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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-07-04 05:38 PM
Original message
Air Force Academy Blamed for Sex Scandal


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20041207/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/academy_assault_report


Air Force Academy Blamed for Sex Scandal


1 minute ago


By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon (news - web sites)'s inspector general says a series of commanders at the Air Force Academy failed to recognize and deal with reports of sexual assaults against female cadets on campus, officials said Tuesday.

"We conclude that the overall root cause of the sexual assault problems at the Air Force Academy was the 'failure of successive chains of command over the past 10 years to acknowledge the severity of the problem,'" Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz wrote in a Dec. 3 memo to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, quoting his own report.


"Consequently, they failed to initiate and monitor adequate corrective measures to change the culture until recently," Schmitz wrote.


Last year, nearly 150 women came forward with accusations that they had been sexually assaulted by fellow cadets between 1993 and 2003. Many alleged they were punished, ignored or ostracized by commanders for speaking out. ......
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maddezmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-08-04 07:12 AM
Response to Original message
1. so what'll rummy do with the report??
Edited on Wed Dec-08-04 07:15 AM by maddezmom
Gen. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, the Air Force's vice chief of staff, noted that all senior leaders at the academy had been replaced since the allegations came to light.


The military has had to deal with sexual assault issues across the services.


In May, a Pentagon task force found that victims of rape and other forms of sexual assault in the military have too often suffered additionally from a lack of support from commanders, criminal investigators and doctors.


The report, ordered in February by Rumsfeld after a number of sexual assaults against soldiers in the Iraqi theater came to light, described inconsistencies throughout the military in the treatment and investigation of such assaults.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Nada,,,just like all the other reports...sickening. :puke:
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Rush1184 Donating Member (478 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-08-04 07:43 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Translated:
"noted that all senior leaders at the academy had been replaced since the allegations came to light. "

meaning

they have all graduated. Senior leaders at a military adacemy such as USAF as usually the senior cadets, who would have graduated by now.
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NCN007 Donating Member (143 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-08-04 10:50 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. not true
Cadet leaders have zero athority. The senior leaders they are talking about are people like the Commandant and the Superintendent, one and three star generals respectively.
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Rose Siding Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-08-04 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
3. Ex-Air Force cadet slams Pentagon report
Dec. 8, 2004 | DENVER (AP) -- A Pentagon report critical of the role of commanders at the Air Force Academy was blasted as inadequate by at least one former cadet who claims she was raped by a classmate.
Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz blamed, but did not identify, eight Air Force officers for their roles in policies that oversaw sexual-assault reporting at the academy, according to a summary of the report. Twenty-one other officers were found to have acted appropriately.

"It looks to me like they took a list of officers who are not on their good list and held them accountable when the officers who actually were the ones committing the wrongdoings at the academy were on the list that were exonerated," former cadet Beth Davis said Tuesday.
.....
Outside investigations have concluded the academy's culture created conditions that contributed to the problem. That included lingering resistance to having female cadets at all: Last year, a survey of cadets found 22 percent did not believe women belonged at the academy, more than a quarter of a century after they were first admitted.

Last year, nearly 150 women came forward with accusations that they had been sexually assaulted by fellow cadets between 1993 and 2003. Many alleged they were punished for infractions such as drinking, ignored or ostracized by commanders for speaking out. Two cadets have been charged with sexual assault stemming from the investigation.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2004/12/08/cadet_slams_pentagon_report/index.html
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saving daylight Donating Member (10 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-08-04 11:19 AM
Response to Original message
5. USAFA has the facts on the website
http://www.usafa.af.mil/ and then go to Current Events. They have the harassment report and findings there.

First, USAFA dismissed the Commander of USAFA a year ago. At least 7 others charged with managing USAFA have been dismissed or reduced in rank and moved elsewhere.

Second, These men are being trained as warriers to fly the best jets we have. They are VERY pumped up young men! In 2004 35,000 of the smartest graduates from High School wanted to attend USAFA and only 1,400 of them accepted. Out of this 1,400 only 1,000 will graduate, the rest will drop out or be asked to leave.

The cadets that were still at the Academy and found guilty were dismissed, graduated cadets found guilty were demoted and asked to leave the service.

Let us keep this in perspective: It was about 15 women per year making allegations that ranged from being incorrectly disciplined all the way up to rape but mostly lesser accusations.

The cadet(s) found guilty of rape are subject to the US Military code of justice which means a 19 year old young man could be imprisoned for LIFE if found guilty.

Just thought I would post some FACTS for a change!

New to this so I hope I do not offend anybody!

Weather is great in Milwaukee!



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realFedUp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-08-04 11:34 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. The facts.

Second, These men are being trained as warriers to fly the best jets we have. They are VERY pumped up young men! In 2004 35,000 of the smartest graduates from High School wanted to attend USAFA and only 1,400 of them accepted. Out of this 1,400 only 1,000 will graduate, the rest will drop out or be asked to leave.

Smart and Congressionally backed men AND women high
school graduates are being expensively trained by taxpayers.
"Pumped up" is not an excuse for students raping or inflicting
untoward action on other students without facing
expulsion and legal action.

Don't make excuses and we know the facts...if 150 reported
in a decade aren't enough for you to call this what it is,
than your scale of wrongdoing is fuzzy at best.

I'd say welcome to DU, but I'm not feeling that way
towards your post.
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uncle ray Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-08-04 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. i hope i don't offend you by calling your arguement stupid.
weather's great here in Colorado Springs as well.
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