I guess this Drill Sergeant didn't understand his limits handling trainees unless he didn't care or have a mental disorder.


Third Knox drill sergeant convicted of abusing trainees

By Joseph R. Chenelly
Times staff writer


A third drill sergeant was convicted Wednesday of abuse in a trainee maltreatment scandal at Fort Knox, Ky.
Sgt. 1st Class Ricky L. Stauffer was found guilty by a jury on one count of abuse and another of obstruction of justice, a Fort Knox spokeswoman said. He was busted down one rank to staff sergeant and issued a letter of reprimand.

Stauffer was found to have slammed a trainee into a wall and to have threatened trainees with punishment if they cooperated with an investigation into the abuse. He was acquitted of a charge that he punched a former specialist in the stomach.

The jury was made up of four officers and four NCOs. Lt. Col. Richard Anderson presided over the trial.

This was the third court-marital in a case that has implicated four drill sergeants and the commander of E Company, 1st Battalion, 81st Armor Regiment.

Stauffer may have elected to face a jury after the judge, Anderson, tried the first two drill sergeants without one and gave each a very different sentence.

Sgt. 1st Class David H. Price was convicted of dragging a recruit by the ankles 20 feet down a hallway, making another swallow his own vomit and striking another with a rolled-up newspaper. Price avoided jail time in a partial plea agreement. He was allowed to stay in the Army but was demoted one grade to staff sergeant.

Staff Sgt. Michael G. Rhoades was found to have punched trainees in the chest, stomach and chin, and thrown at least one to the floor. He received a much steeper penalty – sentenced to 30 days in jail and given a bad conduct discharge.

Rhoades’ defense team felt Price had received a favorable sentence, attorney Oliver H. Barber told Army Times. So Barber chose to forgo the jury trial and allow Anderson to decide the Rhoades case. But the defense was shocked when their client was booted from the service.

“I’ve been practicing law for more than 37 years, and I was astounded as I’ve ever been,” Barber said after his client was sentenced. “It makes absolutely no sense to me. There is no way to explain” the differences between the sentences the two soldiers received.

Barber predicted then that each of the other three defendants, Stauffer included, would opt for a jury trial . He is correct so far.

Staff Sgt. Bryan G. Duncan, the fourth drill sergeant is slated to be tried June 15.

The company commander, Capt. William Fulton, will also face a court-martial, which is scheduled to begin June 20.

It is nice to see that we are able to clean out a company of bad personnel every once in a while. Let us hope that the message was sent.

quote:

Making another swallow his own vomit

[b]At least it wasn't 'someone else's'Vomit! (I just hate that)