AFA Scandal: The Rest of the Story

As a novel, it might have been called Rape Under the Ramparts.

Young women in the shadows of the Rampart Range were being raped. Dozens, hundreds, perhaps even thousands. And no one would do anything about it. On the contrary, when these women reported their rapes, they were punished and their attackers were set free.

Reporters and congressmen rushed to their rescue, ready to save these damsels in distress from the mighty and fearsome dragon known as the Air Force Academy.

Feminists were tickled pinker than a Mary Kay Cadillac. They seemed to have yet another smoking gun for their never-ending war against men.

Heads started to roll, even before investigations into the allegations concluded. The four top officers at the Academy were dismissed. New leaders were installed at the Academy, charged with correcting the problem. The “Bring Me Men” motto was taken down. Academy culture was overhauled. Cadets were required to take sensitivity training along with military tactics.

At the heart of the scandal was a young woman named Jessica Brakey, who as a young girl went by the nickname of “Wacky the Corn” and dreamed of one day attending the Academy, but who was now being forced out as a result, she claimed, of filing a rape charge against a male  cadet. 

She and other female cadets appeared on TV shows and gave interviews to the media. Their stories were all similar: they were raped and then either punished or driven out of the Academy by callous top brass. On Oprah, they even claimed they were expected to do anything asked of them by any cadet above them in rank, including have sex.

So who is Jessica Brakey? Oprah called her “brave” and “courageous,” but a closer look reveals a more human and more troubled woman.

It was November, 2002, and Jessica Brakey was at the end of her rope. She had been notified she was to be given an honorable discharge from the Academy, meaning she would not graduate, would not be commissioned as an Air Force officer, but would be responsible for paying back her tuition of $250,000.

And that’s when the idea that would rock the Ramparts came to her.

Jessica’s troubles at the Academy had begun the previous winter, when Academy officials began to notice and document her troublesome behavior. Her grades had fallen and she had been placed on academic probation. She was having trouble concentrating in class. She threatened her roommates with harm. She disrupted a class, tearing the head off a statue after the other students had left. To help her deal with her problems, Jessica consulted psychics and read Tarot cards.

But her problems continued. In February, she went after her boyfriend with a baseball bat after he’d accused her of giving him herpes, even though she’d told him and her roommates she was a virgin. In an exchange witnessed by one of those roommates, she told the boyfriend she’d been kissed before by an upperclassman, one Joseph Harding, but that nothing had happened between them. The roommate reported Jessica’s behavior to Academy officials, who ordered Jessica to stay away from the boyfriend.

Finally, she got into a fight with a new boyfriend, in which she told him “I want to fucking kill you right now.” She was arrested for assault and domestic violence, received a letter of reprimand, and ordered to stay away from the new boyfriend.

Academy officials asked her to undergo a psychological exam. During that exam, she mentioned she’d been raped by a male cadet but refused to discuss or report the incident. The psychologist, Brian DeSantis, found she suffered from a personality disorder with histrionic and narcissistic tendencies and recommended she not be commissioned as an Air Force officer.

Jessica sought another opinion from a licensed clinical social worker, Paul Isenstadt. He believed she could make it in the Air Force but recommended counseling.

In May of 2002, a medical review board concluded that she “demonstrated a pervasive pattern of very inappropriate and serious behaviors, exhibited in multiple settings, toward multiple individuals, and which deviate markedly from the behavior expected of a military officer.” The board recommended she be disenrolled.

In late June, someone sent an anonymous letter to Pentagon officials that contained allegations similar to those later made by Jessica in her November, 2002 e-mail. Whether Jessica sent that e-mail is unknown, though the similarity in contents to her November e-mail suggests she did.

In August, 2002, she was informed by Brigadier General Taco Gilbert that she would be expelled from the Academy. General Gilbert would later lose his job because of the rape scandal.

