained Brass be themselves. This political strategy should be familiar, as it happens to be what Bush is doing with the U.N. Security Council.
Since Air Force civilian and uniformed leadership have shirked their responsibility in this, America's elected authorities have duties and responsibilities to execute over their heads.
President Bush needs to relieve the entire Air Force Academy uniformed chain of command for cause. He should also demand the resignation of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Jumper and Air Force Secretary James Roche. His father’s failure to fire the Navy Chief of Staff over Tailhook contributed to the poor command environment in the military services today. It is time for him to redeem his family’s honor in this matter as much as in Iraq.
The Congress has a larger role in this than the executive.
1) Congress should hold public hearings where everyone involved, but beyond the reach of the UCMJ, is compelled to tell all via immunized testimony. This will blight the military careers of all the accused. Which is the point of the exercise. Commissioned military service is a privilege, not a right. The Air Force forfeited protection of the accused officers when it perverted the administration of the UCMJ. The Congress cannot be fair to the accused, but it can be thorough and provide public justice for the victims.
2) Congress should demand a list of past Air Force Academy instructors, administrators and cadet leaders so that they may strike them from future promotion lists.
3) The Congress should close the Air Force Academy. Just as clean water added to polluted water makes for more pollution. The only way to stop the Air Force's institutional rot is by killing the corrupting institution. The Air Force Academy should be replaced with Congressionally awarded full ROTC scholarships.
4) Just as the honor system of the Air Force Academy was turned into a tool to abuse power. The honor systems at West Point and the Naval Academy are also in bad shape. The time has come for Congress to eliminate the Academy Honor system entirely, whatever the fate of Colorado Springs. It doesn't work in a co-ed military culture. People 18-21 years of age are not rational about sex and relationships. Using an 18th century male-only military honor code to regulate the hormones of 21st century co-ed military cadets is buying into trouble. It would be better for cadet professional development if every cadet company were run by cadre of field grade officers and drill NCOs, provided by Congress for all 4 years.
5) The Congress needs to over haul the UCMJ on issues of sexual harassment and provide for the service of open Gays in the military.
This last point may be surprising to readers here on Winds of Change. I may be catholic and a conservative Republican, but I am not blind. The witch hunts related to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy have been more disruptive to the good order and discipline of the military than openly serving Gays would be. Worse, the UCMJ has been used in the course of these witch hunts to repeatedly to pressure serving women to “put out” or be accused of and investigated for being lesbian.
These are the principles of UCMJ reform Bob Harmon has proposed to deal with these problems:
Principles Of The Proposed Reform: 1. If it isn’t off-base, off-duty and consensual, sexual conduct should be illegal, explicitly so. If, however, sexual conduct is within those tests, it’s not a matter of official concern and not germane to good order and discipline. 2. Any sexual conduct between superior and junior is implicitly coercive, i.e., not consensual. Further, it really is a breach of ethics and the dynamics of a unit — “good order and discipline” indeed. This should be illegal, and harshly punished. Further — since a superior has an affirmative responsibility to defend his or her subordinates — if s/he has permitted a climate of sexual harassment or oppression, then s/he has breached a trust, and should be penalized by law. 3. These principles should apply to men and women, gay and straight. Further, since the provisions on rape and assault do not apply evenly, these oversights should be changed as well. 4. No other remedies exist; servicemembers do not usually have recourse to tort remedies or any redress of injuries other than medical or VA treatment. Criminal redress seems their only credible option. 5. If we are to refrain from sexual degradation of civilian populations in future theaters of war, we should show our own servicemembers the same protection.
I urge every military officer of integrity, every U.S. senator, every U.S. representative, the Secretary of Defense, the Vice-President, and the President to all do their duty and to insist that through and impartial application of the UCMJ at the Air Force Academy and to reform both the UCMJ and Service Academy culture’s to prevent these scandals from reoccurring.
The American public has entrusted firepower -- and the moral responsibility for it -- to its military that is unprecedented in human history. It isn't too much to expect discipline and principle in those who wield it. In this as in all areas we must be, truly, a superpower.
N.B. Fellow Winds of Change.NET team member Joe Katzman has a follow-up piece, that brings new information forward and discusses Trent's proposals.
These cases do indicate something is horribly wrong at the Air Force Academy.
They do not indicate untrustworthyness or criminality with the entire branch of the service.
This investigation is by no means complete.
