AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—A program to train Air Force Academy cadets how to resist enemy forces will be reinstated this summer, 13 years after officials discontinued the program over claims that simulated sexual abuse crossed into actual abuse.
Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni outlined the program Thursday in a meeting with the academy Board of Visitors, a civilian panel that advises the academy.
The training will focus on hostage resistance, an evolution the reflects a change in the threat facing military forces. Previous training developed after the Vietnam War focused on preparing military personnel for prisoner of war situations.
The training is part of a larger program known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape that will include classroom instruction. It includes role-playing exercises such as cadets in front of a video camera being forced to denounce the United States.
“We want them to be as prepared as we can make them,” said Brig. Gen. Susan Desjardins, the commandant of cadets.
In 1995, officials canceled the resistance component of the program after one female cadet said fellow cadets choked her into unconsciousness, splattered her with urine, called her obscene names and forced her to simulate masturbation. One cadet, acting in the role of captor, took her into the woods, made her take off her shirt and lie down while he simulated a rape, according to a lawsuit she filed. It was settled out of court.
One male cadet told reporters he was forced to wear a skirt and makeup and was paraded around camp during his training. A trainer tied him face down on a bench and another cadet “victim” was instructed to simulate rape.
Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said Thursday officials haven’t worked out details on how resistance to sexual assault will be incorporated into the training.
After the resistance portion was removed, the academy retained other elements of survival training, calling it Combat Survival Training, which all cadets still take.
With Air Force personnel manning machine guns, leading vehicle convoys and performing other jobs previously done by soldiers and marines, leaders, including Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley, urged the academy to reinstate the resistance training.
“It’s just a different type of warfare that involves a whole lot more than the direct combatants sometimes,” Whitaker said.
Over the course of the three-week program this summer, 660 cadets will under go training entirely in a classroom setting, Whitaker said. Next year, the sophomore class will participate, and the training will incorporate field exercises.
Professional trainers, some of them active-duty members of the Air Force, will oversee the program, Whitaker said.
