On March 3, documents from an FBI database show, Fort Knox officials asked federal prosecutors to troll the FBI's National Crime Information Center for any criminal history for Goodrum. On March 4, Fort Knox deputy staff judge advocate Brian Corneilson forwarded to Army prosecutors in Washington the results of that FBI search and noted his suspicion that Goodrum might be a drug dealer. "Results of NCIC check received by Fort Knox indicates an individual (with a different name) with the same height, weight, hair color, social security number, but not eye color, as Goodrum was sale and delivery of Schedule IV substance on 9, Feb. 2001 in Clinton TN," Corneilson wrote. Corneilson added that Clinton is "just outside of Knoxville," near Goodrum's home.

But a review of the FBI data pulled by Corneilson shows that the individual in question had not only a different eye color but also a different Social Security number and birth date. And Goodrum's service records indicate that a conviction for drug dealing in February 2001 was unlikely, since the Army's intelligence wing at Fort Meade in Maryland had granted Goodrum access to secret information through August 2002.

When told that the background check had identified the wrong man, Fort Knox spokeswoman Shaffery said, "Isn't that interesting?" She said Corneilson is no longer at Fort Knox and she doesn't know how to find him.

Goodrum's superiors did come up with one allegation that stuck -- fraternization. This allegation came from Fisher, Goodrum's superior officer in Iraq. But there are several peculiar things about the fraternization case against Goodrum, including a possibly forged document and testimony that the Army itself admitted was "tainted."

Military policy says a soldier should be "counseled" by a superior officer before the soldier faces serious punishment, after which a written "counseling statement" is to be placed in his or her record. Goodrum says Fisher never counseled him about the alleged fraternization -- but that a counseling statement nevertheless showed up in his record when the Army threw the book at him. Goodrum claims it was manufactured.

"Lt. Goodrum needs to explain what he was doing last night, where he was, and with whom," the statement, dated April 5, 2003, reads. It says that the female sergeant allegedly involved was suspiciously missing from her bunk one night at Camp Atterbury when Goodrum had gone missing too. "It is only suspect [sic] that these two, the platoon leader and sergeant, might be having an affair."

Both commanders and soldiers are supposed to sign counseling statements to authenticate them. The Army prosecutors' packet of information against Goodrum includes, behind the counseling statement, a separate authentication page that Goodrum and Fisher were supposed to sign to show that Goodrum had been counseled. But Goodrum's signature is dated March 18, 2003, three weeks before he would have received the counseling. It looks like an exact copy of a signature from an unrelated document Goodrum signed on March 18, 2003.

Goodrum's case file contains a dozen statements from soldiers from the 212th about the alleged fraternization between Goodrum and the female sergeant. Some believed their relationship may have been inappropriate; others did not.

Three soldiers allege having seeing Goodrum and the sergeant kiss. A military investigating officer later determined that two of those soldiers may have been engaged in an affair themselves and that Fisher may have threatened to prosecute them in an effort to get their statements against Goodrum. "The statements ... may have obtained by coercion, using the threat of charges of adultery between these two soldiers as leverage for them to make statements against Lt. Goodrum," the officer said, adding that the evidence "should be considered tainted."

One officer stated in writing that he was present when Fisher used the threat of divulging the affair. He said Fisher had it in for Goodrum. "On several occasions Capt. Fisher stated that he hated Lt. Goodrum and wished he could get him," said Lt. Jason Eisele from the 212th Transportation Company.

The third witness who said he saw Goodrum kissing his platoon sergeant said another soldier pointed it out. But in a written statement, that soldier said that it was not true.

The sergeant allegedly involved with Goodrum was never called by the Army to testify. In a written statement taken from Iraq, she denied a romantic relationship: "My relationship with Lt. Goodrum has been nothing but professional at all times," she wrote.

As for Goodrum, he said he only learned of the charges on June 16, 2004 -- the day he was charged with being AWOL. "The first time I hear of that was when they charged me. I knew the potential AWOL thing was going to pop, but I had that all covered by the reg. [Army regulations that show he should not have been considered AWOL]. I was in shock."

After months of legal wrangling, on April 1, 2005, Maj. Gen. Galen Jackman at the Army's Military District of Washington finally released a decision in Goodrum's case. A few weeks before, the gray-haired Jackman considered the fraternization case while sitting at his desk in a cramped, hot office at tiny Fort McNair in southwest Washington. Goodrum stood for three hours, his perspiration finally soaking through the jacket of his dress uniform.

Jackman, who gained fame when he appeared giving his arm to Nancy Reagan during her husband's funeral in Washington, found Goodrum innocent of the AWOL charge. He found Goodrum guilty of fraternization with the sergeant, but only of the lesser violation of presenting an inappropriate image, not of having sexual relations with her. In his written decision, Jackman does not explain the basis for finding Goodrum guilty.

Goodrum vows to keep trying to prove his innocence. "I'll fight until justice is delivered," Goodrum said. "I tell people: Try to settle your problems quietly and tactfully through the Army. But if you are going to fight, really, really be ready to fight until the end."

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