Find those responable and punish them severely.
Find those who created an maintained an atmosphere where this could happen and punish them. Severely.
Find those who had knowledge of this and failed to report it and punish them.
Make whatever attempts at healing and restitution can be made for the victims.
Thereafter, and in the meantime, let the Academy get on with it's mission, in realization that not all male cadets are sexual predators, and are fully worthy of the uniform and our trust.
Steve,
In the meantime, the Academy should be overrun by the FBI. If half of what Trent has said is true, no part of the Air Force can be trusted to clean house.
Two questions. Got a daughter? Want her to go to AFA next year?
>"They told me my daughter was a liar," she
>said. "They looked me in the face, a fellow
>officer, a superior, and told me my daughter,
>who had been raped, was a liar.""
Steven R,
Air Force Academy administrators lying to fellow officers about their raped daughters is as low as it goes.
General officers at the Academy are involved with the cover ups. This makes the whole institution rotten to the core.
It should be closed and replaced with more full AFROTC scholarships.
ROTC is markedly inferior.
My experiences with army officers of all stipes is that the best come from the academys, and Military schools like VMI and the Citadel.
You should not underestimate these institutions.
Politicians go bad. Doctors and lawyers and ceo's. Cops and teachers go criminal too.
This situation can and will be corrected. This was the failing of people. Not the institution or it's concept.
Steve: Unfortunately for the AF Academy, the institution of the Academy is the faculty and its graduates. At another academy MacArthur once gave a perceptive speech on "Duty, Honor, Country" which is immediately applicable in this situation.
The implications of such past actions speak not only towards how these specific cases were handled, but also about how the cadre and faculty are selected and trained themselves. If there is now a vast divergence between "concept" and "reality", it is the institution's fault that this has occurred, not one or two individuals, and in calling into question several of the foundations of a whole branch of service, the Academy will have to be reformed within the conceptual mission of that service, the USAF.
You presume that each and every faculty and cadre member had full knowledge and failed to act.
That assertion is unfounded.
There have been some damning facts established.
That is not one of them.
Military organizations are strictly hierarchical, and split into component cells. They do not function as civilian organizations do and should not.
In fact, they work to a larger extent on trust,which makes violating that trust all the worse.
But the nature of the military's mission make the structure necessary.
This also means that incidents like this can happen.
My Lai Happend.
The West Point Cheating scandal happened.
The 1995 naval Academy drug scandal Happened.
The Chief of Naval ops kills himself over an award scandal.
These and more incidents make great news stories because they fly in the face of what the military is all about.
Finding, punishing, and dismissing the wrongdoers, and correcting the system so that it cannot happen again is the proper course.
Hysteria and calling for shuttering the AF academy is not.
Steve R,
The problem with the Air force Academy rape scandal isn't too much sensationalism.
It has been there was too little sensationalism for too long. The rot there has festered and expanded through out the USAF as rapists with official approval graduated year after year into the ranks of the officer corps.
I don't think you understand exactly how badly this taints the serving officer cops of the USAF.
They should be renamed
"Rape Force Academy."
It's a criminal institution.
"Can we entrust nuclear weapons to an institution that has rape as a primary value? That is the question Americans face with the U.S. Air Force Academy rape scandal."
I'm sorry, that is not how you should have opened this piece.
Trent, you've said some very strong things here about this scandal.
I wish I could disagree.
Steve, so basically - besides not dealing with this scandal - your point is what? That the Navy has 100 times the honor of the Air Force?
"We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us those who do." You want to scrap this? Wrong! Find ALL of the guilty, including those who perverted the honor code. Punish them. Corrupt general officers can be punished and replaced just like company and field grade officers. Shutting down the USAF Academy is absurd.
Steve R, Robin,
You both are aware that this scandal first erupted 10 years ago and was covered up, right?
It has gotten worse since then and has spread its poison in the last 10 graduating AFA classes.
The whole point of closing the AFA is to termininate the careers of the uniformed administrative staff. These officers are a blight on the honor of the service.
After a gap of 3-5 years, a new AFA class can be started at Colorado Springs. One that has a uniformed administrative staff made up of of non-AFA graduate, activated reservists filling in as the AFA staff as their tour of duty.
The current AFA is to far gone to be rescued.
The only question is will the Air Force survive the "political death of a thousands cuts" that is coming as a result of this scandal for the USAF budget and the promotion list problems of all male AFA graduates from those classes in the eyes of Congress.
