By Meghan Frank, Jamie Farnsworth, Sabrina Esposito and Jessica Hopper
Rock Center
From the time she was a little girl, Claire Russo knew she wanted to be a Marine.
“When I was 10 and when I was 18 and when I was 23, the reason never changed. They were the toughest,” said Russo in an interview with Natalie Morales broadcast Thursday on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.
The native of Washington, D.C., stuck to her dream, graduating No. 4 in her class from officer candidate school in 2003. Her father, Ken Wilkinsen, watched her commissioning with pride.
“This colonel came up,” Wilkinsen recalled. “He said, ‘If we had more of her type here... my job would be a lot easier.’”
Russo began what she thought would be a long career in the military, but her work as an intelligence officer was upended when she was sexually assaulted by a fellow Marine in November 2004.
“I love this country,” said the 32-year-old Russo. “But, you know, there’s a wound that will never heal. I gave the Marine Corps everything and it took from me something that I’m never going to get back.”
Russo is one of the thousands of members of the Armed Forces who have been sexually assaulted while serving their country. Last year, 3,192 service members across all branches of the military reported sexual assaults. Based on anonymous surveys of active-duty service members conducted in 2010, the Department of Defense says the number of incidents was closer to 19,000. Of the cases that are reported, only a fraction are prosecuted in the military justice system.
Attorney Susan Burke has filed several lawsuits against the top brass at the Department of Defense on behalf of sexual assault victims, charging they’ve been deprived of their due process.
“What all of us expect as Americans is an impartial system of justice. We don’t know the judge. We don’t know the jurors,” Burke said. “That’s not what is happening in the military. In the military, the commanders get to decide based on their own impressions of the two people coming forward who to believe. ”
Courtesy of Claire Russo
Claire Russo
Russo’s case was shut down by the Marine Corps, but since her assault happened off base, she was able to seek justice in the civilian court system. Recalling the November 2004 night she was assaulted is still upsetting to Russo. She attended the Marine Corps Ball at a San Diego, Calif., hotel with her cousin, Tom, a Navy F-18 aviator. Tom introduced her to a fellow marine, Doug Dowson. Dowson bought her a drink and said he’d take her to a room party.
Russo said that after accepting the drink from Dowson, things started “to get a little hazy.” Russo said that she felt like she’d been drugged. A drug test taken over 24 hours after the assault was inconclusive.
“The next thing I remember is being on the ground in the bathroom. He was holding me down and sodomizing me and at that point, I was just crying and begging him to stop,” said Russo through tears.
The day after the assault, she told her cousin. He reported it to his command and was ordered to take Russo to the naval hospital for a rape exam. As Russo was about to undergo the exam, her cousin received a phone call from the military criminal investigator assigned to the case, NCIS Special Agent Zach Paton.
“I told him to leave and come to me,” Paton said. Though Paton was the naval criminal investigator assigned to Russo’s case, he didn’t trust the military to handle it well. “The Naval Medical Center, they didn’t have appropriate personnel, training and material for doing rape kits," he said.
Paton took Russo to a civilian hospital for a sexual assault exam, waiting outside the hospital room as Russo was examined.
“You could hear her crying out in pain,” Paton recalled.
Since the assault had taken place off base, Paton could run a joint investigation with the local police. This proved pivotal in Russo’s pursuit of justice because although Paton would present the military with forensic evidence, testimony and photos, the Marine Corps ultimately decided not to charge Russo’s accused rapist.
“As the investigation progressed, as the command briefings and evidence and investigative reports were presented to the command of the accused, it was very apparent that they were going to take no action,” Paton said.
Paton broke the news to Russo, but neither of them was prepared to give up.
“Fortunately it was a joint investigation with the police department. So we explored that avenue of letting the D.A.’s office take a look at it,” Paton said.
The San Diego district attorney’s office wanted to prosecute, but Russo said she felt pressure from her command not to work with civilian authorities.
“They did say, you know, ‘This is a bad idea,’” Russo said. “Once this case goes to the district attorney’s office, Claire, we can’t help you. You know, we can’t protect you.”
“It felt as though there was a desire to sort of intimidate both me and the district attorney out of actually prosecuting this case,” Russo said.
