Air Force Times: “In trouble for speaking out on sex assault policy”

The Air Force Times reports:

On her final day as an Air Force lawyer, Capt. Maribel Jarzabek figured she could finally speak out.

It was Dec. 2, three weeks before she officially separated from the service. It was also the same day a group of senators gathered on Capitol Hill to renew their call for a military justice system that would put lawyers instead of commanders in charge of serious crimes like rape and sexual assault.

Top brass across the service branches opposed such a fundamental change, charging it would undermine their ability to maintain good order and discipline.

But Jarzabek supported the senators, a bipartisan bunch led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. As a specially appointed Air Force attorney representing victims of sexual assault, Jarzabek felt well-qualified to give her opinion.

So she took to Gillibrand’s Facebook page, where she introduced herself as an Air Force special victims counsel and listed several experiences that she believed illustrated why commanders shouldn’t be involved in matters of justice.