Jumper's and Roche's cluelessness may see the Congress refuse to promote AFA graduates to O-6 or higher rank until they get the names of every officer in the administrative staff and cadet positions of authority for those 10 years.
The rape problem first came to public attention about ten years ago, i.e., it existed before then too. The Academy staff said they'd fix it. They covered it up instead.
This has been going on for a long time. Given the staff's refusal to deal with it ten years ago and their actions since, Trent's column and suggestions are absolutely right.
Those who defend the Air Force here should take another look at Trent's comments about the Air Force's future. More than the Academy's existence is at stake.
Tom,
It wasn't just 10 years ago. It was 20.
Everyone needs to see the article at this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2551-2003Mar9.html
"Two decades after the rape of Tammy Jones was officially brushed aside, a spate of new cases suggests that the Air Force Academy still tends to protect male cadets who assault women -- in some cases, bringing disciplinary action against female cadets who report the attacks."
and
"But the ethic of the squadron also involves an unspoken obligation to protect those "brothers" from disciplinary action. Cadets and academy officials agree that the student code of silence covers not only minor infractions such as wearing civilian clothes or underage drinking, but also sexual harassment and assault.
A woman who reports an unwanted sexual approach by a man in her squadron may be viewed by her classmates as a traitor to the "family," students and administrators say. Several women have dropped out of the academy because of the animosity they felt after reporting a rape.
Women who have reported recent assaults say the academy brass also seems determined to protect male cadets against the charges. Some women have been disciplined -- for offenses such as drinking or fraternizing with (dating) an upperclassman -- because of information that came out in the investigation of the assault."
The AFA has a culture that promotes and covers up rape of female cadets. The USAF Brass has to deal with it or they will be destroyed by it.
A couple of comments come to mind. For the record, I was USAFA class of 1980 (first class with women) but left after finishing my sophomore year due to loss of pilot qualifications.
First, there's no excuse for rape. None. No means no and that's it. And what's happened at the Air Force Academy is an outrage.
But a little background on the institutional mentality from my perspective may be informative. For upperclassmen, there's definitely a "cooperate and graduate" and "get away with as much as you can" mentality. Understand that the place is like a monastery and opportunities for any kind of reasonable entertainment are very restricted. So what you can actually get away with is pretty limited - usually just drinking in the dorms illegally, or "racking in" during Saturday morning training sessions or maybe sneaking a non-USAFA girlfriend in the dorm overnight. But the mentality of not reporting others for breaking rules against drinking and carousing is definitely institutionalized (and yes, sadly, that includes the honor code, as well. several times I even observed cadets lying to keep someone else who'd lied out of trouble - and yes, because I tolerated it that made me guilty . . . . though I think I took the honor code as seriously as anyone I knew at USAFA). So that sets the stage for the beginnings of the problem.
Understand that "fraternization" between upper class and doolies is forbidden. By its very nature, the relationship between upperclassmen and doolies is so unbalanced that any dating between upperclass men and doolie women is fraught with danger. I do wonder this: how many of the rapes were between male upperclass and female doolies? There is no excuse for rape, ever, and this isn't one . . . . it's more like prison guards and prisoners - legally there can BE NO CONSENSUAL SEX under any circumstances between a prison guard and a prisoner. That's not too far from where the upperclass-doolie relationship stands at USAFA.
So there's two parts to the problem: an institutional mentality to paper over small and large problems to cooperate and graduate, and the potential for male upperclassmen to act like idiots with female doolies. Totally objectionable in every case.
While there's no question but that USAFA has a huge institutional problem with this issue, there's one minor mitigating factor to consider. Fraternization is a serious charge. The system in place correctly allows doolie women to come forward to report rape and not face charges of fraternization. That creates a small incentive for a doolie woman caught with an upperclassman to charge rape to escape the fraternization charge.
Last, like everyone else I'm sickened by the damage to the institution. For all the warts and problems while I was there, I got a lot more out of USAFA than I realized at the time. And while I saw lots of games played with important rules and with the honor code, adherence to the rules and pursuit of excellence was paid more attention to at USAFA than any place I've been since.
Tend to agree with Bob about the opening of the piece, which says rape is seen by the entire Air Force as a good in itself... and that's simply not true. The rest still makes for chilling reading, though - especially if it did indeed surface 10 yeaqrs ago and nothing was done.
