About two weeks later, Bill went to the local bar to hang out with his friend. Everything was fine until a group of guys who had been harassing Bill earlier came into the bar. After several beers, the group became quite rowdy. As a joke, some of the guys told a soldier whom we will call Tom, that Bill had a crush on him. Then the drunken group started to harass Tom unmercifully about being gay and that is when things really started to get out of hand. Tom was feeling extremely strong animosity about the gay jokes and started throwing punches at Bill. The group was egging Tom and Bill to fight, calling both of them "fags" which aggravated Tom even more. Tom began to pummel Bill and soon soldier after soldier pitched in on the assault against Bill. Bill had no chance against the group and he was badly injured by the time the fighting had been stopped by the bouncers. Bill was rushed to the hospital where he died several hours later from severe contusions of the head and body.
Obviously, the Army had some major problems. They needed to resolve this dispute in a timely manner so that the situation did not get even more out of hand. The first thing the Army did was to punish the parties involved. Tom was charged with murder and the some of the soldiers in the group were charged with assault. Everyone involved was stripped of his rank. The captain that did nothing was stripped of his rank and was discharged dishonorably as an entry level private. Bill's family sued the Army for negligence and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. The Army realized that they needed to reinvent their policies regarding handling disputes and homosexuality.
