Clearing the Fog of War

Panel urges caution in changing military law

A blue-ribbon Pentagon panel appointed to recommend changes in the military justice system opposes any effort to strip commanders' authority over prosecutions, dealing another defeat to critics of the system.

The panel last week handed down dozens of recommendations covering the way the military prosecutes sexual assaults, including a controversial call to take senior commanders out of the legal process.

The panel was created by Congress in the wake of highly publicized sexual assault incidents that included misconduct at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, where 35 basic training instructors have been investigated for misconduct with 69 recruits and technical school students. It ended up backing top Pentagon leaders, who want commanders to rule on courts-martial.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Panel-urges-caution-in-changing-military-law-5600619.php

Top general says Lackland morale on upswing

The head of the Air Force's training command said he wasn't surprised by critical comments that instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland made last year about their leaders, working conditions and recruits under their watch.

Gen. Robin Rand said it was a rough time on the base when the survey of instructors was done last July. But he said “a lot of the angst” — caused by a manpower shortage that forced them to put in long work hours and give up vacation — was addressed.

He also said basic training is “on the right glide path” after a sex scandal that prompted a highly publicized command-directed investigation two years ago. He said a more recent survey showed morale is rising among trainers in Lackland's elite instructor corps.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Top-general-says-Lackland-morale-on-upswing-5521119.php

Lackland airman charged in abuse at camp

The Air Force has charged an enlistee with sexually abusing two people, one of them younger than 16, at a camp an hour northeast of Del Rio that hosted San Antonio high school students.

The Air Force said over the weekend that Airman 1st Class Nathan G. Wilson-Crow, a combat cameraman at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, exposed himself to a child younger than 16, who was identified as Victim 2, and had sexual contact with another camp participant, identified as Victim 1. Wilson-Crow was accused of touching a third person while in the presence of Victim 2, but no charge resulted from that.

Read more on ExpressNews.com.

 

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Lackland-airman-charged-in-abuse-at-camp-4692535.php

Military jury finds Air Force trainer not guilty

A jury Friday night found an Air Force basic training instructor not guilty of rape.

Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden was charged with rape, forcible sodomy and trying to develop an illicit personal relationship with a woman while he was her instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland nearly three years ago.

Earlier in the day, fellow trainers testified that Gayden was a trusted leader.

“That man is probably the epitome of what an instructor should be,” said Master Sgt. Greg Pendleton, a 19-year Air Force veteran.

Much of the questioning during the four-day trial centered on whether the woman, identified as Airman 1, could have been alone in a dorm on Dec. 24, 2010, the day of the alleged attack, and if Gayden missed physical training sessions. Testimony has conflicted on the issues.

Read the full story at ExpressNews.com.

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Military-jury-finds-Air-Force-trainer-not-guilty-4690081.php

Airman testifies in rape trial

The star witness against an Air Force basic training instructor charged with raping her in a dormitory office said his misconduct began with a kiss she didn't see coming — and says she didn't want.

Taking the stand against Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden for about three hours Thursday, the woman told a five-member jury the first incident occurred as she stood duty as a dorm guard.

“He came up to me and tried to hug me, and I turned my head,” said the woman, identified as Airman 1.

Gayden is charged with rape, forcible sodomy and trying to develop an illicit personal relationship with the woman while he was her basic training instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. He could get life in prison.

As the morning unfolded, Airman 1 maintained her military bearing, never becoming flustered or emotional.

She maintained that Gayden raped her even after Houston defense attorney Guy Womack highlighted differences in three statements she gave Air Force investigators, the email she sent and an evidentiary hearing here in April.

A prosecutor, Capt. Mark Schwartz, this week said Airman 1 was on crutches nursing a bad ankle on Christmas Eve 2010 when she talked with Gayden about the injury. They were in his office a short walk from her bed.

As they talked, the government alleges, he tried to kiss her, then put a hand down her pants and pushed her into a chair, where he briefly forced her to perform oral sex.

When it was over, the recruit limped to bed and cried, leaving her crutches behind, she said. A few minutes later, she said, he stood over her.

“'No one's going to believe you,'” Airman 1 recalled him saying.

Womack calls her a liar and worked throughout the day to damage her credibility. He threw many punches as 10 witnesses took the stand, but landed few.

Read more here: 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Airman-testifies-in-rape-trial-4687855.php

Lawyer highlights inconsistencies in military rape allegation

The star witness and accuser against an Air Force basic training instructor charged with rape said his misconduct began with a kiss she didn't see coming.

Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden is charged with rape, forcible sodomy and trying to develop an illicit personal relationship with the woman while he was her basic training instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Gayden is the 25th instructor to go on trial in a scandal that so far has seen 33 trainers fall under investigation for misconduct with 67 recruits and technical school students.

Prosecutors say Gayden raped the woman and tried to force her to perform oral sex.

The witness identified as Airman 1 took the stand for around three hours Thursday to testify against Gayden. She said she was standing duty as a dorm guard on the night of the incident, when Gayden left an office inside her living quarters.

“He came up to me and tried to hug me, and I turned my head,” she said.

Houston defense attorney Guy Womack spent much of the morning trying to debunk her testimony.

The case hinges on her believability. She is the sole witness against Gayden, an 11-year Air Force veteran the defense says was highly regarded.

As the morning unfolded, she maintained her military bearing, never becoming emotional as some victims have over the last 15 months.

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Lawyer-highlights-inconsistencies-in-military-4686941.php

An Air Force basic training instructor on trial for raping a recruit won't be allowed to bring witnesses to the stand who would testify that the chief accuser in the case lied about him.

Houston attorney Guy Womack wanted the judge, Lt. Col. Grant Kratz, to let him call several former recruits to testify the woman made up claims that Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden showed favors to them during basic training.

