More than a year has passed since the military was rocked by a string of high-profile sexual misconduct scandals and a Defense Department report that showed a steep rise in the number of service members who said they'd experienced unwanted sexual contact.
The media firestorm that followed has since fizzled. But Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer said efforts to care for victims of sex crimes and hold accountable their perpetrators have has not lost steam.
"Sexual assault is a heinous crime that has no place in the military," Spencer said in a Nov. 24 interview with Air Force Times. "It degrades trust and the ability to perform the mission. I can't overstate this. We will not rest. It's something we take very seriously. It's something I work on every day. We can never let the gas off on this one."
The service has made a number of strides over the last couple of years, the vice chief said. It established a program that provides victims and alleged victims with their own attorneys to help navigate an arduous criminal justice system. It has grown the staff of the sexual assault prevention and response office at the Pentagon from three to more than 30 and put at the its helm a two-star general who reports directly to Spencer. Sexual offenses are now documented in an airman's permanent record, and commanders must initiate discharge proceedings for any airman found to have committed such an offense.
The changes seem to be working, with increased reporting and prosecutions.
"I don't want it to come across at all that we are high-fiving ourselves," Spencer said. "I hesitate to send a message we have found an answer because we have not."
But Spencer said conversations with airmen of all ranks reveal "their awareness and understanding has improved."
While efforts so far have focused heavily on prosecution and victim care, said Spencer, "our next big push is how do we prevent this crime from happening."
The Air Force will kick off 2015 with a four-day sexual assault prevention and response summit at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
The event, which begins Jan. 12, will bring in experts from outside the Defense Department, including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who will work with airmen "of all ranks, from junior airmen to commanders ... to come out with a plan on how to move forward," Spencer said.
The conference will also include discussions on the impact social media and command climate have on sex crimes.
"On Day 4, we'll start to crystallize what we have learned and how we're going to turn this into a plan," said Spencer, who has repeatedly stated that the problem can't be solved sitting at the Pentagon.
"Are there ways during an interview or some other method by which someone enters the military that will raise a red flag for us to maybe look a little deeper? Are there questions we can ask? If someone has predatory traits about them, is there a way we can identify that before they come into the military? If we can obviously prevent the crime from happening — not just the military but our entire society is struggling with that issue," Spencer said. "We're going to tackle that elephant and see if we can make some progress."
In a recent web chat the vice chief hosted with a base in Alaska, airmen talked about how difficult it is to insert themselves into situations that call for bystander intervention — even though they have trained for it.
What would really help, the airmen told Spencer, is role-playing different scenarios.
"It was a good suggestion. So we're doing that," the vice chief said.
Airmen across the force have come up with other initiatives, from self-imposing alcohol restrictions in dormitories to offering self-defense classes.
Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, SAPR coordinator Cindy Graver created the "iT" campaign — "it" being conversations about sexual assault — to help airmen at all levels become comfortable talking about the crime, said Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Allen Herritage. The SAPR program at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, led a "Sexual Assault Theater Group" that performed skits portraying dramatic accounts of the crime. The 15-member theater continues to perform at commander's calls, mock trials, newcomer's' briefings and for Air Force leaders, he said.
"Airmen are on it. They understand the issue. They are anxious to talk to me about what they have done," Spencer said. "They are with us and want to solve it as well."
