Commander loses post at scandal-plagued base

AUSTIN, Texas - A widening sex scandal at Lackland Air Force Base has led to the dismissal of the top commander who oversees basic training for every new American airman, officials said Friday.

Col. Glenn Palmer was commander of basic training for the 737th training group at the Texas base, where more than a dozen military instructors in the last year have been investigated or charged with sexually assaulting recruits. Officials familiar with the decision said Palmer has been relieved from those duties, speaking on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.

The officials said there was no indication Palmer was facing any criminal charges. In all, six instructors have been charged with offenses ranging from rape to adultery.

Investigators say more than three dozen female trainees have been victimized by male instructors at Lackland, where approximately 35,000 airmen graduate each year.

About 20 percent of recruits are female, while most instructors are male. The most serious allegations involved an instructor sentenced to 20 years in prison last month after being convicted of raping one female recruit and sexually assaulting several others.

Before Staff Sgt. Luis Walker was sentenced in a military courtroom at Lackland, one of his alleged victims testified that the abuse left her shaken while deployed in Afghanistan and made her "a little bit more scared of everything."

The Air Force also was set Friday to announce that Col. Eric Axelbank, commander of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland, also would be changing command next month. Officials told AP that Axelbank's move was not related to the scandal.

Palmer's dismissal comes just months after the Air Force increased his profile as the allegations mounted. He invited reporters in June to a daylong tour of Lackland, offering a rare glimpse into the base's academy for military training instructors and making his top lieutenants available for questions. It was intended to show the public that the Air Force had nothing to hide.