Top Brass Balls

The U.S. Pentagon keeps cleaning house -- sort of -- in cases of top military commanders who have engaged in sexual misconduct of various kinds. One of them was the superintendent of the fabled West Point Military Academy. There seems to be a general -- pun intended -- problem of loose morals in the U.S. Armed Forces that flows from the top down into the rank and file. The top brass can't seem to keep their pants on when dealing with women, be they recruits, officers-in-training or whatever. Most disturbing is the fact that the Pentagon hasn't been all that forthcoming about exposing these cases. It has taken Freedom of Information Act requests by the press to have a fuller picture of this situation. Still, in most cases, very little has been learned of the specifics of the sexual misconduct. Officers have been censured, demoted or allowed to resign, but no criminal charges have been brought against them. Thus, they have largely escaped unharmed.

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