Staff Sgt. Randall S. Hughes got off with a slap on the wrist after he raped the wife of a young soldier under his charge during a Super Bowl party in 2017.
It wasn’t the first time Hughes raped someone, according to charge sheets, and it wouldn’t be the last.
The victim, Leah Ramirez, reported the rape to Army CID the next day. It happened after a party held at Ramirez’s home near Fort Bliss, Texas. Ramirez’s husband was passed out drunk after Hughes had egged him on to continue taking shots of whiskey throughout the evening.
Ramirez put her husband to bed, the party ended and everyone else left. Ramirez was outside alone with Hughes when he propositioned her for sex. She said no, so Hughes grabbed her, forced himself upon her against a grill and later dragged her by the hair into her home where he raped her, she said.
. . .
“I was told CID had enough evidence to believe it happened, and Fort Bliss still didn’t do anything,” she said. “They just told me the command said this is what it was — this is how it is.”
The Army would later learn that Hughes was a serial rapist. A few months after Ramirez reported her rape, Hughes did the same thing to another woman at Fort Bliss, according to court documents.
Remember when Fort Bliss was a training post and not a combat post? El Paso was so peaceful then. Now it seems like there’s some violent crime reported every week.
Blaming Bliss for human issues is not right. Ft. Bliss is a small city and you can expect the same crime you get in any city. Ft. Bliss did not make him rape anyone, but the system did allow his behavior. Whoever decided he should not be punished when it was first reported should be held accountable. Too often in our society those in charge get rewarded for poor performance, and that needs to change.