Posted on 12/18/2014 5:17:28 AM PST by Ultra Sonic 007
Col. Don Christensen, the chief prosecutor of the United States Air Force, sat in economy class on a flight to Venice and studied the folder of the sexual-assault case that would ultimately end his career. It was August 2012, and he was en route to Aviano Air Base to try a court-martial. Looking over the case, he could see why the judge advocate general, or JAG, at the base had requested him. Christensen had prosecuted more sexual-assault courts-martial than any other lawyer in the Air Force, and this case called for someone with experience. There would most likely be generals testifying. The accused himself was a senior officer. Even Christensen had seldom handled cases involving men of high rank. There was a simple reason for this: Victims were reluctant to report such officers, who enjoyed their own set of rules in the military justice system.
The officer in question was Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, Aviano’s inspector general and a highly regarded F-16 fighter pilot. Five months before, following a U.S.O. concert at the base, Wilkerson, who was 43, and his wife, Beth, hosted a small party at their house. One guest, a 48-year-old civilian named Kim Hanks, was stranded without a ride home. She accepted the Wilkersons’ offer to stay in their guest bedroom. According to Hanks, she was dead asleep at 3 in the morning when she felt a sudden discomfort. Wilkerson was in bed with her, pawing at her body...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Custer’s immediate command was wiped out, but there were many survivors of the 7th who were with Major Reno and Captain Benteen.
Have you ever read the book? It’s fabulous!
Great article. Kudos to Senator Gillabrand for her efforts.
My first reaction was that life continues to be unfair and women simply should never allow themselves to get drunk and fall on someone's couch after a night of drinking; and that the accused was also drunk and acting with diminished responsibility.
My second thought was that my thinking is old-fashioned; and that if the two buddies out drinking had both been males and one had tried to digitally penetrate the other after a night of drinking, it would properly be viewed as a sexual assault. (This is one of the cases questioned above in which there was no DNA evidence because there was no ejacultion.)
Thirdly, good order demands that everyone in the service have equal justice; and if a woman was subjected to an unwanted sexual penetration, it is a crime against the person and should be reported and prosecuted. Any person, male or female, who is raped or sexually assaulted and the accused is found guilty, should have access to justice and should be reinstated without the negative "whistleblower" treatment.
However, as the parent of a son, I again question the entire premise that men and women should serve together in the military in extremely high-stress occupations involving extreme risk-taking personalities and where lives are on the line. In high-stress occupations such as this case, fighter pilots, a certain percentage of sexual misconduct is inevitable, and dealing with it is a huge waste of taxpayer investment.
On the other hand, various civilian occupations such as ER medicine or surgery, publishing (deadlines, deadlines!), show business, police work, etc often involve the same kind of stress, with similarly high risk-taking personalities involved; and the stories of sexual involvement in those fields are also frequent.
So I have come back around to the practical precaution women should take of not getting drunk with workmates. Life really isn't fair; and few of us would want males to be so completely gelded that a night of drinking would never, ever, ever lead to sexual fumbling around. I does not seem fair to me that sexual groping when both parties are drunk should end a guy's career. Serial offenders, coercive offenders, violent rapists — sure, get rid of them. But make the effort to weed them out before they become senior officers or the recipients of highly expensive training and experience.
Or without any evidence...
These cases all boil down to “he say/she say” where men are treated as guilty until proven innocent...
That is a sweeping statement without any foundation in reality. Are you saying that rape, which happens in civilian life, just never happens in the military?
Are you saying that women who are under the command of a rapist should just shut up about it, if she did not have the presence of mind or ability to collect skin cells under her fingernails if a senior attacked her and tried to intimidate her into giving it up or being raped?
What percentage of junior personnel would risk her career by making a totally false accusation, and if so, in what percentage of rape accustations in the military would this actually happen?
Are you aware that many men are raped in the military and face even greater reluctance to come forward or ability to be believed because of the stigma of homosexuality among straight men?
I am reminded of the Leftist mantra: “It’s not the facts of the case, it’s the seriousness of the charge”.
FAR too often, women use sexual “assault” as a weapon of advancement, agenda support, or plain simple hatred of men. Having seen it during my decades of military life, the only defense we had was avoid all contact with females - ALL contact, even during the course of duty; you spoke only to the guys to get things done, and only spoke to the girls if there was no way out of it.
Now of course, that practice was only done by the older greybeards like myself. The young guys too often let the little head take over for the big head. Even downrange in Iraq, there were “love shacks” springing up where trysts between the hormonally-challenged would meet and greet.
I remain unconvinced that sexual predation is the norm in these cases. Too often have I seen (and sat on boards) that it’s simply a case of gender politics. I am NOT saying that real assault never happens (I’ve sat on boards for that, too) - but womens’ motives aren’t so pure, either.
As the parent of a son, I do agree with you there. And I believe the prosecution of a sexual encounter on a mutally drunken encounter is disgusting. But I also believe that true predation or the exercise of raw power using sex as a weapon should be prosecuted.
I read most of it. The woman named Kris went out drinking with her fly boy buddies until she passed out. The man who allegedly assaulted her was also dead drunk. He says he doesn’t remember anything and he’s probably right. I guess I see the behavior of the woman as a mitigating factor. Am I wrong?
The judicial proceedings at Ellsworth proved routine in ways both satisfying and dispiriting for Christensen. He exploited holes in Brooks’s story. Kris was persuasive. It took the jury less than two hours to find that Brooks sexually assaulted her. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail, along with forfeiture of two months’ pay and dismissal from the Air Force.
The implication being that Brooks' claim - that he didn't remember anything - was less than truthful.
If it was followed by a punch-out.
Sorry but in my world she is also guilty.
I was in the military for 11 years before the birth of my second child at which time I threw in the towel. Never was I preyed upon, drunk and sloppy or in any danger. The others were perfect gentlemen.
I don’t know what happens, what goes on.
If there is a punch out in today’s military, the puncher would be brought up on charges by the gay person who made the unwanted advance.
Part of the problem is the military not addressing what you have just said. They want every body to be buddies. that does not work between the sexes because of biology.
If a couple of normal guys go out drinking they are not going to be sexually interested in each other. Not so with a mixed group of men/women or homosexuals.
Nah, it’s still mostly male on female. Of the 3000+ cases last year only around 200 were the male on male variety. They extrapolated the 26,000 figure from a survey. I doubt that there are that many assaults in today’s military.
Another factor that may be driving the assault figures up is a victim can get an immediate change of bases within 72 hours. I can see where some can use this to get out of a crappy assignment.
I agree completely. Here is a thread on the topic of why females should retain the cultural value of modesty: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3238621/posts
I was in the business world for 40 years during which time from my late teens up until menopause I was groped, manhandled, talked dirty to, harassed, insulted and propositioned fairly regularly in some of the most surprising situations -- people I would never have thought would go off like that, and I'm a teetotaler. My own dad was such a complete gentleman and Christian I was not prepared for the larger world, however. Only by the grace of God did I escape on several occasions.
You don't say how long ago you were in the service, but my guess is that year by year, the culture has gotten coarser and coarser, the availability and amount of hardcore internet porn consumed even by children has risen exponentially and the smut on movies and television has gone from a little to a lot in every show and ad. This has to affect young men. There is a K-Mart ad this season of a bunch of women doing a raunchy dance, and when they turn sideways, they are all pregnant. It is sickening.
I got out in 1993.
I remember back then because I was still monitoring what my kid watched on tv. The real smut assault on tv and internet began around 1997 and 98, and has escalated steadily ever since.
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