Russo said the Marines also ignored her pleas for a transfer which meant that she had to endure an on base encounter with the man she knew had raped her.
“I broke down physically, emotionally and I actually like, I urinated on myself,” said Russo of one encounter with Dowson. “I was terrified.”
The district attorney obtained a search warrant for Dowson’s house. There, Paton said he and the police found hidden cameras and hundreds of hours of video of Dowson having sex with seemingly incapacitated women. Paton also discovered that just seven months prior to Russo’s assault, a female aviator had a similar incident with Dowson. She told her command but said she felt pressure not to file a formal report.
Prosecutors charged Dowson with raping Russo. He pleaded guilty to sodomy before his civilian trial began and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was released after serving 18 months.
Courtesy of Darchelle Mitchell
Darchelle Mitchell
When asked if her case is an exception within the military, Russo said, “The only thing that makes my story extraordinary is that I got justice.”
Rock Center interviewed several women who claim they were raped by fellow military members. Unlike Russo, many of them never received justice. Some didn’t report their assaults because they feared it would destroy their careers.
In Darchelle Mitchell’s case, the petty officer she says raped her was acquitted and her Navy career suffered. When Mitchell tried to re-enlist as active duty in the Navy her request was denied. She has since joined the Navy reserves.
“I knew joining the military was going to be a sacrifice. This wasn’t the intended sacrifice that I was willing to make,” she said.
Former Air Force Sgt. Laura Sellinger said that she attempted suicide after her command announced to her squadron that she had been raped while at a training exercise in South Korea.
“Everybody knew at work,” Sellinger said. “And they’re calling me all kinds of things and I’m sitting here and I just went to Iraq and through hell and now I’m dealing with this, ‘I’m a slut, I’m a whore. I deserved it,’ and all this kind of stuff. I give up. I absolutely give up. I’ve never been so hollow.”
Courtesy of Laura Sellinger
Laura Sellinger
Another veteran told Rock Center she was threatened with adultery charges from her commander after she pushed for her rapists to be prosecuted. Victims say this culture of blaming them and not punishing their rapists leads to more assaults.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the military is trying to do a better job of prosecuting these crimes.
“I think we owe all of those who’ve been impacted not just an apology, but we owe them the effort to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Panetta said.
Since taking over as secretary of defense in 2011, Panetta said that tackling the issue has been a top priority.
“It’s an outrage that we aren’t prosecuting the people involved here,” Panetta said.
Panetta pointed to a number of changes including moving victims away from their assailants, new special victims units and pushing reporting higher up the chain of command. Still, he admitted that for decades this has been a problem the military has been sweeping under the rug.
“We need to improve the investigations. We need to make sure we have these special victims units that do the investigations and we need to ensure that we have prosecutors who are willing to bring these cases to court and make sure that these people don’t get away,” Panetta said.
Editor’s Note: Natalie Morales’ full report aired Thursday, Sept. 27 on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.
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As a Marine Corps officer in the Viet Nam times, I never had an in-service rape reported and I think I was accessible enough that problems were reported without fear. It was, however, a continuing problem when military men encountered civilians, especially foreign civilians. Some of it is testosterone; military men have been raping with impunity for a few thousand years now. The main problem is Penn State syndrome. The command just wants the complaint to go away on their watch, and it usually does. Its not even devotion to their unit or branch of service, its their chicken@!$%# little careers they're worried about.
These types of cases and the disgusting lack of support shown by senior officers seems to be always the same. Senior officers should be held accountable and if judged guilty of obstruction should suffer the consequences. Demotion, loss of pay and dishonorable discharge should all be on the table for these confederates and accomplices after the fact. On these types of issues, the investigation needs to start from the TOP down. We pay the salary for these animals and they should be purged or put down. Truly a disappointing and disgusting story. When will this stop?
Anyone 18 or over in the military is a man or woman; no boys and girls. Anywhere in our society, if someone, man or woman, complains of rape, it needs to be investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted with expediency as rape can be most fairly addressed when the evidence is fresh. Rape kits should be readily available and used in all cases. Rape is a serious crime and , unlike the back pocket pollsters above, most complaints of rape do have merit. The person who claims that he can provide an innocent person for anyone who does rape must either know a lot of rapists or cheats.
