Female Stryker brigade soldier alleges rape

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | Saturday, November 29, 2003 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Cannoneer No. 4]

CAMP UDAIRI, Kuwait -- A female Stryker brigade soldier reported she was raped late Friday or early Saturday at this desert post about 10 miles south of the Iraqi border, brigade officials said Saturday.

Detectives with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division taped off the area around a cargo container next to the shower trailer where the alleged assault occurred.

"A 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division female soldier has allegedly been sexually assaulted at Camp Udairi. The soldier is being provided with medical care and emotional support," spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Piek said in a statement.

"The incident is under investigation," he said. "No other details will be released at this time to protect the soldier's identity, and to safeguard the investigation process."

The CID agents handling the investigation are from Camp Arifjan, another Army post near Kuwait City.

Meanwhile, female soldiers said they were exercising caution in the camp after dark. There are about 310 women in the brigade from Fort Lewis.

"It's sad," said Staff Sgt. Theresa Spicer, a supply sergeant with the brigade headquarters. "You can't trust your own people."

The Stryker brigade's 5,000 soldiers arrived in Kuwait this month, marking the largest movement of Fort Lewis combat troops since the Vietnam War. It also marked the first deployment of the brigade.

The camp at Udairi also includes about 2,000 troops who are not part of the Stryker brigade and maintain the camp. There are also several hundred civilian contract employees.

The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was trained at Fort Lewis to be a 21st century fighting force, a faster, more agile armored unit.

The brigade is built around the Stryker, the Army's first new combat vehicle in 20 years, which can carry as many as 11 soldiers. The brigade has 300 Strykers, eight-wheeled vehicles that can travel faster than 60 mph.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Crime wave at Camp Udairi. The PX got broken into Thanksgiving.

310 females.

There doesn't appear to be much sense of urgency to get 3/2 into the war.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[leadpenny]

Anything I say would be wrong except, maybe, "We have met the enemy, and the enemy is the PC crowd."

My apologies to the female soldier.

[exnavy]

Women do not belong in combat units.

[SevenDaysInMay]

Females are compromising our fighting capabilies, not to mention good order among front line troops in theater. Rapists on both sides are always going to inflict harm.

Pfc. Lynch is clinical evidence that islamists have their own established tactics. Crimes at war or war crimes...

Our women's shattered and dismembered bodies pulled from blown strikers shall be worse than rape.

At least Senator Hillary (without XXX-42 safely mentoring young women) and her R.I. prop are in theater telling our troops, as props, that their mission is politically doomed to failure and that the American people don't support the quagmire made in Washington with help from the UN.

(Hillary's comments on the UN troops (Pakistan's brigade) delaying support for hours to our unarmored Americans "down" at Mogadishu were not reported. If only the Clintons had been as supportive to our combatants as they were at the BATF/FBI-HRT assault on Mt. Carmel near Waco.)

(How many rapes were committed inside the Beltway the night of this crime?)

We need to wake up and smell the coffee, and some napalm.

[snodog]

Before things get out of hand here, I think I have to step in. Some of the comments are to say the least, not in the best taste. We all have our opinions about women in combat units, but that is not what caused this.

A woman/solider was raped, not by her being captured, but for simply serving her country.

Whatever you think of women in combat units should be squelshed by the fact that a woman willing to defend our rights as a nation was so violated. There is no crime, other than murder, that violates the basic principles of life, and liberty, than rape.

Leave your politics at the door on this one. Condem the person that did this to one of our soldiers, and seek justice.

[leadpenny]

Some of the comments are to say the least, not in the best taste.

Mind being specific?

While I'm at it, do you favor drafting women should the need arise?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Before things get out of hand here, I think I have to step in. Some of the comments are to say the least, not in the best taste.

Whatever you think of women in combat units should be squelshed

Leave your politics at the door

I don't think you have to step in. You have stepped in it enough.

[snodog]

Mind being specific?

While I'm at it, do you favor drafting women should the need arise?

I'll take the second question first.

If it were down to our survival as a nation, after every available man had served or was serving, then yes I would support a draft of women, clearly the need has arisen.

Specific:"We have met the enemy, and the enemy is the PC crowd."

Women do not belong in combat units.

Females are compromising our fighting capabilies, not to mention good order among front line troops in theater. Rapists on both sides are always going to inflict harm.

Our women's shattered and dismembered bodies pulled from blown strikers shall be worse than rape.

How more disguting can you get?

Let me put it to you this way, would you rather a soldier die in battle for your cause, or be treated as something less than equal and violated in any manner we or our enemy wishes?

Women also do not to be raped, no matter were they are. In the home, at work or in school.

