As Congress tries, unsuccessfully, to find some outside way to curb military sexual assaults, a new investigation into “officer misconduct” is on in New York’s very own Air National Guard, where a retired lieutenant colonel in the 109th Airlift Wing (which flies huge, ski-going cargo planes) says the problem of sexual misconduct is endemic. “The perpetrators do not get punished, but instead are promoted,” Lt. Col. Sharon Dwyer Stepp wrote in a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, of her home state of Vermont. There have been no arrests, and officials wouldn’t even confirm to the Associated Press that the investigation is related to sexual misconduct. But that’s what Stepp, who used to run the unit’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, is complaining about, saying the program “is truly ineffective and a waste of tax payers money.” Not exactly a vote of confidence for the in-house cure.