This is going to end a lot of careers. Some very deservedly, but many not (as in Tailhook). Once things get to this stage, however, that can't be helped much.
Gary, your points are most welcome, and add a great deal of context to the debate. Thank you for taking the time.
Well, Steve, you showed me that you aren't too bright with your flippant comment about the competence of ROTC graduates relative to the academy's, especially given that the programs at VMI, VPI, the Citadel, et al, are ROTC programs. You might take a look at our flag officer ranks and see how many of them DIDN'T attend one of the service academies. Plus, I take personal offense at your inexcuseable comment--I'm a distinguished graduate of the AFROTC program at Louisiana State University, I'm a few weeks from pinning on Lieutenant Colonel, and I'm a top-notch officer.
My experience--nearly 17 years of active duty--how does that compare to yours?--is that the source of commissioning really doesn't matter. Being a good officer has more to do with character and ethics than anything else. Frankly, I think all the service academies should be eliminated. At the least, the nation 'needs' to have only one. ROTC programs already produce the majority of officers--active, reserve, and guard. And they do it a lot cheaper per person than the academies.
I suggest you grow up and do some basic research before you go making totally unsupportable and dismissably ridiculous statements such as you made about ROTC and the commissioned officers these programs produce.
Mr Telenko,
Did you attend the Air Force Academy? It is obvious you did not, by your terrible and complete misconceptions of everything that goes on there. Why am I qualified to say that? Because I graduated from that fine institution. It is still a fine institution.
Now, before you attack me as someone that is part of the problem, hear me out.
I agree with Mr Harmon's recommended solution.
But, I think you, Mr Telenko, should not attack what you have never experienced. Truth be told, I could never explain to you the experiences of those four years at the Academy unless you too were a graduate or a former Cadet.
For example, you tarnish my highly valued Honor Code by your complete lack of understanding. To quote you, "The corrupt "honor system" at Colorado Springs has gone so far as giving demerits for having sex in the barracks to women cadets who reported their own rape."
The Honor System does not produce demerits. Reg violations produce demerits.
Please, feel free to comment on the very demanding and rewarding last four years of my life when you are qualified.
David M Henze
Dave, the AFA is a US institution. It serves the people of the United States. All US citizens are entitled to comment on its failings.
All I know is when I see one of those guys walking around with a ring on their finger, I'll be wondering if the guy raped someone. I think the Air Force might consider reviewing all the records and getting these guys out of command positions. They can be discrete about it if they want, but I think it's important for them to communicate to the rest of us that those who might have committed rape are no longer in our chain. I'd think that not doing so wouldn't be in the best interests of the service.
Right now I'm trying to figure out why the AFA seems to be from another planet. It certainly bears no resemblance to my Air Force. Jesus.
You folks don't know what you're talking about, but you're certainly talking quite a bit. It must bring you great satisfaction to critique your betters.
Sexual assault is a tragic fact of life. It happens wherever men and women comingle. It happens at State U, it happens at County High School, it happens everywhere. It happens a lot more at civilian colleges than it ever will at a military institution. However, the fact that it happens at USAFA should not surprise anyone. The fact that reports were mishandled should disappoint everyone.
In this case, people who broke the law were punished in spite of their claims of rape. People who could be proven not to be rapists were not convicted of rape. In the papers, this turned into "victims being punished for coming forward" and "accused rapists running rampant."
You folks who have never lived at my Academy and who have never met the women who were on 20/20 (as I have) are in no position to speak to this topic- you've not even gotten the unfiltered allegations of those who have come forward, much less a proper televised response to these allegations. Even (especially) the weblog tirade that I'm responding to got basic facts wrong. Not matters of opinion or perspective- facts. I hate the Academy more than any of you ever could, but lies about something you hate are still lies.
You people are like a lynch mob. "I heard Joe Bob say that black boy whistled at a white woman! STRING HIM UP!"
Ignorant of the facts, uncaring of the source, desperate for your opinion to matter. Cute.
Andrew -
Your comment would be a lot more useful if you'd actually present some of the 'facts' that are wrong. Just saying that someone is telling lies, and leaving it up the audience to decipher what you mean translates into "liar, liar, pants on fire."
So back it up.
"It happens wherever men and women comingle."
I don't know, the enlisted folks manage to live together without raping the chick living in the next dorm room.
