The list of victims in a yearlong sex-abuse scandal at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio now includes three men.
The San Antonio Express-News reports that a male instructor at Lackland is accused of abusive sexual contact with two men in boot camp, while a female instructor is accused of having consensual sex with a male student. Abusive sexual contact involves incidents in which the perpetrator is accused of touching parts of a person’s body for sexual gratification. The male instructor faces up to 14 years in prison.
Until now, all 56 victims in the Lackland scandal had been women. The latest report brings the total number of victims to 59 and the number of instructors under investigation to 32, with six already found guilty of misconduct. Lackland is home to all Air Force basic training, and the scandal has drawn national attention to the issue of military sexual assault. Congress will hold a hearing on the scandal next week.
“We’re not at all surprised that the investigation has turned up male victims. Sexual assault in the military affects men as well as women,” said Greg Jacob, policy director for Service Women‘s Action Network, told the Express-News. “The VA reports that 40 percent of all veterans seeking care for sexual trauma are men. Because of the hostile climate in the military, sexual assaults are underreported to begin with, and among men under reporting is even more widespread than it is for women.”
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