Speier is working with victims of military rape in the Bay Area. This is the third time she has spoken on the House floor demanding hearings into the scandal. Twelve training instructors are being investigated for sexual misconduct with recruits. Thirty-one victims have been identified so far.
"If this happened at any high school in this country, if the English teacher, band instructor or football coach had sex with his students, we would be outraged and demand action," Speier said. "That teacher would be fired, yet at Lackland, where some of the recruits are just 18 or 19, we rationalize the behavior of perpetrator and blame the victim."
Also Thursday, Gen. Mark Welsh, the officer tapped to be the newest chief of staff in the U.S. Air Force told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Air Force is not doing enough to stop the sexual abuse.
