On Christmas Day two years ago, Sgt. Carlos Renteria, recently back from his first tour in Iraq, got drunk and, during an argument, began to choke his wife, Adriana. He body-slammed her. He threw her onto the couch, grabbed a cushion and smothered her, again and again, she told the police in San Angelo, Texas.
He was arrested and charged with assault, and she went to the hospital for her injuries. It was his second domestic violence arrest. Assured by an Army officer that the military would pursue the case, the Texas prosecutor bowed out.
Yet Renteria has faced no consequences. Instead, he has been redeployed to Iraq and promoted to staff sergeant.
"I was told ... that [the Army] would help me," said Adriana Renteria, 30. "And I believed them."
The couple divorced last month. But they have two young sons, and she worries that his behavior, left unchecked after his second tour, will worsen. She has secured a restraining order.
Adriana Renteria's story illustrates the serious gaps in the way the Army handles domestic violence and its victims.
The Army's handling of such cases is especially important in a time of war, when the number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder escalates. Advocates of victims of domestic violence say that among combat troops the violence has spiked in the past two years and that women are often disinclined to report violence for fear of angering their partners and hurting their partners' careers.
These advocates point to the gruesome murders of three female soldiers based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina within the last four months. One woman's body was dismembered and dumped in the woods. Another, seven months pregnant, was found in a motel bathtub. The third was stabbed to death.
