Here is an interesting Washington Post opinion piece about some contractors in Iraq.

THE ALLEGATIONS are sadly familiar by now: The men were picked up by U.S. military forces, locked in tiny cells, deprived of sleep, and subjected to extreme temperatures and loud music. What makes these allegations extraordinary is that the men in question, Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel, are U.S. citizens who were working in 2006 for an Iraqi security firm, Shield Group Security. According to court documents, Mr. Vance warned Iraqi-based U.S. officials about possible corruption at the firm, including the funneling of weapons to insurgents. After getting the brushoff, Mr. Vance contacted Chicago agents with the FBI on his next visit home. Mr. Vance and Mr. Ertel began passing information to the FBI once they were back in Iraq. That ended when the firm became suspicious and took the men hostage; Mr. Vance and Mr. Ertel were able to call their FBI contacts, who then alerted the military, which sent soldiers to rescue the men.

Army Times reports:

Attorneys for a disgruntled Army Reserve soldier who fatally shot his supervisor after his vacation was denied say his fasting to meet stringent military weight guidelines left him in a trancelike state. (This courtroom sketch shows Army Reserve Sgt. Rashad Valmont during military hearing Monday, Aug. 30, 2010 at Fort McPherson, Ga. Attorney William Cassara, not shown, said Valmont was dehydrated, exhausted and delirious when he burst into Master Sgt. Pedro Mercado’s office in nearby Fort Gillem in June and shot him six times. (AP Photo/Richard Miller) (Richard Miller – AP))

The Washington Post has this report.

The Smoking Gun reports:

An HIV-positive Air Force sergeant failed to disclose his medical condition before engaging in sexual activity with a “multitude” of partners he met at “swinger” parties and through adult web sites, according to a military investigation, The Smoking Gun has learned. The criminal probe of Sgt. David Gutierrez, a 20-year military veteran, began last month when the Air Force Office of Special Investigations received information that he had “engaged in numerous, unprotected sexual acts…over the course of three years.” According to court records, investigators charge that, due to Gutierrez’s HIV status, these encounters amounted to “aggravated assault against several men and women in and around the Wichita, Kansas area.” The 43-year-old Gutierrez, stationed at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, was “apprehended” on August 9 for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice. An HIV-positive Air Force sergeant failed to disclose his medical condition before engaging in sexual activity with a “multitude” of partners he met at “swinger” parties and through adult web sites, according to a military investigation, The Smoking Gun has learned. The criminal probe of Sgt. David Gutierrez, a 20-year military veteran, began last month when the Air Force Office of Special Investigations received information that he had “engaged in numerous, unprotected sexual acts…over the course of three years.” According to court records, investigators charge that, due to Gutierrez’s HIV status, these encounters amounted to “aggravated assault against several men and women in and around the Wichita, Kansas area.” The 43-year-old Gutierrez, stationed at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, was “apprehended” on August 9 for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

And:

The Air Force sergeant accused of failing to inform a “multitude” of sex partners of his HIV-positive status has been jailed since his arrest earlier this month and faces a preliminary hearing next month, according to an Air Force spokesperson.

Standout slotback Marcus Curry, whose off-field behavior drew as much attention as his on-field exploits, has been dismissed from the Naval Academy football team. Curry was charged with an unauthorized absence for failing to be in his dormitory room in Bancroft Hall when required. The Capital reported in late January that Curry was allowed to remain at the Naval Academy despite testing positive for drug use and after recommendations he be dismissed.

Thanx CAAFLog.

bnd.com has this report (I posted on this earlier here):

A lesbian, Chaurasiya came out to her unit commander last summer after a chain of events beyond her control.

Although Chaurasiya (pronounced “Chara-seeya”) admitted to being a lesbian, and even possessed a New Hampshire marriage certificate to another woman, a three-star Air Force general in February ruled she should remain in the military anyway.

The general’s reason: Chaurasiya acknowledged her sexual orientation as a way of “avoiding and terminating military service,” according to the memo written by Lt. Gen. Robert Allardice, commander of the 18th Air Force, based at Scott.

The case has taken a different twist:

On Thursday, Chaurasiya found herself the subject of an three-hour interview with officers from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The officers asked her about her affiliation with India, the land of her parents’ birth, and her travels around the world.

At the same time 365gay.com reports that a ROTC student who has “come out” must now repay about $80,000.00 in recoupment.

CBS4Denver reports that:

he U.S. Army is conducting an investigation of at least 38 recruiters in its Denver Army Recruiting Battalion. . . . The probe is looking into whether fraudulent documents were used to enlist new soldiers. Those documents could include items such as phony diplomas and other altered records. Five years ago CBS4 News showed Denver area recruiters instructing a high school student how to get a phony diploma and teaching him how to beat a drug test. It led to a national “stand down day” for all recruiters to re-examine ethics.

Here is a link to some interesting letters to the Chattnoogan.com regarding the SEAL cases.

Davis & Leo on the “Sympathetic Detective” Interrogation Strategy Deborah Davis and Richard A. Leo (University of Nevada, Reno and University of San Francisco – School of Law) have posted Selling Confession: Setting the Stage with the ‘Sympathetic Detective with a Time-Limited Offer’ (Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The effectiveness of an interrogation tactic dubbed the “sympathetic detective with a time limited offer” was tested. Participants read two versions of an interrogation transcript, with and without the tactic. Those who read the sympathetic detective version believed the detective had greater authority to determine whether and with what to charge the suspect, more beneficent intentions toward the suspect, and viewed confession as more wise. However, regression analyses indicated that for innocent suspects, only perceptions of the strength of evidence against the suspect and the detective’s beneficence and authority predicted the perceived wisdom of false confession. Interrogation tactics were generally effective, as indicated by participant recommendations of confession (versus invoking Miranda, denial, or continuing to talk without admitting guilt) for both innocent (16.7%) and guilty (74.4%) suspects; and reasons offered for participants’ recommendations for confession versus other choices generally conformed to those reported by real-life confessors and interrogation scholars.

Courtesy CrimProfBlog.