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.
Additional Resources:
Leave a Comment:
Where the hell is the Marine principle of " never leave a man behind"?The Marines have a proud and well earned tradition of unit cohesion.These crimes shame that tradition. Some proud Marine should step up and administer some Barracks Justice.
"God Bless Our Troops"
"God Bless The Peacemakers", and truth and justice.
So much for the big, bad marines. Those rapist should be sitting in Leavenworth, along with their commanding officers right up to the SecDef.
some people get so butthurt..........*waits for it*
This is the military's good old boy, boys will be boys system. It is disgusting to say the least. Woman bring talent, expertise and precison to the table in so many ways. The services need to come down on this type of behavior in the most severe fashion and let those violated be assured to the maximum that there careers will not be impacted or evaluated by those who use the system and their rank to get away with such acts.
But you are not to be personally violated either, male or female! The recruiters are trying to make quota. How about doing a better job of screening these individuals before enlistment? I was very fortunate. I put up with allot of crap but never had this experience in the 24 years I served. When I was in, the barracks were segregated. All the women in one barracks, not close to the guys both in BT, tech school and PCS. Then they co-mingled the living environments. Bad idea! Also TI's/DI's should only serve one 4 year tour. That is a lot of pressure. Assign a female and male TI to each flight. And our senior enlisted and officers should set a better example. Talk about fooling around! Not all but enough that I'm sharing this comment. Your out in the field, doing your job. You should be able to find some comfort back on base. It is shameful that some SNCO's and Officers will not seek justice for the victims. Those that don't are lazy, chauvinistic and should not be in positions of authority. Sorry folks, this is not the Good Old White Boy Club anymore! I've been dying to say that for years.
Sure isnt i guess thats why it doesnt function anymore without lawyers, civilian courts, newspaper coverage, psychiatrists, counselors, rape kits, diversity classes, guys taking showers with their shorts on because of gays looking at them, relaxed standards so weak women can pass the physical, etc. etc.
Problem is, most male commanders have problems addressing sexual issues in the military and it comes from the top down. I've seen some female officers who were hell on wheels at any hint of hetero or gay abuses.
But, male commanders seem to get the heebie jeebies. And, I think this comes all the way from our top commanders on down. And, many medium grade commanders are afraid if a sexual offense gets prosecuted and publicized on his watch, it will hurt his career. And, he may be right.
S/F, Da Gunny
Hello and Semper Fi, You must have joined at just about the same time I did since our numbers are really close together. Mine is 14--360 joined in July of 1953 and retired January of 1973.
Our religious leaders molesting kids and swept under the rug. Our fine service women raped and assaulted and swept under the rug. For years, our brave soldiers who were gay had to stay in the closet or face serious repurcussions and no one cared. It is TIME for America to grow up. And while we are at, let's legalize, and tax, and control drugs and prostitution. As great as this country is, sweeping these serious issues under the rug and pretending making some things illegal will make them go away, are keeping us from being better. The right wing attack is slowly fading into the sunset, and it is time for progressive, forward thinking. The republicans want to take us back to 1950. The democrats are afraid to say anything that will make them look unamerican and ungod like. Our religious leaders want an Isalmic version of America, religious law replacing civil law. Time to vote in new parties, with new people, with new ideas. Take us to the future, not the past. Don't tell us if we were moral instead of immoral, things will be better. It's more like be submissive and downtrodden and then come to us for help or forgiveness. Forget it. As said in a great song, "I don't need to fight to prove I'm right...I don't need to be forgiven.."
Toxic mess. First you have military men who go on deployments and spend unusual amounts of time isolated with no access to women or their wives. Secondly you have young pretty women who are usually in good shape and u know they look awfully enticing to the men. If the women weren't there their would be no assaults. Their would be no problems. Men would just concentrate on doing their duties until they get back home from deployments. I feel for these women but the people coming back with missing limbs and shrapnel in their body not to mention not coming back at all because they are dead are the fighting men of this country. They are the ones who got screwed. The women weep over their bad night but they live on. Which would u rather be?
