FORT DRUM — Shock and outrage swept through upstate New York on Thursday after 47 soldiers from the 10th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) were arrested on assault charges during a unit-wide alcohol abuse prevention stand-down.
With the unit schedule to depart for Afghanistan soon, Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Rich Barry conducted the most important pre-deployment training soldiers can receive: Substance abuse and sexual assault prevention training.
"At first the soldiers seem to really be enjoying the briefing," said Marley Hammersmythe, a women's studies professor from University of California-Berkeley. "I was showing them various screen-shots of horrific DUI related deaths and injuries and every time I asked if they'd seen enough, the soldiers would demand to see more. I guess they were really serious about understanding my message."
"Then it all went crazy," the distraught woman added, still visibly shaken by the memory.