Put your women don't belong in combat behind you and focus on the reality. An american solider(female) was raped in garrison.

[leadpenny]

I take it that you believe women should be allowed to serve in a peacful environment, receiving the benefits and rewards for having done so but, they should not be required to serve in an emergency unless every able bodied man is required to serve first.

Sorry to offend your senses, but you ARE the PC crowd.

[snodog]

I don't think you have to step in. You have stepped in it enough.You are so right, I was so stupid to think that the rape of a female soldier in garrison wouldn't garner the support of her fellow soldiers.

How completely stupid of me.

To that soldier, that has gone off to lands far away, to carry on the fight for freedom in my name...Piss off you get what you deserve.

Not because you didn't do your best, not because you answered when your country called. Not because you were willing to give your life. That is a given.

It is because you are a female trying to live in a mans world, and it seems some of them are trying to prove a point politically.

[snodog]

I take it that you believe women should be allowed to serve in a peacful environment, receiving the benefits and rewards for having done so but, they should not be required to serve in an emergency unless every able bodied man is required to serve first.

Well now I know you are just out looking for someone to talk to, it's pretty sad really.

What you asked is " do you favor drafting women should the need arise?" My answer was yes. Beyond that I gave no opinion on the service requirement for women.

[leadpenny]

Snodog, if it is so important to have women in the military (Remember what our military is for; to kill people and break things), why do you suppose groups like NOW and other liberal feel-good organizations have not called for the registration of women when they turn 18?

Having one's cake and eating it too, comes to mind.

[leadpenny]

My answer was yes. And you qualified it with this:

. . . after every available man had served or was serving, then yes I would support a draft of women, . . .

If I want someone to talk to, I'll wait until my 2 1/2 year old grandson wakes up. It'll be more enlightening than this.

[PokeyJoe]

If a crime occurred, the criminal needs to be caught, convicted, and sentenced to just punishment.

Let me put it to you this way, would you rather a soldier die in battle for your cause, or be treated as something less than equal and violated in any manner we or our enemy wishes?

Women are not equal.

[leadpenny]

Do we want another Jessica Lynch?

I said the following on the above thread:

_________

"Current and future battlefields are too complex to ensure the safety of almost anyone. Here's my sentiment, as simply as I can state it:

If we, as a country, are not willing to put women in harms way, to include drafting them for the positions they are now in, then women should not be in the military in the first place."

_________

Do you agree with any, none or all?

[snodog]

...if it is so important to have women in the military (Remember what our military is for; to kill people and break things), why do you suppose groups like NOW and other liberal feel-good organizations have not called for the registration of women when they turn 18?

I guess it would be because of people like you, that blame the victim because a female tried to place herself in your world.

Not to quible with you, but don't you think this soldier that was raped would have volunteered anyway?

Your trying to bring politics back into a rape, and I'm not going to buy it. A United States Soldier was raped in garrison, and you want to debate, the political reason of why she was there in the first place. At this moment, I don't care, the political reasons are beside the facts

What concerns me more is the fact that you and others would use the rape of a United States Soldier for political purposes.

[Centurion2000]

It is because you are a female trying to live in a mans world, and it seems some of them are trying to prove a point politically.

Bump from an uncompromising sexist where combat operations are concerned.

[Michael121]

I am not in any sense of the word a "fence straddler" but on this issue (???)

Having served with women and seen women who would push themselves to the limit along with the men, and in some cases perform better than some of the men, I am all for women in the military. Combat is another issue. They can fight, shoot, drive, KILL the enemy and Break things. But if women are to be put into combat we as a society have to change.

We need to stop worrying about deaths, woundings, tortures, and yes even rapes of female soldiers from the enemy. We need to stop "protecting our women" and let them get into the fight with all the consequences that go with that.

Having said the above, we need to worry about an attack in a non-combat location, by supporting "civilians" or from other units. The "rapist" here should be strung up by his little "hangy downs" in the desert and used for target practice. I say use the rapist for a 100+ lbs dumb bomb. Drop him on the enemy from 30,000 feet.

So you guys so far here quit getting angry with each other. We are "in this together" so stay that way.

I would like to think your grandson has a lot to learn from you, not the other way around.

No matter what the circumstances, a man should never rape a woman, whether in combat or not. And the latter does not matter here.

[sd-joe]

>> Leave your politics at the door on this one. <<

It is not politics. It is common sense and common decency for a sane society to want to protect it's women by not exposing them to unnecessary risks.

No one is blaming the victim. The blame is for that segment of society that thinks that it is a good idea to expose women to the many risks of being in a combat theater.

Of course the person that did the crime is to be condemed. I have not seen any post that in any way defended that person.