Devildogg4ever
11-30-03, 02:34 PM
TACOMA, Wash. - A female soldier reported she was raped at a desert post in Kuwait where her unit was preparing for its mission in Iraq, a military official said Sunday.
Maj. Vic Harris, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kuwait, confirmed that the female soldier was with the Stryker battalion at Camp Udairi, where the rape allegedly occurred Saturday.
"We can't give any specifics because the incident is under investigation," he said.
Detectives with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division cordoned off the area around a cargo container next to the shower trailer where the alleged assault occurred, the Tacoma News Tribune reported in Sunday's editions. The Stryker brigade, also known as the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, was trained at Fort Lewis, Wash.
"The soldier is being provided with medical care and emotional support," brigade spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Piek said in a statement released Saturday in Kuwait.
Agents from Camp Arifjan, another Army post near Kuwait City, are handling the investigation. It wasn't immediately clear Sunday if the investigators had detained anyone in the case or had any suspects.
"This brigade's overall focus is getting ready for Iraq," Piek told The News Tribune. "That does not diminish the seriousness of the alleged crime ... But it's not the kind of thing we need to be dealing with just a short time before we go north."
Female soldiers said they were exercising caution in the camp after dark. There are about 310 women in the brigade of about 5,000 soldiers.
"It's sad. You can't trust your own people," said Staff Sgt. Theresa Spicer, a supply sergeant with the brigade headquarters.
Camp Udairi, 10 miles south of the Iraq border, also includes about 2,000 troops who are not part of the brigade and several hundred civilian contract employees.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=4&u=/ap/20031130/ap_on_re_us/soldier_rape
Maj. Vic Harris, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kuwait, confirmed that the female soldier was with the Stryker battalion at Camp Udairi, where the rape allegedly occurred Saturday.
"We can't give any specifics because the incident is under investigation," he said.
Detectives with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division cordoned off the area around a cargo container next to the shower trailer where the alleged assault occurred, the Tacoma News Tribune reported in Sunday's editions. The Stryker brigade, also known as the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, was trained at Fort Lewis, Wash.
"The soldier is being provided with medical care and emotional support," brigade spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Piek said in a statement released Saturday in Kuwait.
Agents from Camp Arifjan, another Army post near Kuwait City, are handling the investigation. It wasn't immediately clear Sunday if the investigators had detained anyone in the case or had any suspects.
"This brigade's overall focus is getting ready for Iraq," Piek told The News Tribune. "That does not diminish the seriousness of the alleged crime ... But it's not the kind of thing we need to be dealing with just a short time before we go north."
Female soldiers said they were exercising caution in the camp after dark. There are about 310 women in the brigade of about 5,000 soldiers.
"It's sad. You can't trust your own people," said Staff Sgt. Theresa Spicer, a supply sergeant with the brigade headquarters.
Camp Udairi, 10 miles south of the Iraq border, also includes about 2,000 troops who are not part of the brigade and several hundred civilian contract employees.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=4&u=/ap/20031130/ap_on_re_us/soldier_rape