Trent T,
Sensationalism? You do not call this too much sensationalism? Well perhaps this is because many in the American public do not realize what is really going on...
I do not deny there is a serious problem at USAFA. I believe there is a legitimate problem with the administration (top brass, commandant of cadets, superindtendent, etc); however, the way the media has portrayed cadets at how the system works at the Academy is completely inaccurate and ridiculous. Shows such as 20/20 take a completely one sided view of things and have failed to mention many specifics. Maybe they should have done a little investigative work in the backgrounds of some of these ladies because I guarantee that many of these ladies have some intereseting stories to tell themselves..
I am a female cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point and I have friends who attend USAFA. I KNOW how it works at a military academy and the way the media has portrayed it is completely inaccurate. Upperclass cadets DO NOT have free reign over underclass cadets. The good majority of male cadets are great guys who would never EVER imagine harming another female and violating her...however, none of this is ever mentioned. I will not go into the backgrounds of many of these ladies but I will say that those who personally know them do not speak highly of them at all.
Of course there are many legimitate rape cases..But I guarantee, if you look at the statistics of rape cases at normal civilian schools, they probably are proportional to those at service academies. The problem at Air Force is the way it has been handled by the administration. So please, do not even say this is not sensationalism at it's finest. I have been totally disgusted at the way they have portrayed cadets and the way the school runs. In my opinion, the only MAJOR problem is the way things have been handled and what little they have done in educating cadets about this issue. I am just sick of people shooting their mouths off when all they know is what 20/20 or MSNBC has to say about the issue.
Celeste ,
Yeah exactly right?! You need facts to back up accusations? Then why do people automatically believe every woman in a he said she said case? A large majority of these cases were he said she said. There weren't very many rape kits done, etc.
Paul,
Can you come up with some statistics on this because I've heard of MANY situations where enlisted women were raped in their dorms. Rape is everywhere and rape is wrong. But we can't deny that it's one of society's downfalls. Men at service academies are not more inclined to raping females than anyone else. To say this is complete BS.
Robin,
What Dave is saying is that people should not make idiotic comments that are completely inaccurate. If you don't know what you're talking about then don't attempt to comment on it if you can't aruge intelligently. Now if you know what's going on and have done your "reserach" then by all means do it. Hell, anyone can talk it about whatever they desire...It's a free country...However, the Academy is becoming even more tarnished because of the completely inaccurate remarks made by those that are not educated on the subject...Think before you speak...
Dear Paul,
"I don't know, the enlisted folks manage to live together without raping the chick living in the next dorm room. "
Is that true? Nice to know that there have never been any rapes, proven or alleged, within the enlisted dorms of the Air Force. Thanks for those "facts."
I have to agree with Sara on each and every post. I am an AFA graduate, a female, and I was sexually assualted while attending so I feel very entitled to my opinions. The media has royally screwed up this coverage. It is ridiculous and one-sided. Rape happens everywhere...until we rid society of it, you will never have 0 rapes at the Academy. Sure, no rapists have been charged from the Academy...when a case boils down to he said/she said can YOU, beyond a reasonable doubt, convict someone? I know I couldn't. Sure the Academy needs to educate the cadets more on the subject, yes if the leadership swept things under the rug they should be dismissed, but this by no means implys that men graduating from the Academy are to be declared rapists. I wouldn't change a thing about my time at the Academy. Eventhough I was raped, the Academy supported me and helped me through this terrible time in my life. Amazed by that?? Well, the media fails to mention that the Academy has a tremendous support system for victims and the institution does everything in it's power to help a woman or man (yes, men get raped too!) get their life back and graduate. I would argue that if the women on 20/20 REALLY wanted to graduate as they say they do, they could have gotten the help and gotten through it. I'm living proof!
Here, here, Sara!! Stay strong!
The Air Force Academy's tradition of covering up unpleasant facts goes back further than most people suspect. When I worked there in the 1970's, I saw cases of fraud, waste, abuse, corruption, and favoritism that never got reported in the news media. Although I'm slow to accuse anyone of discrimination, I became the object of character assassination for accusing one civilian operation of not promoting nonwhite minorities to GS-9 and above positions for 25 years. So unless they close down the Academy, which I consider a costly and wasteful boondoggle, conduct a thorough investigation, and purge the Air Force of its sex offenders, everyone in that branch of service will be tarred with the same brush. That would be a shame, since I liked and respected most of the Air Force personnel I worked with during my military years.
