When you've got multiple assaults, it's obvious some of them are looking the other way. Indeed, some soldiers at the 143rd Battalion's headquarters, a cluster of brick buildings 12 miles from Aberdeen's main post, confessed they were not shocked by the charges. They described a high school atmosphere on base where gossip about sex rustled among the troops. It's the same as in the civilian world, but people expect more from the military. At Fort Leonard Wood, too, a 63,000-acre base in the Ozarks, there have been reports that fraternization between drill sergeants and recruits was common knowledge.
Drill sergeants talk, just like girls talk.
It's part of life. That may be so, but many soldiers at Aberdeen expressed profound shame at the scandal swirling around them. But now there's a question in the privates' minds. Many new trainees do feel betrayed. So when something like this happens, it hurts.