Wow, that's the most assanine thing I have heard in a long time! Women just cry it out? Are you *** kidding? You have no idea what rape is like and you think it's just something they should just deal with and get over? No wonder there is hardly any justice for these victims with mindsets like yours in charge! Rape is about violence, control and dominance. Do you really think men who have these issues only have them while serving in the military? No, they likely have had these types of behaviors before and will have them after the military. And, there has always been male rape in the military too (yes by straight soldiers as it's about violence, not sexuality), so the problem would not magically go away if there weren't women in the service. Additionally, how do you expect to keep these men away from all women they might ever have to work with, live by, go to school with, or date? Answer: you're not! So no women are safe if this is their (and your) mindset!
if this would happen to someone i know, they would be Missing for ever
They need to monitor and discipline the commanders overseeing the military for looking the other way. If you have to throw them out, then do it, time to show some brass balls instead of preying on the weak and conducting business as usual.
Not supposed to have weaklings in the military in the first place. Im so sorry to tell u this but truly strong women dont get raped. They dont put themselves in a position of ceding control to a man unless they are either weak or a little bit willing. Sorry we need fighters not whiners and victims. Too much of that in our regular society as it is.
Didn't you read the part about the first victim being drugged and the videos they found the rapist had of raping other unconscious women? And, how is any woman going to defend herself against a guy weighing at least twice her body weight? You are definitely giving the impression that you are sympathetic to rapists and think women really want it, shouldn't dress a certain way, etc. Where is this personal responsibility men are supposed to have over their own actions?
Too many women in the Armed Forces now! They cause more trouble than there
worth! The expense of keeping all these women is enormous!
A culture of forcing female/male to have "relationship," a religious practice, e.g. "atonement," of forcing female.male to have adulterous behaviors, or a corporate requirement of forcing employees, either female or male, to have extra-marital affairs that has destroyed the decent human being.
Recruit more females, at least 30% up, with extra benefit . . . to military.
It is a crime the criminal be punish
Has anything changed?
Things aren't much different today than when I served in the Marine Corps 28 years ago. I was raped, they prosecuted, but found him not guilty. When questioned after the verdict, the officers that sat on the "jury" decided it was too big of a label to make him live with the rest of his life. They believed me (and he admitted to much of what was said when questioned by CID) but the brass decided it was too big of a punishment to live with the rest of his life. The court martial lasted less than a day, even with the verdict. They told me he would be transferred to another base, but that never happened. I had to face him and his friends on a daily basis. So, this is nothing new. I was hoping things had improved for women, but I see they have not.
Trenee: I hear you. I still had my boots on the ground back in the 80's. But, it was also true of the "alternate lifestyle" issues. I knew a corporal who was one of the young NCOs that blew the whistle on a group of senior women using their rank to force young women into their lesbian activities. The corporal got stationed at the same base, two of the offenders got transferred to.
Unfortunately, the Marine Corps dropped the Leadership Human Relations training for officers. And, male officers have traditionally had problems dealing with any kind of sexual abuse issues, hetero or gay. And, do not understand that rape is a crime of assault & battery.
As a small unit leader, I taught my young Marine women to stand up to any one who harassed or tried to intimidate them. Some of my fellow SNCOs thought I was an____________. But, I reminded my Marine women that elbows and knees were authorized if they were improperly touched, by anyone, in self defense.
Of course, when the word got out about my attitude and what I was teaching my Marine women, I received mixed attitudes. But, my company commander came over to discuss how I was reducing some of his headaches. So, I guess I can say, at least he approved of my leadership in dealing with sexual issues.
I am sorry you did not find justice. But, perhaps if I knew where the perp was, someone could pay him a visit.
Semper Fi, Da Gunny
The victims should receive honorable discharge with full benefit, plus the monetary compensation from DOD.
