An Air Force technical sergeant pleaded guilty at a special court-martial Thursday at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to assaulting a 19-year-old female soldier after a Christmas Eve party.

A military judge sentenced Tech. Sgt. Kelvin Alexander to six months in jail, reduction of one pay grade and a $6,000 fine. Under a plea bargain, he will serve three months of his jail term.

Alexander, 34, said he was drunk when he roughed up the private first class at the Ramstein Inn at Ramstein Air Base in the early morning hours of Christmas last year.

The pair, both based in Stuttgart, Germany, considered each other close friends and had gone to the party near Ramstein. After the holiday get-together, the two got into a heated argument. As she tried to leave, he tried to stop her.

Alexander said he cornered her against a closet door and inadvertently wrapped her neck in a headlock to keep her from going. After some pushing and shoving between them, he put his hand over her mouth to muffle her screams. He pushed so hard that it caused her lip to bleed.

Alexander was serving as a noncommissioned officer in charge of information management at the European Command in Stuttgart at the time of the incident.

He has been in the Air Force 15 years.

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