I was sent to a Offers office for an exit exam when I left my base to come back to the USA, and instead of giving me an exam he pretty much just felt me up.
We just had a general in the 82nd Airborne charged with multiple counts of rape. If the goddamn generals are doing it, how can anybody expect justice?
Exactly!
Just a few years ago there was a "commander"-in-chief who was diddling one of his subordinates, wasn't there? The power of position.
Of course you are referring to Clinton and Lewinsky. The difference is that she was a willing participant. Not the same as rape.
It sounds like a case out of the Middle East not here in our country!!!!!
I'm with Leon Panetta on this.
What some people seem to miss is that this is a problem of both sex and power. It happens among enlisted, but most often is perpetrated by men in superior rank against women of lower rank. It is good that military personnel are posting here to confirm this problem. I know a case of a Naval officer who raped the wife of his subordinate and then threatened the subordinate if he should report or seek prosecution. The peers of the Officer covered for him, knowing he was guilty.
Only when reporting is taken out of the direct chain of command, when local police are given the right to concurrently investigate and to demand all evidence, AND higher officers are punished for NOT fully investigating and prosecuting these crimes will anything change. Trying to cover up a rape or assault must be made TOXIC to career advancement.
Well, with the Retaliban Party philosophy being that they own women's bodies, not surprising that women are not safe in the military. I cite scum like Rush Limbaugh, a pedophile and member of the International Pedophile Watch List in the Dominican Republic, whose abuse of females over media sources give fuel to these criminals to commit crimes. Why is there so much rape? Obviously, they believe they can get away with it. This say's quite a bit about how these men will treat women in other countries when they show less than human regard for the women of their own countries. I certainly would want to know if my son, husband, father committed crimes against females. These need to be publicly broadcasted as they return these rapists and murderers to their communities like releasing a predator amongst the sheep. Women, get out and vote for other women. With a 22% representation in government for a majority population that is female, this type of behavior will continue as the 'good ol' boys' proceed, unmolested, to rape, pillage and plunder not only globally, but in this country as well. Who is our biggest threat ladies? Who are the women and children being protected from? In fact, who is the most dangerous predator on this earth? Human Men!
Please refrain from a labeling everyone I happen to be a man. I know the difference between being a real man and an animal. I use my head and my heart to think & do what is right, not my package.
Should women be in the military?
Don't take my head off, please. I'm just asking.
My opinion yes I have worked with some great women in my career who served with distinction equal to their male counterparts.
I am thoroughly in favor of women in the service, with certain exceptions. I still think infantry and artillery should be excluded. The sheer strength and endurance required in the grunts and in the cannon cockers, may be beyond most women. With that being said, Women should be trained in defensive roles and to handle most weapons available to an infantryman. And, that includes operating .50 caliber machine guns on a defensive perimeter or armored vehicles.
Tanks and aviation should be fully open to women.
I've had the privilege of working for/with some excellent women officers, and I've had women subordinates who were outstanding troops. I, like my contemporaries still have problems thinking about someone's mother, sister or wife, coming home in a body bag. That's my problem.
As for women becoming victims of sexual predators within the military, it should not be tolerated. But, what happens in the military is a reflection of a larger problem in the civilian sector. And, a woman who cries rape in the civilian sector is just as likely to be treated like a criminal rather than the victim.
Nonetheless, anything less than a court martial and imprisonment for sexual assaults, should not even be considered.
Semper Fi, Da Gunny
My thanks to both of you for your opinions. They've opened my mind about this.
I didn't think the Catholic Church and our US military institutions would share something so rotten right in their midst - predators acting with impunity and protected by their superiors at the repeated expense of the victims.
It is a Shame that must be exorcised deliberately, vigorously, systemically and urgently.
Well boys will be boys after all.
And in a war zone rape has always been a fact, even if not admitted.
Perhaps some hookers could be provided so the guys wouldn't have to resort to thier fellow soldiers.
That is an rabid animal being an rabid animal and should be treated as such, shot point blank. Real men don't act or conduct themselves that way
Give them hell TJ!
