From Victim To Accused Army Deserter

Privately, she said, the sergeant had asked hours of questions about her life and previous relationships. Swift had grown up in a single-parent family, attended an alternative high school and been married briefly.

One night, as they stood near a Humvee at Camp Lima, he grabbed her and kissed her. "I didn't want to have sex with him," she said. "I didn't like him." But she said she feared retaliation if she refused. "I had a choice," she acknowledges, "but it wasn't much of a choice." She said that some nights, he would pound on her door, drunk and pressing her for sex.

When she ended the relationship after several months, she said, the sergeant was vindictive. She contends that he ordered her to do 4 a.m. workouts and to wear a wall clock around her neck and report every hour in full gear. In all, she said, she was written up at least a dozen times by the sergeant and by others whom she felt he encouraged.

One of her closest confidants was former Sgt. Zach Thompson, her team leader, who had heard about the clock punishment from other soldiers. He described Swift in an interview yesterday as positive and reliable.

"I couldn't have asked for a better soldier," he said. Unlike some new privates, Swift did not founder, he said. She was "really intelligent and would catch on really easily."

"She never told me she was being harassed or abused in any way while we were in Iraq," he said. Had he known, Thompson said, "I would have told her to make a formal complaint." He added: "She's never lied to me, so if she said something, I would have to believe it was true."

Another woman who was in Swift's unit, who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said that the same sergeant also propositioned her during her tour in Iraq. She said she had no doubt it had happened to Swift.

Although Swift did not file a complaint, she confided in her mother during phone calls. Her mother, Sara Rich, said she grew so concerned that she finally phoned her congressman, Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D).

A spokesman for DeFazio said the office's records reflect that Rich phoned in November 2004 to report sexual harassment of her daughter in Iraq and to request help. The office told Rich that it could not help unless Swift signed a privacy waiver.

Swift declined to sign, reminding her mother that she was still under the sergeant's command in Iraq.

Handling Situations Privately

Although Army officials said Swift's allegations "could not be substantiated" after a probe that included interviews with 23 soldiers, they said the investigation found that she had reported incidents about two individuals to a noncommissioned officer who said he would support her if she went forward.

When she declined to make formal charges, he "advised her on how to deal with the situation personally," which, the Army said, "ended what she believed to be inappropriate behavior by two individuals."