A friend became black-out drunk and committed sex abuse against their spouse. Spouse did not report, except to discuss it with their family and friends. They have two children now, and no issues after friend sought marriage and alcohol counseling. Friend was never arrested or charged. Is this something that would be reportable to the agencies if disclosed on the SF-86.
Or is this a career path the friend has to give up on ever pursuing?
This one has a lot of moving parts.
As you reported, this is reportable because the Subject sought alcohol counseling (one of the ever questions).
The friend should report this under the Alcohol section if the incident was within the last 7 years because of the negative impact on… pick one, but the relationship word fits here well.
So far not an automatic disqualification.
As long as the has been some time passing (no set time frame but a couple years would help) and the friend has not been involved in additional alcohol misuse or criminal activity, the issues should be mitigated.
Omit the counseling and the investigation process discovers the counseling, and the issue rises to a much higher problem.
PSA: it is not always the arrest, charge, collections, etc that causes the issue concern but the behavior involved in the issue.
What if the friend voluntarily sought counseling? They were (as far as I know) never ordered, advised, or asked to do counseling.
The incident occurred a couple years ago. They are concerned that they may be reported (and prosecuted) for the sex abuse (in their state, it is rape) even if it falls outside the 7 year timeframe because the state they live in does not have a statute of limitations. Their spouse has no desire to bring charges as the friend has improved immensely.
If they decide to apply after the 7 year timeframe, do they simply say, yes to the voluntary question and not have to explain the reasoning for the counseling?
The next question after the one you asked about is “Have you EVER voluntarily sought counseling or treatment as a result a result of your use of alcohol?” And full details will be asked by the investigator.
What HR2C said… Alcohol counseling is reported.
@backgdinvestigator so how long should my friend wait. You said a couple years, so should he wait a couple more years?
It really depends on any other factors and past history. If this was an isolated incident, friend successfully completed the counseling (and the counselor agrees they successfully completed), there have been no other similar incidents previously, then three or more years is likely enough distance from the incident.