Military Rape Speech 23 - 7-19-12 - Congress Needs to Act.

Today on the floor of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) again called on Congress to hold a hearing of the widespread sex abuse scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX where 12 training instructors are under investigation for sexual misconduct with recruits. One instructor, Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, is today facing the fourth day of his Court Martial that includes charges of rape, assault, sodomy and obstruction of justice with 10 trainees. Transcript: I rise again today to talk about Military Sexual Trauma. It's a cancer, it's ubiquitous, it's unabated and regrettably unaddressed. There was Tailhook in 1991. there was Aberdeen in 1996. There was scandals at the military academies. There were hearings, there were reports, there were toothless recommendations. Here we are again with yet another scandal. At this very moment military training instructor Luis Walker stands before a court-martial for raping -- Luis Walker stands before a court martial for raping. Walker's job is to train freshly minted Air Force recruits, many in their teens. In all there are 28 charges against him and 10 victims. Walker is a sexual predator. On Tuesday, a victim testified that right after graduating from boot camp, Walker approached her while she sat outside on a bench waiting for a bus that would take her to technical training school. Walker came up and ordered her to get some bleach from a supply room. And then he followed her. Once inside, he closed the door and took off his training instructor hat. "I'm not here for bleach, am I? she said. While Walker had intercourse with her on the couch, she wondered: My God, I hope he has a condom on. On Wednesday another victim testified that while on laundry detail one day, Walker showed up and told her to follow him to get some towels but to wait five minutes so the surveillance cameras would not capture them going up together. Once inside the dorm, he pulled her into a flight office, kissed her, and told her to perform oral sex on him. She said she did what she was told. Walker's defense attorneys argue because the women never fully resisted, the sex was consensual. Defense also argues that because the women never came forward to report the incident, they must not have felt victimized. If this happens in any high school in this country, if a prized English teacher, band instructor, had sex with his students we would be outraged and demand action. That teacher would be fired. Yet at Lackland where some of the recruits are just 18 or 19 years old, we rationalize the behavior of the perpetrator and blame the victim. Apparently we have a different definition of zero tolerance for sex offenders in the military world than we do for them in the civilian world. What does zero tolerance mean in the military? Is that just a catch phrase? The 35,000 air force recruits who funnel through Lackland each year are mostly confined to the base for 6 1/2 weeks of training. They get one three-minute phone call once a week. Recruits live and breathe basic training and follow each and every order of their instructor. One rape victim said, nothing a military training instructor says ends with a question mark. Walker is not the only predator charged, seven additional training instructors have been charged with sexual misconduct with trainees. At least another five are under investigation. One instructor, staff sergeant Craig Leblanc, bragged his conquest to his colleagues who waited a month before they reported the incident. Out of loyalty the colleagues stayed quiet. Once he finally reported Leblanc's misconduct with recruits, that instructor was ostracized by fellow training instructors for being a tattletale. Is this really a culture of zero tolerance? Congress needs to investigate and hold and independent hearing on the widespread sex abuse at the Air Force Base. In the last three years since Luis Walker started working at Lackland, roughly 21,000 female Airmen have cycled through the base. Have they been interviewed by investigators to determine if they, too, had been raped? How widespread is this epidemic? At lackland out of the 31 identified victims, only one has reported the crime. Why are victims scared to come forward? Internal investigations will not get to the bottom of this. Congress needs to act. I called for a hearing in June and received no response. Last week I was joined by a bipartisan group of 77 members of Congress calling for a hearing. We have received no response. I'm sick of waiting for action. The 19,000 members of our military who are raped each and every year deserve better than catch phrases. They deserve justice. I yield back.