The Army has suspended several instructors at Fort Sill over allegations they sexually assaulted a female soldier going through initial training at the Oklahoma base.
Agents from Army Criminal Investigation Command are investigating allegations of sexual assault by a female trainee “involving Fort Sill cadre,” according to a Fort Sill press release. The “potentially involved” cadre, which typically includes officers and noncommissioned officers responsible for conducting and overseeing training of new soldiers, have all been suspended and removed from the trainee environment, the release said.
According to the Intercept, the trainee reported multiple assaults by 22 service members, including several drill sergeants. The trainee’s report “identified seven of the 22 members she said assaulted her,” according to The Intercept. An Army spokesperson declined to specify the number of suspects involved.
The trainee made her report on March 27, according to Maj. Gen. Ken Kamper, the commander of the Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, who told reporters on Thursday that the trainee is “absolutely safe” and has “special victims counsel and access to all victims services.”
“We’re just heartbroken, just sad, sad that something like this happened,” Kamper said. “On a personal level it is just heartbreaking.”
The trainee has met with Fort Sill leadership and “is receiving updates from the chain of command,” said officials, who added that the Army was sending “additional specialized CID personnel” and attorneys to Fort Sill.
Chris Grey, a spokesman for Army CID, confirmed the allegations were under investigation and being taken “extremely seriously.” CID agents conducted interviews regarding the alleged assault on the day it was reported, according to Kamper, and then again on March 29 and “every day since.”
A military official told The Intercept that investigators had video of one of the incidents, which allegedly involved several drill sergeants, and said that they’d “heard the term ‘sex ring’ thrown around.”
Sexual relationships of any kind between trainees and drill sergeants are considered sexual assault, according to a defense official, because the Army considers trainees incapable of consent given the power dynamics.
The allegations come amid intense scrutiny of the Army’s response to sexual assault and harassment following an explosive report released last year, which revealed the service’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) program to be broken, inefficient, and often ignored by leadership. Army investigators probed the SHARP program after the murder of Spc. Vanessa Guillén. Guillén, who was brutally murdered by another soldier in April 2020, was said to have been sexually harassed but feared reporting it, according to her family.
Army officials later found that leaders at Fort Hood had created a toxic environment for women at the base, which investigators found “permissive” of sexual assault and harassment.
“If the number of suspects is really that high, it’s incomprehensible,” an Army official said on Friday of the reported number of suspects. “It’s staggering to me.”
Featured photo: A Drill Sergeant walks down the rows of soldiers at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
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