A former Air Force basic training instructor was found guilty Tuesday of abusing recruits four years ago at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, but he was acquitted of raping an airman during a stint overseas.
Tech. Sgt. Bobby Bass, who is on trial at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss., faces as much as 33 years in prison, but prosecutors sought just 24 months' confinement.
Witnesses took the stand to recount how he treated them, with one saying boot camp had destroyed his career.
“He said that 'these incidents broke what I believed would happen and who I would become,'” said Col. Polly Kenny, a top lawyer with the 2nd Air Force in Biloxi.
The rape allegation was the most serious charge faced by Bass, who was an instructor at Lackland before and after a deployment to Kyrgyzstan. Kenny said jurors could have found him guilty of a lesser offense stemming from the incident at Manas Air Base, but did not. They did, however, decide that Bass had an unprofessional relationship with the airman, who said they shared alcohol before the alleged sexual assault.
One of 33 instructors accused of misconduct with 63 recruits and technical school trainees at Lackland since 2008, Bass was found guilty of a long list of charges alleging he abused recruits in a flight he led from Aug. 1-Oct. 31, 2009.
Jurors weighed punishment for about 80 minutes before breaking for the day. As they return to court this morning, the panel of two officers and six NCOs will consider a defense plea to give Bass hard labor.
“They asked for mercy for the family,” Kenny said, noting that the defense said confinement “should be measured in days, not months or years,” if ordered.