July 1998
HIV, Sir!
Army's conduct unbecoming
When it comes to punishing PWAs, nobody is tougher than the U.S. military. A married soldier, slapped with a 15-year prison term for having unsafe sex and not informing partners of his HIV status, is the second seropositive Fort Benning, Georgia, soldier in less than a year to be charged with aggravated assault. “This guy set a record,” said Philadelphia lawyer David Webber, referring to Army Specialist Raymond Humphries’ guilty plea to bedding eight women without a condom; two later tested HIV positive. But slipping on a rubber wouldn’t have helped his case. “The military says using a condom isn’t a defense because they aren’t 100 percent reliable. You could wear one and still be prosecuted,” Webber said, adding, “The army engenders a false sense of security. If you’re sleeping with someone, you assume they don’t have HIV because they’re under an order to tell you.” And the Army’s always watching: Behavior is accountable off-base, at home and overseas.
