"Steps to protect our troops
from any unwanted sexual advances and assaultive behaviors are to be
commended," stated James Fausone, a veterans disability attorney.
Steps include better enforcement
of policies which prohibit inappropriate relationships, establishing an
advocacy group within each service branch for victims which provides
representation and legal advice for those with complaints of sexual assault,
and disqualifying troop members who have backgrounds including sexual assault
from roles as counselors, instructors or recruiters.
Meanwhile, an airman who was
assigned to the Air Force Academy was
convicted in August of aggravated sexual conduct at a general court martial against
his fellow female airman.
The airman received a sentence of
15 months confinement. He was also reduced in grade to airman basic, and he was
dishonorably discharged by a panel of officers. The conviction was just the
latest in a series of high-profile military sexual assault cases as the Defense Department and Congress attempt to determine the best way
to prosecute sexual assault cases and if a commanded should be included in
proceedings.
The now-former chief of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention
and Response Branch, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, was arrested easier this
year after allegedly committing sexual battery against a woman not far from the
Pentagon after exiting a strip club. The ensuing fallout has thrown a harsh
spotlight on sexual assault and misconduct against fellow officers in all
branches of the service. Krusinski's post is now helmed by a woman who had been
hired to investigate the assault by trainers of female recruits in Texas
The Defense Department is
currently looking at how to expand an Air Force program which offers special
counsel to service members who allege that they are the victims of unwanted
sexual conduct or sexual assault or unwanted sexual contact.
There were an estimated 26,000 unwanted
sexual contact incidents in 2012 experienced by active-duty troops.
Sources
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