Brakey still had a chance, however. She was entitled to a hearing to present her side of the case and prevent her disenrollment. That hearing would take place in September. On August 21, not long after she had been told of her pending disenrollment, she accused former cadet Joseph Harding of raping her during survival training in the summer of 2000. It was this rape, she claimed, that had caused her troublesome behavior–she was suffering from rape trauma.

At some point, Jessica also attended training given by CASIE, Cadets Advocating Sexual Integrity and Education, a volunteer organization providing counseling and advice for victims of sexual assault, where apparently she met or learned about some of the other female cadets who would later play a role in the scandal. Exactly when she attended this training is unclear.

On September 9, Brakey had her hearing. By mid-September, the Academy had investigated the rape charge and decided to close the case.

On October 31, Lieutenant General John Dallager recommended Jessica be given a honorable discharge and removed from the Academy. Jessica was placed on immediate leave. General Dallager would later be demoted because of the scandal.

In November, Jessica sent 150 e-mails to news media, congressmen, and Air Force leaders. And so began the Air Force Academy rape scandal.

In the wake of that e-mail, the Academy re-opened its case against Joseph Harding.

So what exactly does Jessica allege? Three things: that she was raped by a fellow cadet, that the trauma of the rape caused her troublesome behavior, and that the Academy forced her and other female cadets out of the Academy for reporting their rapes.

So was Jessica the victim of a rape?

She reported the rape two years after she alleges it occurred, which meant no physical evidence could be collected. The accused denies he raped her. Proving the rape hinges on Jessica’s own credibility.

So is her story credible?

The story itself has problems, problems compounded by the different versions of the story Jessica has told to the media, to investigators, and in testimony. She told her story to Westword, an independent Denver-area newspaper, and to the Denver Post, early in 2003. Almost a year later, in December of 2003, she told her story on Oprah.

Her basic allegation is the following: Joseph Harding apparently made advances toward her, but she turned him down. One night during the training, he came to her tent and convinced her to accompany him to another area. There he talked with her, they started petting, and suddenly he pinned her down and forcibly raped her. After the rape, she went back to her tent and fell asleep.

Here are some problems with her story:

What did Joseph do before the alleged rape? In her first interviews, Jessica said he merely “hit” on her. On Oprah, she said he was “harassing” and “stalking” her.

Why did she go with him?  Jessica claimed on Oprah she agreed to leave with Joseph because he was my “cadet commander” and “It was his signature that went on my papers and‑‑and on my record.” In fact, her cadet commander was a woman who was also Joseph’s cadet commander. Joseph’s primary function was to facilitate events. As a junior, he outranked Jessica, a sophomore, but his signature would never go on her papers or record. He was evaluated along with the other cadets.

How did Joseph appear in her tent without the other nine occupants noticing his presence? At first Jessica said she awoke to find him standing over her cot, then that he stuck is his head in the tent, then that he called her name from outside the tent.

How did Joseph get her clothes off? Jessica has given various versions of how Joseph removed her clothing, including that he ripped them off, that he rolled them off, and that she removed them herself. On Oprah, she claims she picked up her pants to leave after it was over, but elsewhere says she was wearing shorts, not pants.

What happened during the rape itself? Jessica claims Joseph forced her to perform oral sex, raped her vaginally, and raped her anally. She has given different versions of how these occurred and the order in which these occurred.

Did she fight back? In both the Westword interview and the Denver Post interview, she says she “froze.” But on Oprah she claimed “Eventually [I] kind of began to push him off and say, `No,' and then tried to fight back.  And the more I‑‑I tried to get out of the situation, the stronger, the more aggressive he became.”

Why didn’t she tell the other women sleeping in her tent she had just been forcibly raped? Evidence could have been collected to back up her story, evidence not available two years later, but she just went to bed without saying a word to anyone. Why?

If convicted on the strength of Jessica’s story, Joseph Harding faces life in prison.

Joseph Harding is now married and a First Lieutenant in the Air Force. He was pulled out of flight training three weeks shy of completion because of the charges made by Jessica. At the time he was pulled out, he was very close to the top of his class. To date, he has not finished flight training. As a member of the military, Lieutenant Harding cannot speak directly to the media without the Air Force’s permission. Through his attorneys, he has maintained his innocence.

