Army Special Forces Sniper’s wife says she’s being abused, military covering it up

The wife of an Army Special Forces soldier has come forward to allege that she has been the victim of abuse for years.

The military spouse has chosen to remain anonymous but says she is hiding from her husband in a shelter in Arizona.  She claims her husband is a highly-trained sniper with the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

“My story is not unique. Other people are living the same life, and frozen in fear,” said the woman, who is being referred to as”Kimberly” by CBS5, in an effort to protect her identity.

Military officials at Eglin found evidence to suggest the sniper had abused Kimberly and their three young children but no actions were taken against him. Kimberly says the military did authorize “orders of protection,” which was not enough in her mind.

She says she came forward after the mass shooting in Texas because she believes the gunman reminded her of her husband. She thinks the military should have taken away his weapons and/or court-martialed him.

“In some cases, I was left unconscious. [Strangulation] was his abuse of choice. I used to stop using my energy to fight back, and tried to conserve as much energy and as many breaths as I could,” she said.

Kimberly says she finally made the decision to leave after her husband killed the family dog in front of her. She says she left him with the help of military family advocates while he was on a sniper training deployment.

The Chief Operating Officer at the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, Jessye Johnson, looked into Kimberly’s case and determined she and her children were in serious danger.

“There are markers, in this case, to make me concerned for her life and the lives of her children,” said Johnson to CBS5. “[The Army] is unintentionally creating a huge safety risk. They have soldiers who are snipers, highly skilled, and have a documented pattern of physically and emotionally abusive behavior.”

Kimberly feels the Army is overlooking the abuse because her husband is a highly skilled asset to the Army, which has invested a lot of time and money into his training.

CBS5 claims their requests for an explanation from the Army, this month, were either ignored or passed around the Army public affairs offices.

“I had the obligation as a U.S. citizen to do this [speak],” Kimberly said.