Soldiers report sexual assault, harassment

AUSTIN, Texas — Maria Valentine says she was just months into her training at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, in 2006 when a sergeant with a history of alleged harassment toward other soldiers wrote her up after she complained that she didn’t want him touching her during body mass measurements.

She said authorities promised the disciplinary report would be wiped from her record if she didn’t make a formal complaint. Valentine’s decision not to file one would haunt her years later when she learned another woman had accused the same sergeant of rape.

Valentine is one of five women — two active duty soldiers, two veterans and one civilian — who spoke to The Associated Press about experiencing harassment, assault or rape by soldiers at Fort Hood, the other four since 2014.

Current and former soldiers have taken to social media with accounts of sexual assault and harassment at the base following the disappearance and slaying this year of Spc. Vanessa Guillen, whose family members say was sexually harassed by the officer who eventually killed her.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Valentine said after learning about Guillen’s story.

Maj. Gabriela Thompson, a Fort Hood spokeswoman, told the AP she had no information about Valentine’s allegation.

Members of Congress launched an investigation of Fort Hood in September after Sgt. Elder Fernandes was found dead on Aug. 25 hanging from a tree in Temple, Texas, months after reporting sexual harassment.