Gen. William J. Begert, the Hickam-based commander of Pacific Air Forces, ordered the changes after reviewing a study of 92 rape allegations between 2001 and 2003. Begert ordered the study last September. The goal is to educate Air Force personnel on the subject and to strengthen support for victims.

The five-month study focused on the command's bases in Japan, South Korea, Guam, Hawai'i, Alaska, Singapore and Diego Garcia. More than 6,000 of the command’s 40,000 personnel are women.

The cases involved 106 service members. Fourteen were tried by court martial and seven were convicted of rape. More than 40 airmen were punished for lesser offenses.

Eleven cases were reported for personnel assigned to Hickam Air Force Base.

Several factors stood out, including age and the consumption of alcohol prior to the crime, said Col. Steve Lepper, the command’s top lawyer and chairman of sexual assault assessment group. About 82 percent of the victims were under 25. And, about 60 percent of both victims and assailants had been drinking.

"We believe that if there is a single factor we could control that would reduce the number of assaults in the Pacific Air Forces, it was alcohol," Lepper said. "When you drink, men lose their ability to control themselves and women lose their ability to resist."

The Air Force is working on a long-term solution to the problem, but Begert ordered an interim action plan to help reduce sexual assault among Air Force personnel. In a memo to his Pacific Air Force commanders last week, Begert ordered them to make nine changes at their bases.

They include:

• Briefings for new arrivals on the "risks, responses and consequences of sexual assault." These would be repeated annually.

• Air Force lawyers must give commanders a legal review of each sexual assault investigation. The review should assess the strength of the case and provide a prosecution recommendation.

• Victim liaisons must be appointed immediately after an offense is reported. They must be trained in crisis intervention and serve as the victim’s advocate.

• Victim counseling must be provided even for those whose cases do not go forward because of insufficient evidence. "I hope you provide support for as long as it’s needed," Begert wrote.

The study found that nearly 80 percent of victims and assailants knew each other and that most of the alleged rapes occurred at a location where both were voluntarily present, such as a dorm room or house.

Lepper said this contributed to some of the differences between Air Force rape cases and civilian rape cases.

In civilian cases, about 40 percent of the victims suffered injuries and 12 percent of the assailants used a weapon. Among the Air Force cases, 23 percent of the victims were injured and 2 percent of the assailants used a weapon. This contributes to the difference in cases that produce a felony conviction: 18 percent among civilians, compared with 7 percent among Pacific Air Forces personnel, Lepper said.

"We believe the difference there is a reflection of the kinds of crime we are looking at," he said. "In the civilian community, rapes tend to be more brutal, and that also produces more evidence for prosecutors."