Army Times Finally Reports on Fort Leonard Wood Sex Scandal
The December 15, 2008, cover story of Army Times finally reports on the alarming rise in courts-martial for sexual misconduct by drill sergeants at Fort Leonard Wood, a gender-integrated Army basic training base in Missouri. CMR highlighted the original report on this story by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last month here.
Army Times quotes several officials at Fort Leonard Wood who seem resigned to a high school atmosphere in basic training. They seem to believe that the situation cannot be improved, and it does not have consequences.
Advocates of co-ed basic training and gays in the military (often the same people) usually maintain that military people are so "professional" in matters involving sexuality that it is an insult to suggest otherwise. This is unrealistic and harmful thinking, especially in view of the number of drill sergeants who have been court-martialed or severely disciplined for "consexploitation"---consexual sex with female basic trainees.
This scandal deserves a strong media spotlight, congressional attention, and accountability for those who have refused to revisit the wisdom of imposing co-ed basic training on the Army.
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