Soldier complains of sexual coercion.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

A Eugene soldier being investigated for deserting her military police unit has alleged that she was sexually harassed by two superiors and coerced into a sexual relationship with a sergeant while she was in Iraq.

Suzanne Swift, a specialist with the 54th Military Police Co. based at Fort Lewis, Wash., was arrested at her mother's house in south Eugene on Sunday and held at the Lane County Jail before being escorted by military police to Fort Lewis on Tuesday.

In a brief phone interview from the base, Swift said three sergeants directly in her chain of command began propositioning her for sex almost from the minute she arrived overseas. She was in Iraq from February 2004 until February 2005. When her unit was redeployed to Iraq in January 2006, she refused to go and remained in Oregon.

Swift is restricted to her base while the Army looks into her case, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Hitt said.

Though she can't leave, she is being treated with dignity and respect, he said.

Her unauthorized absence violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Her commanding officer could recommend a reprimand or a court-martial, which could result in her loss of all Army benefits and a sentence of up to five years in prison.

It's not clear how long the investigation into her absence will take, said Hitt, who did not specifically confirm that Swift's allegations are also part of the inquiry.

"The Army is investigating the details surrounding her absence from the unit," he said.

But Swift's attorney, Larry Hildes, said that her commanding officer, Lt. Col. James Switzer, assured him that he planned a criminal investigation.

"He's taking her allegations of sexual harassment seriously," Hildes said.

Hildes said that when Swift complained to the appropriate Army authority, an equal opportunity officer, her complaints were ignored.

For rejecting the advances of two of the noncommissioned officers, Swift said she was publicly humiliated and forced to do extra work.

Swift said she had a sexual relationship with her immediate supervisor in Iraq, but that it was a coerced relationship based on his power over her.

"In a combat situation, your squad leader is deciding whether you live or die. If he wants you to run across a minefield, you run across a minefield," she said.

Swift drove a Humvee in Karbala, a city southwest of Baghdad. On combat patrol, she was frequently assigned to visit Iraqi police stations, often the targets of insurgents.

"You have to be on your guard the whole time," she said.

While Swift didn't talk about sexual harassment with the other women in her unit, she's certain she wasn't the only one targeted.

"Nobody talks about it," she said.

But Swift isn't the only one to make these kinds of accusations. News reports of women being harassed and sexually assaulted in Iraq and Kuwait in 2004 prompted the Department of Defense to create a task force to examine the extent of the problem and to develop recommendations for dealing with it.

The Defense Department's sexual assault task force report concluded that its policies and programs aimed at preventing sexual assault were inconsistent and incomplete and left women particularly vulnerable in joint combat environments.

Swift said she believes that the military is taking her allegations seriously now. She is back in the barracks with her company, which returned in April from its second tour in Iraq. Swift said her fellow soldiers aren't treating her any differently than they did before. Those who were friends with her six months ago are still friends, she said.

"I hope more women will speak out against the horrible things that happen," she said.

But such allegations are notoriously difficult to prove, often devolving to the word of the victim against the word of the accused, Hildes said.

"That's the nature of sexual harassment," he said. "There are almost never witnesses."

While her allegations are serious, Swift faces a serious charge herself. By abandoning her unit for more than 30 days - the federal warrant lists her as missing since Jan. 9, 2006 - she moves from unauthorized absentee to the more serious category of deserter, a soldier with no intent to return, said Kathleen Duignan, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice. The nonprofit agency works to improve public understanding of the military justice system.

Her commander probably will take into account aggravating factors in her case, such as deserting during a time of war, Duignan said.

"It's a unique military offense," she said. "It goes to good order, morale and discipline." An effective fighting force requires soldiers who are ready to respond to their orders, she said.

That will have to be balanced against the harassment allegations Swift has made.

"I can't see it offering a complete defense, because they would say she should have continued to bring it up through the chain of command," Duignan said.

Hildes said he expects Swift will be discharged from the Army rather than face a court-martial, but Fort Lewis spokesman Hitt said no decision has been made yet.

Either way, the issues represented by this case - desertion and failure of trust among soldiers who need to work together - are troublesome on the battlefield.

"When good order and discipline falls apart, your effectiveness diminishes," Duignan said. "You take it a step further, and those are the kinds of things that lose wars."