Senior Airman Ciera Bridges, who had been facing discharge under other than honorable conditions, was featured in an Oct. 7 recent Air Force Times report on three airmen who claim they were retaliated against after accusing superiors of assault and harassment. Bridges was cited repeatedly for minor misconduct after she began making complaints against superiors for the harassment, which she said began soon after she arrived at Nellis in November 2009 and persisted for nearly three years.
The Air Force has dropped its recommendation to discharge a servicewoman who claimed that she was sexually harassed and assaulted by three of her superiors — two days after the Air Force Times first reported on the alleged retaliation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force said Friday it fired the two-star general in charge of its nuclear missiles in response to an investigation into alleged personal misbehavior. It was the second sacking this week of a senior commander of nuclear forces.
Maj. Gen. Michael Carey was removed from command of the 20th Air Force, which is responsible for three wings of intercontinental ballistic missiles — a total of 450 missiles at three bases across the country, according to an Air Force spokesman, Brig. Gen. Les Kodlick.
Airmen want to know more about how to prevent sexual assault — and what to do if it happens to them or someone they know.
In the 2½ months since the Air Force began asking for input on the military’s sexual assault problem,airmen have said again and again they need more training, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer said.
The call-out came in the wake of a May Defense Department report that showed a 35 percent increase in the number of service members who said they had experienced unwanted sexual contact, from an estimated 19,300 in 2010 to 26,000 in 2012.
WICHITA, Kan. — The highest court for the U.S. armed forces has agreed to hear the appeal of a Kansas airman convicted of assault for exposing multiple sex partners to HIV at swinger parties in Wichita, his attorney said Friday.
They accused superiors of assault and harassment, now their careers are over.
Victims “tell me they don’t come forward for a number of reasons. They feel personally ashamed. They feel that they may be blamed for what has happened. They do fear retaliation, sometimes from chain of command, sometimes from their buddies in the unit.”
An allegedly inebriated Air Force Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski has been arrested under suspicion of sexual battery for an incident that occurred in Arlington May 5.
At 12:35 a.m., according to the police report, “a drunken male subject approached a female victim in a parking lot and grabbed her breasts and buttocks. The victim fought the suspect off as he attempted to touch her again and alerted police.”
An Air Force Academy cadet has been convicted by a court martial panel on a sexual assault charge and kicked out of the military.
Air Force Academy cadet Jamil Cooks, who pleaded guilty last week to unlawfully entering women’s dorm rooms at the academy, was convicted by a court martial panel on a charge of abusive sexual contact, the academy announced Sunday morning.
SrA Matthew Theurer, 22, US Air Force, was arrested after the body of his baby was discovered in a bag on the side of a highway on March 12, 2013. SrA Theurer stood accused of dumping the baby’s body about 100 miles away from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina where he was stationed. After Theurer’s baby was discovered and a failed suicide attempt, Theurer confessed to investigators that he found his child unresponsive on February 15, 2013 and attempted to cover up the death. SrA Theurer admitted in military court that he began to downward spiral after the mother of his child moved away and left him to care for the baby by himself. SrA Theurer admitted to leaving the child alone while he went to work; an autopsy report indicated that the child died from starvation and neglect. SrA Theurer pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, child endangerment, obstruction of justice, and making a false statement. SrA Matthew Theurer was sentenced to forty years in prison, dishonorable discharge, and reduction to E-1.
SSgt Craig LeBlanc was a Basic Military Training Instructor at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He is also one of the 35 instructors courts martialed after a base-wide investigation into sexual abuse claims referred to as the Lackland Sex Scandal. He was accused of having inappropriate relationships with recruits, adultery, and sexual assault. He was found not guilty of sexual assault. Nonetheless, SSgt LeBlanc was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in February 2013. Although the actions for which he was found guilty were unprofessional and in fact Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) infractions, they were not criminal in nature yet he got prison time for consensual sex and adultery, a law that doesn’t exist in the civilian world. The Air Force gave SSgt LeBlanc the fourth longest prison sentence. SSgt Eddy Soto was sentenced to four years for the rape of a trainee but a year and a half later, the Air Force Criminal Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and set aside the original prison sentence. The rape charge lacked evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. SSgt Luis Walker and MSgt Michael Silva were both sentenced to twenty years for rape and sexual assault convictions. SSgt LeBlanc attempted to appeal his sentence but the military appeals court denied it.
“The dismissal of these two specifications does not dramatically change the penalty landscape; in fact, only the maximum confinement authorized would change. Without the convictions on these two specifications, the confinement exposure is reduced from 22 years and 1 month to 18 years and 1 month. The appellant was sentenced to confinement for 30 months. Having considered the totality of the circumstances, we would reassess the appellant’s sentence to the same sentence approved by the convening authority.” -USAF Court of Criminal Appeals (March 2015)
Discharge dropped for airman who claimed retaliation
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 