Lackland reports 7 new victims in sex scandal 
 
 The Air Force has added three boot camp instructors to its list of 12 under investigation for misconduct, as well as seven new victims, commanders said Thursday. 
 
 The instructors weren't identified and the nature of the allegations was not explained. But the Air Education and Training Command reported that the new cases brought the number of victims in a sex scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland to 38. 
 
 Around 500 basic training instructors work on the base. 
 
 “We've always known this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Nancy Parrish, founder of Protect Our Defenders, a group that supports sexual trauma victims in the military. “In all likelihood we are just beginning to document how horrible this problem really is.” 
 
 The latest development comes amid multiple investigations looking at not only possible instructor misconduct, but also the possibility of command climate problems that fueled the illegal activity. 
 
 Saturday, former trainer Luis A. Walker was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty on seven charges and 28 specifications of misconduct. He had faced a maximum of life without the possibility of parole. He'll instead be eligible for release after serving six years. 
 
 He was charged with having illicit relationships with 10 women, all of them in basic training and some in the units that he oversaw. 
 
 Until now, instructor misconduct had been found in three of Lackland's eight basic training squadrons, with a number of incidents in one of them. But investigators now have found evidence of misconduct in five squadrons. 
 
 The Air Force has permanently removed Walker and 35 other instructors for reasons that include misconduct, failure meet standards and medical issues. In a statement, the command declined to discuss the latest cases, saying information couldn't be released because they're still under investigation. 
 
 “We have said from the outset of these investigations that we will investigate every lead, and we don't know who or how many instances of unprofessional conduct may turn up,” Dave Smith, an AETC spokesman, said in a statement Thursday. “We are continuing the investigations and at this point have expanded to include three more instructors and seven victims; there may be more or some of these may prove to be unfounded.” 
 
 Courts-martial have been set for four trainers, with Tech. Sgt. Christopher Smith going to trial Tuesday at Lackland. Facing up to a year in jail and dismissal from the Air Force if convicted, he's accused of trying to develop an intimate relationship with a trainee, making sexual advances toward her, having illicit social encounters with a second woman and obstructing justice. Three other trainers will go to trial in September and October. 
 
 Walker is in a lockup on Lackland, where he will remain until his transfer to a military prison. The Air Force confirmed this week that one of his victims reported her assault to the Air Force a month before commanders yanked him from his instructor job. 
 
 Victims' rights activists said Walker's case is a symptom of a larger problem: Only 3,000 women reported sexual assaults last year out of 19,000 estimated by the Pentagon. Pointing to those numbers, retired Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Norris, 40, of Rumford, Maine, said more cases were bound to come, a view shared by a San Francisco congresswoman who wants to change the way the military justice system handles those crimes. 
 
 “It is heartbreaking and beyond disturbing that so many young recruits have been victimized by trainers,” Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said Thursday. “What is happening at Lackland understates that the military culture has not changed and will not without fundamental reforms,” ||||| The number of instructors at a Texas Air Force base under investigation in a widening sex scandal has increased from 12 to 15 and the number of alleged victims has also gone up by seven to 38, officials said Thursday. 
 
 Officials declined to identify the three new instructors at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio under investigation or comment on the nature of the allegations against them because no charges have been filed against the three, said Brent Boller, a spokesman for Joint Base San Antonio, which operates Lackland. 
 
 The increase in the number of instructors and alleged victims was first reported by the San Antonio-Express News. The numbers could continue to grow. 
 
 "There may be others as we continue the investigation," Boller said. 
 
 Last week, a military jury sentenced one former instructor, Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of rape and sexual assault. The counts against Walker were the most severe in the investigation. 
 
 Lackland is where all Air Force recruits go through basic training. It has about 500 instructors for about 35,000 airmen who graduate every year. While one in five recruits are female, most instructors are male. 
 
 Six of the 15 instructors being investigated have been charged, with Walker and another instructor, Staff Sgt. Peter Vega-Maldonado, already having been court-martialed. Vega-Maldonado admitted in June to having sex with a female trainee and he was given 90 days of confinement as part of a plea deal. 
 
 Courts-martial have been set for four trainers, with Tech. Sgt. Christopher Smith going to trial Tuesday at Lackland, Boller said. 
 
 Smith is accused of trying to develop an intimate relationship with a trainee, making sexual advances toward her, having illicit social encounters with a second woman and obstructing justice. He faces up to a year in jail and dismissal from the Air Force if convicted, Boller said. 
 
