Osan Rape Case Goes to Trial

Let this be an example if you are a female of what not to do in the barracks:

According to the woman’s testimony Wednesday, the two were among a group of friends who spent several hours socializing, first at a barbecue party and then at the off-base Bounce Club.

Later, she testified, she agreed to let Wheeler sleep in her dorm room and the two took a taxi to the dorm.

Once in her room, she said, Wheeler took off his shoes and lay atop her bed, even though they had “discussed him sleeping on the floor.”

Wearing a T-shirt, bra and panties, she joined Wheeler in bed. Wheeler, she said, began kissing her and she asked him to stop, reminding him she had a boyfriend.

Unfortunately to much of these rape and sexual assault cases happen in the barracks due to over consumption of alcohol. The Air Force may have a different policy but in the Army you cannot have members of the opposite sleeping in your room with you. A member of the opposite sex can visit your room but they must be logged in as a visitor with the CQ (charge of quarters) and the door to the room must remain open so the CQ can check the room.

These policies cannot prevent all sexual assaults but it helps. The best way to stop sexual assaults is to get soldiers to not over consume alcohol. I have yet to see a sexual assault case that has not involved alcohol. The airman in the Osan case IMHO is going to have a hard time being found guilty when the alleged victim has skeletons like this in her closet:

Under cross-examination by defense lawyer Capt. Gloria Downey, the woman said she did not scream, pound the wall to alert her suitemate or otherwise call for help during the incident. Downey is Area Defense Counsel at Osan Air Base.

The woman answered “yes” when Downey asked whether she has claimed to have been raped by six different men while in the Air Force, five of them while at Nellis Air Force Base.

“But, to this day, you haven’t reported the other five rapes to anyone?” Downey asked the woman.

“Yes,” she answered.