There is a segment of women in the military that make it harder on the victims. In reported cases I've seen more false accusations than true. Cases where servicemembers either A: used accusations as a method of revenge or B: made false accusations after being caught in compromising positions. Now I don't believe these are a majority of all sexual assault reports, just as sexual assaults in general aren't as prevalent in the military as this article makes it seem (crunch th enumbers). But this creates an ingrain skepticism when such cases are brought forward. Also it is much harder to get a conviction with a heavy sentence at Court martial than it is for civilian court so if the initial case in this article went to court martial the guy probably would've got off. I've seen guys get caught red handed with drug use and other offenses and get off at court martials. I've seen a lot of UCMJ violations just not get prosecuted because a commander felt that the defendant would just get off and it would be waste of the unit's time.
In alignment with the article, most actual cases of sexual assaults I've heard of in the military never get reported. Far more than the false ones I referenced. There is even something called restricted reporting where a victim can get medical help and counseling through the Uniformed Victim Advocate but not report the assault to the MPs or their command. Then there are the women who put themselves in compromising positions. You should never blame the victim, but peopel need to do better. This person slept consecutively with 5 guys, but didn't want to sleep with the sixth, and was thus raped. She never came forward due to the circumstances of her rape.
I feel the media is making this out to be a bigger issue in scope in the military than it really is. I still believe sexual assault is much worse on your typical college campus than the military, and you are basically dealing with college age people for the most part, still more can and should be done in relation to this issue
While this is happening in the military and is highlighted right now...it is commonplace
outside of the military. The good ol boys club is very real in other working
environments. Rape, sexual harassment, bullying, etc is too real in today's
working atmosphere. It really is a shameful reality.
& that is highly unfortunate proper upbringing, training and teaching of respect at the home is where it starts. This is my opinion
Not a surprise to me.
Women don't belong in the military. Period. We make great nurses in the military but putting us in comba situations or on submarines is not the way to go. I'm sorry she got raped but the military is no place for a woman. Just my opinion
I ounce thought the same way a long time ago until I served with some truly outstanding women. Great at there job & dedicated to their country.
Doesn't matter if it's male or female that is killed in combat because either way it is still a tragic loss of life, however it is an occupational hazard those who chose to serve accept.
This behavior is typical of alpha male personalities. The solution is simply to separate the sexes and disallow homosexuals from serving in the military.
Wait, we had that before and it worked. That is until, liberal morons forced men and women to serve together with homosexuals.
The men and women who were raped know whose polices are responsible for this problem - Liberals and Democrats! That is why the Obama Administration is doing everything they can to suppress military servicemen from voting in 2012.
Ol_Doc I don't think you would be so flip about this gritty business if it was your wife or your daughter that was as the receiving end of this mess. It is an outrage that women that have made the same commitment to server their country are not accorded the same rights and protects as their male counterparts. This is a national disgrace and there is nothing funny about it so lowbrow scum like you should save their potty humor for the like of other bottom feeders and spare the rest of us the filth that comes out of your mouth. She was treated in a less than favorable manner and should go after the USMC until they are willing to make it right.
finally you remind me of the guy that tells the off colored joke in a bar in the presents of someone wife or girlfriend then proceeds to have his ass beaten like a rented mule but after it is all over does not understand why it happened in the first place. Get a life and think before you say something else that proves to the rest of us just how really stupid you are.
What you said is what I would expect from a typical liberal. However, the truth is, traditionalism works whenever and where ever it is tried.
But morons like you hate Judea-Christian values. And so you attack and try to undermine those values; only to have situations like this blow up in your face. When that happens, rather than concede, you double down on your stupidity - that is why you're a moron.
Finally, I've been in my fair share of fist fights with liberals. In every case, I have found them to be cowards and perverts. If I were in a bar with you and five of your friends, I would break your ribs and put my fist through your face. And you would be the dumbass wondering what happened.
Why is it that the rapist only got 18 mos in jail? Another reason not to like Liberals and their overly forgiving laws, judges.
