A former Air Force instructor pleaded guilty today to having sex with a recruit in basic training and also sickening airmen in a boot camp flight he led after pouring two gallons of bleach in a latrine.
Trainees in Staff Sgt. Robert Hudson's flight grew dizzy, coughed and got watery eyes after he dumped the bleach into toilets and onto the floor, complaining that the latrine smelled like urine.
One of the recruits collapsed and had to be dragged away by two airmen, and another became so ill he tried to vomit but could not, causing blood vessels in his eyes to burst.
“I should have pulled them out of that situation,” Hudson, a veteran basic training instructor, told Col. Donald Eller Jr., the military judge.
One of 33 basic training instructors so far investigated for misconduct with 63 recruits and technical training students at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, he is being prosecuted for having sex with a trainee, as well as adultery. But unlike many of those instructors, Hudson also was charged with abusing trainees under his command.
There was no explanation for why he abused them throughout a long morning of questioning by Eller, who is required to ensure that Hudson understands the plea agreement struck with the prosecution.
The 17th instructor to go on trial, Hudson admitted to rebuking the trainees as they choked on bleach fumes, using a pejorative phrase to describe them as weak. He even ordered some of the trainees to re-enter the latrine a second time, after telling them to put T-shirts over their faces.
The judge asked if he had training in dealing with hazardous materials. Hudson, an F-15 mechanic after joining the Air Force 12 years ago, conceded he did not.
But that didn't stop him from trying to force the recruits to continue cleaning up the bleach. He used a fan to disperse the fumes, and trained a water hose on the latrine as well.
Some of the trainees were given medical treatment after the incident, and one posted a subpar time on his next physical training run.