Sexual assault response at Nellis under review

Jace Radke

Friday, March 12, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

Nellis Air Force Base's sexual assault response programs were to be inspected today by an Air Combat Command review team as part of an Air Force-wide assessment.

The review covers policies and programs for reporting allegations and assisting victims at each base, not individual cases, according to officials at Langley Air Force Base, where the command has its headquarters.

The Air Force has asked each major command to establish review teams to visit their bases in light of recent allegations of improper handling of sexual assault cases, Brig. Gen. Stephen Miller, chief of the ACC Sexual Assault Assessment Team, said.

Last year a sexual assault scandal at the Air Force Academy in Colorado prompted a purge of the academy's commanders and new policies after cadets went public with allegations of assaults and indifference from commanders.

Nellis has a sexual assault prevention program that includes both educational and counseling components, Nellis spokesman Sgt. Shane Sharp said.

"It's a proactive program that is a partnership with the Las Vegas Rape Crisis Center," Sharp said.

Program coordinators meet with unit supervisors and offer training in how to prevent sexual assaults. The program also features peer counselors, who are available to meet regularly with victims of sexual assault.

In the past two years there have been three reports of sexual assault cases at Nellis, officials said. Langley had reports of 18 sexual assault cases since 1998.

All 15 of the Air Force's Air Combat Command installations were expected to be reviewed.

Most of the units and programs at Nellis fall under Air Combat Command, including the 99th Air Base Wing, the 57th Wing, 98th range wing and the 53rd Wing.

The 99th includes all of the operations necessary for running Nellis including security forces, while the 57th includes the U.S. Air Force Weapons School, Thunderbirds and the base's two remotely operated Predator squadrons. The 98th operates and maintains the 2.9 million-acre Nevada Test and Training Range, and the 53rd includes the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron responsible for developing new tactics for the F-15, F-16, A-10 and other aircraft.

The only units housed at Nellis that do not fall under Air Combat Command are tenant units such as the 820th Red Horse Civil Engineering Squadron, Nellis officials said.

Air Combat Command trains and equips forces to provide combat air power to U.S. commanders. More than 110,000 active-duty members and civilians are a part of the command.

Sexual assault continues to be a sensitive topic in the military. Pentagon officials recently said there have been 106 reports of sexual assaults of troops deployed in the Middle East over the past 14 months.

Three review teams will each go to five bases through March 17, spending one and a half days at each base. They will report their findings to Air Force leadership.

The other Air Combat Command bases being visited by review teams are Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, Davis-Monthan in Arizona, Shaw in South Carolina, Seymour-Johnson in North Carolina, Cannon and Holloman in New Mexico, Dyess in Texas, Beale in California, Mountain-Home in Idaho, Minot in North Dakota, Ellsworth in South Dakota, Offutt in Nebraska and Whiteman in Missouri.