So what of Jessica’s problems with rape trauma?

In December, one month after her dismissal from the Academy, she checked herself into a Kansas hospital for deep depression. Two doctors at the hospital concluded she was bipolar. "I was probably bipolar before the academy and just never knew it, but I think the things I went through there aggravated my condition," Jessica says.

In addition, Paul Isenstadt, the licensed clinical social worker who evaluated Jessica, concluded some of her behavior might be “her way of compensating for some of the severe rejection and abuse she experienced as a child"

Further, Jessica apparently sent threatening e-mails to yet another male cadet or officer with whom she claimed to have a relationship, but which he denies. She also put his name and contact information on a gay web site, apparently with the hopes of having him expelled from the Air Force for being gay.

So did Jessica’s alleged rape cause the behavior that resulted in her dismissal? Or was her behavior caused by her troubled childhood and bipolar condition? 

Jessica’s claim that her alleged rape caused her problems became the basis for Harding’s request to examine her counseling records. Harding’s attorneys say they need the records to ensure Joseph receives a fair trial. 

So what of her allegation the Academy drummed her out of the Academy for reporting she was raped?

Jessica told Oprah Winfrey  “I went to every official there was imaginable…and everywhere I went, I was treated as if it was my fault, persecuted, laughed at, disrespected.” In the Westword interview, Jessica stated she “believes she'd still be there had she never mentioned the rape.” Her removal was "damage control. They don't want the way they're treating women down there to get out. It's a good old boys' network, and if you're a woman and you get assaulted and you report it, you can kiss your career goodbye."

There is no evidence to support her claim she was “laughed at” or “disrespected” by Academy officials for reporting the rape. They investigated her claim promptly. And the time line of events does not support her allegation that reporting the rape resulted in her removal. The medical review board’s decision to remove her and General Gilbert’s letter advising her she was to be removed came well before she reported the alleged rape. Jessica was removed from the Academy because she hit one boyfriend with a baseball bat, threatened to kill another, and received a negative psychological report. She used the rape to excuse her behavior, not to deny her behavior.

To believe Jessica’s claims, one must assume Academy officials were acting from a hidden agenda, an intentional effort to suppress reports of rape and punish those who reported being raped.

That thesis would seem to be bolstered by other female cadets, including Sharon Fullilove, Beth Davis, Laura Balmos, and Kira Mountjoy‑Pepka, who appeared with Jessica on Oprah and 20/20, claiming the Academy ignored their allegations of rape and then forced them out. Both Fullilove and Davis have been vocal in their criticisms of the Academy.

So how do their stories stack up?

Stories published in the Colorado Springs Gazette indicate discrepancies in their accounts of what happened.

Sharon Fullilove claimed on Oprah that during her rape she screamed, kicked, and tried to bite, but she was overpowered. However, she’s also given different versions of the rape to her mother and others, including that two or more cadets took turns raping her in an isolated area. So was she forced out because she reported the rape? Unlikely, as she left the Academy two months before she reported the attack. Fullilove was on academic and athletic probation when she left the Academy. Fullilove also claims her attacker was never punished. The accused, Jason Harris, says he was demoted without any charges being filed or evidence presented against him. He went on to graduate, but the charge remains on his record to this date. No action was ever taken against Fullilove by the AFA in connection with the alleged rape.

Beth Davis told Oprah that an upperclassman coerced her to perform oral sex on him four times in 1999 and 2000 and raped her in March 2000, but investigators found e-mails showing she “acquiesced to subject’s advances.” Davis waited over a year to report the attack. No action was taken against her by the AFA in connection with the alleged rape. She also apparently left the Academy voluntarily.

Laura Balmos told Oprah she was raped by another cadet at a party in 1999, but witnesses say she soaked topless or naked with the same cadet after the alleged attack. Balmos waited 43 days to report the attack. No action was taken against her by the AFA in connection with the alleged rape. She apparently left the Academy voluntarily.