B.W.
You are picking up on the exact point I was trying to make.
The USAFA Rape scandle is no longer about due process for rapists and careerists. It is about the health of the Republic and specifically the institutional culture of the USAF.
The 2003 graduating class of the Air Force Academy appears to be 1% criminal scum and 99% gutless cowards. God help the USA.
I was once in a Naval unit with serious problems.
The first seaman drummed out was considered a bad sailor. By the time the fourth highly trained person left in the same division they figured out they had a bad officer. Sort of.
The original "trouble maker" was considered a problem for over two years after he had left the service.
This is not an AF, Army, Navy, Marine, problem. It is a service wide problem. Once an officer or enlisted reaches a certain rank problems are buried.
The "Caine Mutiny" is not an isolated incident. People in power go bad and there is no recourse.
In the Navy problem people disappear over the side in "accidents" at sea. I don't know how other services do it. Training accidents probably.
This is not a new problem.
It is as old as militaries every where. It is why Washington and the founders were afraid of a standing military. When the need to cover becomes great enough governments fall.
For 225+ years we have been pretty lucky.
The one thing to remember is that as bad as things are here it is worse in every other military in the world.
Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty.
It is an old saw that graduates of academies weld their rings like sceptors of power. Obviously it is not true of all, nor most graduates of the academies. However, just a few of the comments here show an attitude of arrogance toward fellow officers who were not academy graduates as well as a siege mentality against 'outsiders' critisizing 'their' academy.
I'm not sure if the AFA needs shut down, but it needs a serious housecleaning.
A couple of points...
First of, the witch hunt suggested by Trent Trelenko is ridiculous. Why should people who had nothing to do with rapes (ie. instructors or the vast majority of cadet leaders) be penalized?
Secondly, in the cases you cite, how do you know that the facts are what the alleged victims claim? For example, how do you know that Fullilove was telling the truth? One thing I noticed is that despite presenting her allegations factually, the SF Chronicle apparently was not confident enough in her to print the name of her alleged attacker and take the risk of a libel suit.
For Mr. Tolenko to suggest that the honor code should be done away with completely because of a 21st century coed environment is appaling. Obviously there is a problem with the USAFA administration and the way that they handled the cases; but claiming that the honor code should be changed because of this? The honor code is an integral part of the academy experience, and anyone who attends an academy understands its importance.
I am a cadet at USMA, and I do not think that there is a problem with lying about sex that justifies the dismantling of the honor code. It just is not there. The lies are primarily coming from the administration, which is not bound by the code. Mr. Tolenko should talk to cadets at large - from all the academies - if he is going to make claims about doing away with the honor code at all of the academies.
Also, to think that it would be in the interest of professional development to hand over the cadet companies to field grade officers and drill sergeants demonstrates how little Mr. Tolenko knows about cadet development. A main portion of the development comes from learning how to lead other cadets at various levels - not just responding to a drill sergeant. Mr Tolenko needs to get a better grasp on how an academy works before he suggests sweeping changes that influence much more than the addressed problem.
The AFA won't be closed down just because some left wing nut said it should. AFROTC is a joke too. They meet once a week for a few hours and play pretend soldier. Just because those shitbags know stupid shit like the 20th verse of the air force song doesn't mean they will become good officers either
#2 from Richard A. Heddleson at 4:44 pm on Mar 09, 2003
Steve,
In the meantime, the Academy should be overrun by the FBI. If half of what Trent has said is true, no part of the Air Force can be trusted to clean house.
Two questions. Got a daughter? Want her to go to AFA next year?
Richard,
Yup, and she did...and graduated with honors. And she will tell you that she felt safer on the Academy campus than she did in Denver or Colorado Springs.
You all are far too trusting of "investigative reporter" John Ferrugia's self-serving Emmy Award chase and the national media firestorm created when papers and stations started repeating his every unchallenged word. He got an Oprah guest shot, and our cadets got dishonor. If every one of the allegations had been true, it still would constitute an assault rate 8 times lower than the national average for US colleges and universities.
This was just a field day for military haters, and the media has plenty of them. Check it out...several of the accusers went on to resume relationships with their "rapists" after the attention died down. It's time to do a forensic investigation of the veracity of the accusations.
The only good thing to come out of the phony "Scandal" was the replacement of the clueless Academy leadership with Rosa and Weida, and the eventual departure of Roche.