New Recruits Combat Sexual Assault In The Air Force

The Air Force continues to grapple with the number of sexual assaults among its members. In March, Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Harding and other legal officials for the military appeared before a Senate subcommittee to address rape in the services. The hearing was spurred by a general's decision to overturn a jury's sexual assault verdict on a U.S. Air Base in Aviano, Italy. Preliminary records show there were nearly 800 reports of sexual assault in 2012, Gen. Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, told lawmakers in January . Pentagon officials suspect many more incidents go unreported. Military leaders, lawmakers and advocates have long agreed that a culture change needs to happen to encourage servicemen and women to come forward. Leaders at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, say systemic change can begin at the local level, and they're letting new recruits take charge. That's what brought one group of a dozen or so college students together recently, to rehearse for a