Salon.com > Lackland Air Force Base

Survivor of sexual violence at Lackland Air Force Base speaks out

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

The sexual abuse scandal at Lackland Air Force Base continues to unfold in the three years since the first survivor came forward. The scope of the controversy -- in which 62 trainees have been identified as victims of assault by 32 training instructors -- was called “stunning” by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh as he testified before a congressional panel on the abuse in January.

On Wednesday, Virginia Messick, a survivor of sexual violence at Lackland, has come forward to speak publicly about what she endured at the hands of her instructor. As the New York Times reports:

After her Air Force training instructor raped Virginia Messick, a young recruit, he told her it was fun and they should do it again, she remembers. Then he threw her clothes at her and ordered her to take a shower.

Ms. Messick was unable to move, cry or scream. She was a 19-year-old from rural Florida, in her fifth week of basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, and she had just been assaulted by the man the Air Force had entrusted with her life.

Air Force releases report on widespread sexual abuse

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:02:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I wrote that "some military scandals are far worse than others." While the Petraeus affair and investigations into Gen. John Allen continue to fuel a media frenzy, far more pernicious and widespread instances of sexual misconduct haunt the armed forces. On Wednesday, The Air Force released its report detailing a culture of sexual abuse at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where members of the Air Force go through basic training.

Eleven basic training instructors have been charged with offenses ranging from inappropriate touching of female recruits to rape. Two commanding officers have been removed, and Air Force Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr., commander of Air Education and Training Command, said at a press conference Wednesday that six more have received "disciplinary action." Forty-eight women -- some as young as 17 or 18 years old -- have come forward with stories of sexual misconduct.

Stop calling it a sex scandal

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Let me fix this for you, headline writers. When you're dealing with a story that involves rape or harassment or abuse or molestation or child porn or anything that falls under the rubric of criminal behavior, you should call those things rape and harassment and abuse and molestation and child pornography. You know what you shouldn't call them? Sexy sexy sex scandals, that's what.

For example, when you're covering a story involving charges of "rape, aggravated sexual contact and multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault" at the Lackland Air Force Base, you might want to reconsider framing it, as the Washington Post does, as a "widening sex scandal," or as the Boston Herald calls it, a "growing sex scandal," or even, as the Christian Science Monitor says, a garden-variety "sex scandal." If you happen to say, as the AP does, that the "Air Force says 31 victims so far in sex scandal," or as already credibility-strained CNN declares, that there are now "31 victims identified in widening Air Force sex scandal," please note that word "victims" there. It's the important one.