Kira Mountjoy‑Pepka tells a very graphic story on Oprah:

It was a free weekend, and almost the entire academy was empty.  A firsty cadet I knew came over.  He entered my room, and I didn't want him there, but you can't order a firsty to leave.  He said himself, `I'm a firsty. I can do whatever I want.' And he closed the door and locked it.  He threw me on the floor, he threw me against the bed.  He clamped my wrists together and ripped off my clothes and finally pushed me against the bed and penetrated me. And there was‑‑there was nothing I could do about it.

But in e-mails to her alleged attacker Kira gave her appraisal of his anatomy, stated her sexual desires in graphic detail, and lightheartedly discussed encounters between them. She also sent him a picture of herself scantily clad. And she made repeated visits to his room after the alleged attack. She did not even report the attack–her boyfriend did. Before the attack was reported, she voiced fears she would be removed from the Academy for promiscuity. She left the Academy for undisclosed reasons. No action was taken against her by the AFA in connection with the alleged rape.

So were these five women the victim of an uncaring Academy? Or were their stories simply not credible enough to convince a prosecutor to court martial the accused?

If convicted, the young men accused of rape would have gone to prison for the rest of their lives. That is the reason these young women’s stories must be scrutinized carefully and all the evidence considered. Simply believing them would be an injustice to the men accused.

At least three of the women–Jessica, Sharon, and Kira–were in trouble with the Academy before they made their rape allegations. Did they make the allegations to avoid being disenrolled and forced to pay back their tuition? To a young woman in trouble, it may seem better for a man to spend his life in jail than for her to cough up $250,000. Besides, in a feminist world, it’s a way to “help other women,” Feminist purpose trumps the humanity of the accused.  

At least three of accused men in these five cases are black, but whether race played a role in the accusations is unclear.

For now, Jessica Brakey’s status as a cadet is on hold. She still receives benefits that pay her counseling expenses and has not been required to pay back her tuition. It’s possible, though unlikely, that she could return to the Academy to finish her degree. She still insists she was treated unfairly and that the Academy owes her an apology.

She’s also hired an attorney to negotiate a movie deal.

Joseph Harding’s court martial for the alleged rape of Jessica Brakey is on hold because the prosecution failed to meet the deadline for their appeal. He still faces a possible court martial for allegedly assaulting another female cadet, who refused to testify until pressured by the Air Force.

The Air Force erred by dismissing the four top officers at the Academy before it had a chance to substantiate the allegations against them, making them appear to be guilty. When later investigations found some room for improvement but no foundation for punishment, the Air Force appeared to be whitewashing the problem. The Air Force appeared to buckle to the pressures of modern sexual politics, as if Air Force brass knew who held the true reigns of power.

Male cadets report they’re now reluctant to criticize or reprimand female cadets out of fear of being accused of rape, sexual assault, or sexual harassment. After all, if the top officers can lose their jobs from unproven allegations, so can a mere cadet.

So did the Air Force Academy fail to prosecute rapes out of bias towards women? The evidence suggests it was not bias against women, but a respect for due process and the need to prove the allegation beyond a reasonable doubt. Perhaps what really got the Academy in trouble was not its unwillingness to hold the young men in its charge accountable for their behavior. Perhaps what really got it in trouble was its willingness to hold the young women in its charge accountable for their behavior. They had a way out: cry rape.

A cry of rape is the ultimate weapon for destroying the power of the powerful. Even if false, the cry of rape leaves a cloud of guilt and suspicion and doubt, a cloud that still hangs over the Air Force Academy and the young men accused of rape, like morning mist over the Rampart Range.

Author’s Note: The information in this article was compiled from published stories, personal e-mail, and conversations with some of the people affected by the scandal. However, I did not interview 1 Lt Joseph Harding, Jessica Brakey, Sharon Fullilove, Laura Balmos, Beth Davis, or Kira Mountjoy-Pepka.