Military rape study lists 11 cases at Hickam
| • | Chart: Sex assaults alleged at Air Force bases |
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
There were 11 alleged rape cases reported for personnel assigned to Hickam Air Force Base between 2001 and 2003, a detailed Pacific Air Forces sexual-assault study shows.
Age and alcohol were cited as factors in the study — a review of 92 rape allegations at bases in Japan, South Korea, Guam, Hawai'i, Alaska, Singapore and Diego Garcia.
Gen. William J. Begert, the Hickam-based commander of Pacific Air Forces, ordered the study last September.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday he wanted to see that report. "What we need to do is get the facts and to come to some judgments and that is the process that we initiated," he said.
Pacific Air Forces commanders have been ordered to make immediate changes in the way they handle rape investigations because of the review.
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.
Gen. William J. Begert, the Hickam-based commander of Pacific Air Forces, ordered the study last September.
Begert initiated the study after seeing dozens of rape claims arise among cadets at the Air Force Academy — which prompted a purge of the academy's commanders and sweeping changes.
"I wanted to make sure we ... had a handle on the situation," he said through a spokesman yesterday.
The goal is to educate Air Force personnel on the subject and to strengthen support for victims.
"We owe our airmen and our airmen owe each other immediate and decisive action to prevent further sexual assault," Begert told his field commanders in a letter dated March 1. "Too many sexual assaults have occurred and continue to occur."
Begert's top field commanders are due to attend a meeting here next month to discuss the problem. Two issues are likely to arise — coed dorm rooms, where most of the reported assaults occurred, and alcohol consumption, which was a factor in most of the cases — though sweeping changes such as single-sex housing or alcohol-free bases throughout the Pacific Command are unlikely.
Several factors stood out, including age and the consumption of alcohol before the reported assault, said Col. Steve Lepper, the command's top lawyer and chairman of the sexual-assault assessment group. About 82 percent of the victims were under 25. And, more than 60 percent of both the 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 steps taken to help reduce sexual assaults among Air Force personnel. In a memo to his Pacific Air Forces 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 that assesses the strength of the case and provides 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.
There was no available data to compare the Pacific command's sexual-assault rates with other Air Force regions or other branches of the military.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
