Protect Our Defenders News Blog

 

Wing leaders lift alcohol ban in dormitories on Ramstein

Stars and Stripes reports:

Though the ban on alcohol wasn’t driven by sexual assaults in the dorms, wing leaders consulted with sexual assault prevention experts on Ramstein about the policy, given the correlation of alcohol and sexual assaults across the military, Mordente said.

A Pentagon report released in May showed that two-thirds of sexual assaults across the military in fiscal 2013 involved alcohol use by the victim, the assailant or both. “I said ‘Please show me the data and make sure there’s not something here that I’m missing,’ ” he said. They told the commander that sexual assault, from an Air Force perspective, is a much broader issue, he said.

“It’s not about just the dorms. It’s about downtown K-town, it’s about 24-7, it’s about being airmen, it’s about treating people with respect,” Mordente said.

“The ban was not about sexual assault. The ban was about holding airmen to a standard. Lifting the ban is the fact that we, the leadership team, think our airmen can maintain that standard.”

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