THE US MILITARY ENLISTED CORPS. Is beyond broken. It is FIlled with Murders and rapeists. THEIR IS NO LAW. DUMBASS civilians get it threw your think skull your Military will kill you. THEIR IS NO LAW IN THE MILITARY. FIX IT NOW. OR DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After their is nothing left to kill in Afgan. THier going to kill you. It is the LACK of Leadership At the very top the got the military in this place. Also the act of HIREING FELONS. FELONS HAVE NO PLACE IN THE MILITARY. period.
IF YOU LIKE DRUGS, RAPEING MEN AND WOMEN. MURDERING THOSE 'NICE' KIDS GANGS JOIN THE MILITARY TODAY!!!!!!!! WE HAVE ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD IT IS 1 BIG PARTY. JOIN THE MILITARY TODAY!!!!
Untrue the law in the military is the UCMJ which is quite strict, further military members are subject to both civil and military law. Whatever you are smoking or on take some advice and go to rehab.
Trantham:
You are one delusional dude. The majority of the military personnel, have to undergo strict screening before they qualify to enlist. Further, they represent some of the finest virtues in our country.
They, at least, are willing to put themselves in harm's way for this country. What have you done besides sit on your fat apathy and bad mouth things you know nothing about. However, there are a lot of folks out there like you, that get orgasmic out of provoking people over the internet and say outrageous things, about which you know nothing.
Go back to your Wii or something and get a life.
Semper Fi, Da Gunny
so the finest people you can find Are RAPISTS!!!!!!!! LoL their are prisons FULL OF PEOPLE Willing to kill anybody. The enlisted corp is no diffirent YOU are delusional!!!!! YOU THINK THE MILITARY CAN KEEP STEALING OUR TAX MONEY AND THIS COUNTRY WILL BE SAFE. YOUR OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND!!!!!!
Gunny-1408964
I know Military members are GODS and can never do anything WRONG !!!!! ROTFLAYF
As a young soldier I was assigned to a counter Intelligence unit. My supervisor was a well respected and accomplished senior NCO ( Non Commissioned Officer). He was 37, married and had two beautiful daughters. He began making subtle remarks about my physical appearance and how I probably had a lot of dates. Then he started making "surprise visits to my barracks at odd times to "inspect them". One afternoon I was invited to a party at friend's home off post. The party was going well until this guy showed up. He was drunk and became very aggressive towards me. My friends were becoming very uncomfortable with his presence. They knew the story of him harassing me as some worked in the same office. Without warning he jumped on me and was able to get my arm behind me and pinned me to the couch. He then began dry-humping me and laughing saying he was gonna f-me real-good and hard. My friends were able to pull him off and physically ejected from the party. We all went to the commander that Monday and each one described the story. I was reassigned to the motor pool. He was reassigned to a unit just down from the one we were in. No charges unbelievable. My friends couldn't believe it either. I got orders for Italy 3 mo. later. Don't think this dosen't happen. And people need to take this seriuosly. Oh, by the way I was a 19 year old male.
i am tried of the crime in the dod. it is wrong
We talk about the radical Islamists and their abuse of women. In at least one case, they, like our own military, charged a woman with adultery after she was raped. How is this so different from them?
As the married mother of three daughters, I dare the military to put me in the middle of those male officers in charge. I am not intimidated by any male I encounter. There are many women/mothers I know who would say the same darn thing. The military has become a disgrace on many levels....there biggest problem is "PC" sickness.
How does one prevent this?
Separate men and women in the military. The Marine Corps does at Parris Island boot training. We have no boot camp rapes. It seems like I run across an Army or Air Force boot camp sexual assault once a month.
When women go around men in line units they risk this kind of behavior. Single men in barracks don't grow to plaster saints.
Can this nation not field a slimmed-down military with men alone?
Semper Fi
Sorry ladies, if you want to be a tough marine, you have to defend yourself and not go crying to the superiors for help. Otherwise, you may not have the right stuff.
So, what should we do with the Marines who commit the rapes? Set them loose on foreign civilian populations to make sure other countries really have a reason to hate the US. Or leave them in a US base? Not everyone on base is a tough Marine. Should Marines get free license to rape female civilian employees, or the wives and daughters living on base? Marines are trained to run in when everyone else is running away. You don't train someone to fight like that unless you also train them to always do what is right and reporting a crime is what is right. When a rapist gets away with it once you better believe there will be another victim.