Lt. describes alleged assault in nuke bunker - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Lt. describes alleged assault in nuke bunker

A lieutenant stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., testified Wednesday that a higher-ranking officer sexually assaulted her as the two operated a nuclear launch facility bunkered 30 feet deep in Teton County.

The hearing, held at Malmstrom, was to determine whether there is enough evidence against Capt. Adam Pitman to justify a general court-martial. Pitman is charged with aggravated sexual contact and conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Prosecutors began the day by calling the woman who made the accusations to the stand. Under questioning from both the prosecuting attorneys and Pitman’s defense attorneys, she spent about two hours giving her account of what happened.

The woman said Pitman fondled her against her will last December in the bunker, and she was unable to leave because of an 8-ton blast door and strict military regulations.

The lieutenant said she met Pitman for the first time shortly after she arrived at Malmstrom in 2006. Pitman invited her to a poker party at his house, where the two kissed and engaged in other intimate activity, she said. The lieutenant testified the interaction was consensual, but she didn’t realize until later that Pitman was married.

The next summer, Pitman made sexually suggestive comments to the woman in two brief phone calls, including one he made on a military line while the two were stationed in separate launch facilities, she said. The calls prompted her to ask that she not be stationed with Pitman.

Despite her request, the lieutenant said she found out Dec. 9 that she was scheduled to work at the same launch facility as Pitman, starting that day. The woman said it was too late to easily get out of the assignment, and she saw no reasonable alternative to working with Pitman.

The bunkers are small — they consist of a “capsule” that holds communication equipment and launch controls for 10 nuclear missiles, a tiny sleeping area and a bathroom.

About three hours into their shift, the woman and Pitman were sitting in the capsule in side-by-side chairs, she said. She testified that Pitman pulled her onto his lap, then picked her up and laid her on the floor, where he fondled her under her shirt and rubbed himself against her.

The woman said she was able to get away when Pitman reached over to turn off a routine alarm, but that after that Pitman exposed himself and masturbated in front of her.

The lieutenant said she spent the next 11 hours in the sleeping area, avoiding Pitman until her relief arrived. She testified that she stayed in the bunker with Pitman because regulations call for two missileers to be in the bunker at all times, and it would have been a serious security breach if she had left.

“The president of the United States would have found out that day,” she said.

During the 72-hour period the two were stationed at the launch facility, the woman had another 12-hour shift alone in the bunker with Pitman. She testified that during that time, Pitman asked her to “pinky-swear” she wouldn’t tell anybody what happened.

Pitman’s defense attorneys did not call any witnesses during the hearing but did question his accuser. Under cross-examination, the woman acknowledged that during the shift in question, she did not mention the alleged attack to missileers stationed in other facilities, although she did talk to them immediately after the assault is said to have happened.

The alleged victim is back on duty as a missileer. Pitman has been reassigned to other duties.

An investigating officer who presided over the hearing will now make his recommendation as to whether Pitman should face a court-martial. It will ultimately be up to a general to make that decision.