 Three other trainers will go to trial in September and October. 
 
 A two-star general, Maj. Gen. Margaret H. Woodward, has launched a separate, independent probe. Nearly 80 members of Congress have called for a hearing. 
 
 The House Armed Services Committee announced this week that it would hold a closed-door briefing next week on the ongoing investigation. 
 
 The sexual misconduct at the base apparently began in 2009, but the first woman didn't come forward until last year. The first allegations were levied against Walker. 
 
 The Air Force has permanently removed Walker and 35 other instructors for a variety of reasons that include misconduct, failure to meet standards and medical issues. ||||| An Air Force instructor convicted of raping a female recruit and sexually assaulting several others is due back in court on one of the nation's busiest training bases Saturday for the start of the sentencing phase of his court-martial. 
 
 Air Force Staff Sgt. Luis Walker arrives for the fourth day of his trial at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Friday, July 20, 2012. Walker is accused of sexually assaulting 10 basic trainees,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Air Force Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, left foreground, arrives for the fourth day of his trial at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Friday, July 20, 2012. Walker is accused of sexually assaulting... (Associated Press) 
 
 Air Force Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, right, arrives for the fourth day of his trial at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Friday, July 20, 2012. Walker is accused of sexually assaulting 10 basic... (Associated Press) 
 
 Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, who faced the most serious charges in a sweeping sex scandal involving Lackland Air Force Base instructors, could be sentenced to up to life in prison and dishonorably discharged. A military jury convicted him Friday on all 28 counts he faced, including rape, aggravated sexual contact and multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault. 
 
 Prosecutors say from October 2010 through January 2011, Walker sexually assaulted or had improper sexual or personal contact with at least 10 female recruits. Lackland is where all Air Force recruits go through basic training. 
 
 Walker is among 12 Lackland instructors investigated for sexual misconduct toward at least 31 female trainees, and among the six charged on counts ranging from rape to adultery. 
 
 Several of Walker's alleged victims testified during his court-martial, including one who described how Walker lured her into an office and sexually assaulted her on a bed, ignoring her pleas to stop. The Associated Press is not naming the women because they are alleged sexual assault victims. 
 
 The women told jurors that Walker gained their trust to get them alone in his office or an empty dormitory, where he then forced them into kissing, touching or intercourse. The alleged sexual misconduct among instructors at the base apparently began in 2009, but the first woman didn't come forward until last year. The women who testified against Walker said they didn't tell anybody at first because they feared being booted from the Air Force. 
 
 According to prosecutors, Walker had sexual intercourse with 4 of the 10 female recruits. He was also accused of making flirtatious or sexually suggestive comments, sending inappropriate text messages and sometimes groping his recruits. 
 
 Prosecutors also accused Walker of forcing five recruits to engage in sexual acts with him by threatening their military careers, and they said he intimidated two of the women into lying about his alleged misconduct. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Air Force said Friday that the case against another former training instructor was referred to a general court-martial. 
 
 Staff Sgt. Craig LeBlanc is charged with sexual misconduct, obstructing justice and making a false official statement. He is accused of using his post as a military instructor to sexually assault and pursue a sexual relationship with one female trainee, and have a wrongful sexual relationship with another. No trial date was set. 
 
 One of the other instructors charged in the case, Staff Sgt. Peter Vega-Maldonado, pleaded guilty in June, admitting he had sex with a female trainee in exchange for a sentence of 90 days' confinement. He later acknowledged he had been involved with a total of 10 trainees _ a number previously unknown to investigators. 
 
 Lackland has about 475 instructors for the approximately 35,000 airmen who graduate every year. About one in five is female, pushed through eight weeks of basic training by a group of instructors, 90 percent of whom are men.
– Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, an instructor at Lackland Air Force Base, was found guilty yesterday of raping one trainee and sexually assaulting several others, reports AP. Walker faces life in prison and a dishonorable discharge after being found guilty on 28 counts, including adultery, violating regulations, and committing sexual crimes against female trainees, notes the San Antonio Express-News. Thirty-one women have accused Walker and at least 11 other instructors of sexual misconduct over a two-and-a-half year period, which has led to a major policy review across the Air Force. "We're not satisfied that this one unit is all there is," the commander of the Second Air Force, which oversees basic training, tells the New York Times. "We want to assure ourselves through a disciplined approach that we’ve caught everything or everyone involved in this kind of behavior." The Defense Department estimates there may be up to 19,000 sexual assaults a year across the services, although just 3,192 were reported in 2011, with 191 convictions.