Usually I am pretty much pro-military in many things having (mis)spent the better part of my youth there, but there's something about this story about Female AF Academy Cadets who are charging that they were sexually assaulted (the nice word) or Raped, the not-so-nice word while they were at the Academy that just makes the hair on the back of my neck stick up.

It's not that such assertions are unbelievable on their face, they are certainly very believable especially given the numbers involved here. The thing that makes this so sickening is the cookie-cutter treatment these women received from the Air Force when they tried to bring up the problem: "Don't rock the boat"; "Don't make us take our heads out of the sand", especially from those who were supposed to help them.

Read the article and pay special attention to the two most senior officers at the Academy statements.

In response to the charges, Brig. Gen. S. Taco Gilbert III, commandant of cadets, said in a recent statement that the academy took "all allegations of misconduct, including sexual misconduct, very seriously." He said that every case "is thoroughly investigated" and that any suggestion that misconduct went unpunished was "unfounded and untrue. ... In an earlier interview with KMGH, Lt. Gen. John Dallager, the academy superintendent, conceded that sexual assault was a "hugely under-reported crime" and promised a full investigation and a new approach to dealing with complaints of sexual attack and rape.

"We are not going to sweep it under the rug," General Dallager told the station. "We don't tolerate and condone sexual harassment, much less sexual assault. So it's a serious issue. It's got all of our personal attention and involvement."

From reading the story, one or the other or both of them is full of shit, or those women would still be there. That many women, especially those motivated to make it to a Service Academy seldom know the meaning of the word "quit". It takes something else to make them walk, and I suspect it wasn't because Freshman Physics was pretty damn difficult.