Captain found guilty of negligence, not trainee abuse
By Ian Boudreau
June 28, 2005
FORT KNOX, Ky. (Army News Service, June 28, 2005) – An Army captain accused of dereliction of duty, false swearing and trainee maltreatment was sentenced June 21 to six months confinement by a general court-martial at Fort Knox.
Capt. William Fulton pleaded not guilty to charges of willful dereliction of duty, maltreatment of subordinates and false swearing when the court-martial began June 20, and was found guilty of the lesser charge of negligent dereliction of duty and of false swearing.
Fulton was found not guilty of the maltreatment charges in connection with allegations of abuse of trainees while commanding Company E, 1st Battalion, 81st Armor Regiment, a One Station Unit Training company in the 1st Armor Training Brigade.
The court did not dismiss Fulton from the Army, and his sentence is pending approval from the court-martial convening authority, Maj. Gen. Terry Tucker, the Fort Knox commander.
Lt. Col. Richard Anderson was the presiding military judge in the court-martial.
Representing the United States in the case, prosecutors Capt. Steve Berlin and Capt. Joseph Krill alleged that Fulton had personally abused a Company E recruit, supposedly punching a trainee in the stomach while attempting to take away his inhaler during the initial basic training contraband shakedown.
“(Fulton) grabbed my hand and in one motion punched me in the chest,” one former trainee testified.
He was also accused of standing by and watching as another Soldier was thrown by the collar of his field jacket through a door on the second floor of the Company E barracks by a company drill sergeant.
The recruits arrived at Company E Feb. 3, and at 5 p.m. on Feb. 4, Fulton signed out of his unit on leave, traveling to Germany. He was called back to Fort Knox early by Lt. Col. Chester Dymek, the 1/81 Armor Battalion commander, to talk with Criminal Investigation Division agents who were investigating the abuse charges.
Dymek said Fulton expressed “disbelief” when he was told about the investigation.
“He did say one thing, that he’d do anything to protect his drill sergeants,” Dymek said.
Alleged trainee abuse captured on videotape
One of the most contentious pieces of evidence was a videotape introduced by defense counsel Capt. Paul Streetman, Fulton’s Army-appointed attorney.
The video, shot with a hand-held personal camera, shows trainees arriving at Company E in a bus and what was referred to in testimony as a “shark attack” by the company’s drill sergeants.
In the shaky video, trainees are rushed into formation outside the company barracks as drill sergeants scream at them, sometimes with two or more NCOs only inches from a trainee’s face. Witnesses said that the “shark attack” went on for about an hour before the trainees were moved inside the barracks.
Fulton: ‘environment of stress’ fosters training
Fulton said the intense atmosphere was part of the program for basic training.
“You create an environment of stress,” he said. “It’s to develop and build cohesion in the unit. There’s actually structure and reasoning to what we do.”
Sgt. 1st Class Paul Holley, a senior drill sergeant with Co. E, said that he left the “shark attack” before it was over.
“In my eyes, it was not the way I would have conducted an initial pickup,” he said. “The whole nature of the situation wasn’t even right. There was too much chaos and no plan ... I didn’t want to be a part of it.”
Fulton testified that he had not witnessed any instances of abuse during the trainees’ Feb. 3 arrival at his company, and denied being involved in any abuse himself.
“It was a pretty standard pickup,” he said. “I actually rode in the bus with the (trainees on their way to the company from the Reception Station) and gave them my in-brief – it’s a calm before the storm.”
The video showed trainees grabbing their Army-issue duffle bags and personal gear in preparation for heading into the barracks for the shakedown.
One recruit testified that Fulton had been holding the door on the second floor landing as the trainees entered. Fulton said he followed the trainees, entering the second floor hallway only after they had all gone in themselves.
In the video, however, Fulton does not appear at the door.
During the shakedown, Fulton said, a drill sergeant approached him and handed him an inhaler, saying, “Sir, we have a problem.”
Medication without an accompanying prescription is considered contraband in basic training.
Fulton said he took the inhaler back to the room of a trainee, and asked the trainee if he had any other contraband.
The trainee produced “four or five” other medications, as well as a pamphlet on “How to spot tuberculosis,” Fulton said.
Fulton said he told the drill sergeants to “immediately cease” training the recruit until his medical records could be reviewed.
However, the prosecution also cited the video, saying that it clearly showed abuse of trainees.
Instructor of cadre course testifies
Krill asked an instructor with the Cadre Training Course, a required six-day class for all 1st ATB training cadre, about what could be considered ‘‘appropriate’’ touching of trainees by instructors.
“Would hitting a trainee in the chest be appropriate physical contact?” the prosecutor asked.
“No, sir,” the instructor replied.
According to Training and Doctrine Command Regulation 350-6, drill sergeants are only authorized to touch Soldiers in training to prevent a safety violation, in a medical emergency or to correct a uniform deficiency.
Trainees testified that they were slammed into wall lockers, kicked and struck during the indoor portion of the “shark attack,” and that the abuse continued the next day.
“It defies reason to think that on 3 February, Captain Fulton was on the second floor while all this was going on, and just missed it,” Krill said during the prosecution’s closing arguments.
Under Article 13, Fulton received 45 days credit against his six-month sentence. Streetman will represent him when the court’s decision is reviewed by the court-martial convening authority.
Fulton was the fourth member of Company E to be tried in connection with subordinate maltreatment. Staff Sgt. Brian Duncan’s court-martial has been rescheduled for Aug. 18.
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