Prosecutors argued that the allegation was irrelevant because Gayden faces life in prison for rape and forcible sodomy, and was not charged with misconduct associated with favoritism. Womack, however, said the testimony was a crucial cog in the defense's strategy.

“Our defense is she lied, period,” he told the judge Wednesday.

An 11-year Air Force veteran, Gayden is the 25th basic training instructor to be tried in a sex scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland that is the worst in the service's history. So far, 33 instructors have been investigated for misconduct with 67 recruits and technical school students.

Jury selection was to begin this morning for Gayden, who has asked that a panel of officers and NCOs hear his case. He took the stand Tuesday as Womack, who defended Abu Ghraib torturer Cpl. Charles Graner, sought to admit an email into evidence.

 

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Defense-aims-to-show-Lackland-accuser-lied-4684166.php

Air Force chief: Core values and why they matter

The two-year sentence handed to Senior Airman Christopher Oliver on Wednesday marks what I believe is the 22nd completed trial in the ongoing scandal among basic training instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

It’s a good place to pick up the interview I did last week with the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh III. He talks about core values – the ideals that all airmen are supposed to live by but, in the case of as many as 33 Lackland military training instructors, failed to do.

Every MTI and recruit sees the values in signs posted on the base. They are “integrity,” “service before self” and “excellence in all we do,” and were crafted by another Air Force chief, the now-retired Gen. Ronald Fogleman.

In his “Little Blue Book,” a manual on core values he ordered to be given to young airmen, Fogleman defined integrity as “the inner voice; the voice of self-control; the basis for the trust imperative in today’s military.”

“The Air Force talks about this a lot,” Welsh said in the interview. “This is what our core values are all about. The idea of integrity, service and excellence and with respect kind of woven into all three of those is, again, it’s foundational to what we want to be as a service.

“We talk about it all the time. What we’re doing right now is looking at – is there a different way as people come into the Air Force to ensure that the people we bring on, whether they’re officers or NCOs or civilians, understand very clearly the expectation and standards of behavior – both self-behavior and behavior toward others – that live in our service. And then make sure they understand the reasons behind those expectations and why they’re so important to accomplishing our mission, which is the bottom line for us.

“But we know if we don’t take great care, better care constantly of our people, that we won’t be as good at getting that mission done as we need to be, and the mission is to fight and win our nation’s wars. It’s a pretty significant mission, and we’ve got to be good at this, which means we have to have the best people possible, which means we have to take better care of them than anyone else does, in my opinion.”

Read more here: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/military/2013/06/air-force-chief-core-values-and-why-they-matter/

Lackland trainer gets six months

Senior Airman Andrew Lira might have been with dozens of newly minted airmen early Friday as they marched in a graduation ceremony led by the roll of a recruit band's snare drum, but he was in a courtroom just off the parade field instead.

He was awaiting sentencing for having sought illicit relationships with eight trainees at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, one of them a recruit he seduced while she was still in basic training.

Just after noon, Lira stood before a judge, Col. Donald Eller Jr., and was sentenced to six months in jail, 30 days' hard labor, $1,200 in forfeitures and reduction to the lowest rank.

The maximum sentence was one year, and Eller spared him a bad-conduct discharge. If all goes well, Lira, 28, will earn five days a month for good behavior, meaning he'll be out after Thanksgiving.

A seven-year veteran, Lira was the 23rd instructor tried in the Air Force's worst sex scandal. All but one has been convicted since the first trial in April 2011. The Air Force has investigated 33 instructors for misconduct with 67 recruits and technical school students.

Lira was honored as Airman of the Quarter and Airman of the Year in his basic training squadron, said his lawyer, Capt. Meredith Steer. The long hours in his highly competitive unit led to Lira spending much more time with his trainees than his own family, the lawyer added.

Lira's downfall started when he talked with a recruit in his flight who was being transferred because of an injured ankle. The recruit, identified as Airman 1, said she was surprised when Lira, who yelled at recruits in her all-female flight, made a pass at her.

“'You're too good-looking for him,'” she said Lira told her while looking a picture of her and her ex-boyfriend.

Not long after that, they kissed in his flight office before she boarded a bus to her new unit. They had sex in a dorm shower, and met after her discharge for days at a local hotel.

Lira met all the women while they were in basic training flights he led, but had sex only with Airman 1. He swapped Facebook messages with the others, one of whom received a photo of his private parts.

 

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Lackland-trainer-gets-six-months-4636909.php

Air Force trainer pleads guilty in sex case

A seven-year Air Force veteran pleaded guilty Thursday to having sex with a basic training recruit while she recovered from a minor injury three years ago.

Senior Airman Andrew Lira also admitted that he sought to have sex with five other women, all in technical training, and striking up unprofessional relationships with two others.

He will be sentenced Friday.

The recruit, identified as Airman 1, told the court late in the day she was shocked when Lira, her basic training instructor, complimented her just before she joined a medical hold unit.

Until then, he had acted as other instructors, yelling and correcting her and fellow recruits in an all-female flight.

“'You're too good-looking for him,'” she said Lira told her while looking at a picture of the woman and her ex-boyfriend.

Airman 1 said Lira saw her off to the 319th Training Squadron, kissing her in his flight office before she boarded a bus. The squadron is a medical hold unit.

Prosecutors charged him with having unprofessional relationships, adultery and two counts of obstructing justice. Lira could get a year in jail and a bad-conduct discharge.

His case is the 23rd sexual misconduct court-martial at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in the past 14 months.

The judge in his case, Col. Donald Eller Jr., will hand down a verdict and sentence in the second trial he has overseen this week. He gave another former instructor, Senior Airman Christopher Oliver, two years in prison and a dishonorable discharge Wednesday.

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/AF-trainer-pleads-guilty-in-sex-case-4629471.php