Drill Sergeants Kept Sex List, Witnesses Say Consensual Sex Was Just Part Of ‘The Game,’ Victim Says

Some Army drill sergeants at Aberdeen Proving Ground kept lists of female trainees they had sex with, passed the names among themselves and, in one case, allegedly used the information to blackmail a woman, according to court testimony, Army officials and court documents.

Drill sergeants and trainees referred to the practice as “the game” and described women willing to have sex as being “locked in real tight,” according to a sworn statement of a witness and to an Army official who asked not to be identified.

Although “the game” appears to have involved consensual sex between drill instructors and trainees, which violates Army regulations, testimony Monday in the trial of one drill sergeant suggested it was used to coerce and silence female trainees.

A 21-year-old private who testified Monday in the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson, accused of raping her in 1995 while she was a trainee at the Maryland post, said she did not report the alleged rape because she did not want anyone to know. Crying on the witness stand, she said, “I was ashamed. … I didn’t want to be on his list either.”

Asked by an Army prosecutor what she meant by “his list,” the private said, “That’s what we heard when we got there. That he and drill sergeant (Tony) Cross had a thing going to see who could get more women.”

Simpson is accused of 19 counts of rape and 39 other sexual offenses. Cross, 33, was charged Friday with 13 counts of violating a ban on relationships between instructors and trainees, one count of sodomy and three counts of adultery.

Monday, another former trainee, 22, accused Simpson of raping her after he found out that she was having a consensual relationship with Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Moffett, 30, also a drill sergeant.

The woman testified she was introduced to Simpson by Cross.

She said Monday that Simpson told her one evening in his office that he knew about her relationship with Moffett. She said she tried to deny it but that when she did, Simpson tried to kiss her. Then, the soldier said, Simpson raped her in his office.

“He said that if I told anyone, that they wouldn’t believe me because of the fact that he knew about drill sergeant Moffett,” she said.