Battleland

The Rest of the Story…

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Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach

This story blipped on the radar screen Friday. Funny how stories that some folks would rather not see the light of day end up seeing the light of Saturday’s poorly-read papers. The Pentagon inspector general issued a report saying the Marines fumbled rape allegations made by Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach in 2007 against Corporal Cesar Laurean at Camp Lejeune.

Reading stuff in the papers isn’t the same as reading the IG’s clinical language:

I have covered stories like this for more than 30 years. There are tons of rules and regulations barring such acts, but the military — like society — always has some bad actors. What I don’t understand is how the services can bumble such cases, time after time. They’re either incompetent, or overworked. And sometimes what slips through the cracks, as in this case, is even worse:

Glad they took the ATM fraud seriously.