Pentagon fires 60 troops after sex-assault review
Source: USA Today
WASHINGTON — Sixty troops have been disqualified as sexual assault counselors, recruiters or drill instructors after the military investigators found they had committed violations ranging from alcohol-related offenses to child abuse and sexual assault, USA TODAY has learned.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered that the records of recruiters and sexual assault counselors be examined on May 17. That action came in light of the Pentagon's report in May that estimated 26,000 troops had been sexually assaulted in 2012, a 35% increase since 2010, with offenses ranging from groping to rape. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called sexual assault in the military a crisis.
The records of at least 35,000 troops have been screened or are under review, according to the services.
Each of the services appears to have interpreted Hagel's directive differently. The Marines screened recruiters, for example, against a public database, while the Army considered criminal records for sexual assault, child abuse and alcohol-related offenses.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/08/02/military-sexual-assault-pentagon/2610181/?sf15667156=1
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