Victims dont deserve anything. They are weak if its a man victim he is weak. If its a women victim she is weak. I have nothing agaoinst women but i served and i saw plenty of strong women who wouldnt get raped in a million years. They didnt go get drunk with guys unless it was a proper relationship and they were actually together for real. Not for play. I dont like rapists in fact i detest them. But its the weak women who give them the ammunition to do these things. We dont need weak women in the armed forces
unfilt.., so tell us about the weak male victims that have been raped. I haven't heard about weak men getting raped, but I'm sure it goes on
I served - and had a rather wide variety of experiences, from spec ops (what would now be called "SWCC") to making XO afloat at the ripe old age of 24, thence XO ashore and, ultimately going into intel. And I did most of that service at the time that women were starting to be fully integrated into the services. So, I think I can comment with some degree of knowledge, and what that knowledge tells me is that this crap happens because the people in charge let it happen. Non-coms, oft as not, are the perps - or, like some of the foregoing commentators, blame it on "whiners and weaklings". Junior officers ignore the issue. Senior officers won't support the junior officers who try to tackle the problem, and the honchos in the Pentagon don't want to hear about it, lest it oblige them to deal with it (or worse, embarass them). The problem exists, in short, because nobody has made it clear that it is NOT to exist. THAT is what needs changed.
And now that I am a lawyer, I have to tell you, I've now seen at least two cases involving men who were gang-raped while in the military (the "old military" before all these liberal notions supposedly ruined it). These weren't gays - these were guys who got "punked" because they were perceived as vulnerable, so let's not pretend that this is about women being unfit to serve or "asking for it" or using it to gain advantage. There are bullies and creeps and pervs in the military. Always have been. There are also plenty of tools to control and to punish it, but it is obvious that nobody is using those tools and nobody is insisting that they do. Heads need to roll. In today's economy, there are more applicants than slots open in the military. We don't have to accept or keep people who think that putting on a uniform is a license to behave like a rapist and a thug.
I have a deep respect for the Corps. Most members of the Corps are always faithful to duty, country and fellow Marine (regardless of gender, race, etc.). This is unacceptable to the proud tradition and creed of the Corps. Those that engaged in such behavior or covered it up do not deserve to be called Marines. Also, this is not a liberal v. conservative thing, this is a right and wrong thing. No one should be sexually assaulted while performing their duty to our country and the military owes a duty to ALL of its member to properly address these situations as they happen.
Very well spoken and sets a tone leading to a solution.
Learned,
I like your screen name-he was one of my favorite Supreme Court Justices!
These cowardly commanders give the Marines a bad name and that should be totally unacceptable. All muscles and no balls.
We may be glorifying the 'Marines " too much...but we do...!!! And as long as the 'Brass see women as a 'non productive unit' this is not going to change. The Brass see it as women dont need to be in the Marines (Armed Forces) ..that they are not an asset.. so my thought is that all the atrocities committed on Iraqi and Afghani citizens have a lot of truth to it. If the Marines can do this to our sisters and walk away unscathed, what is it that they will not do ....? Is it a wonder we are HATED...????
And what about male rape?
As long as we refuse to accept the fact that men and women are not the same, we will continue to have these problems. Young men get erections when the wind blows gently. Most male older adolescents spend their senior year in high school using their books to hide their erections. What do we have here? Young men being prepared for war and are being put in close quarters with young women. Some traditional religions take the position that sexual energy is the post powerful energy in the world, therefore caution should be taken. As we know, scientifically, sex between males and females is necessary for the survival of the species. We ignore these powerful forces to our detrement. Rape is immoral, disgusting and a crime. To pretend that there is no differences between the sexes as it relates to sex is immoral, digusting and should be a crime. We need to have a level headed policy that takes these realities into account, while we have a no tolerance policy for rape, whether of men or women (both occur you know).
Please, people, educate yourselves about rape! It's about power, dominance, control, not sex! It's about men thinking they can take whatever they want, can control women and don't respect women. They're not suddenly going to change when they get out of the military. Why don't you "women should not serve" people realize this? Are you going to keep them away from women in their civilian life, too? Where is the blame on the actions of the rapist? You're acting as though they can't possibly help themselves, there's just too much temptation!
US military became Obama's supersized whore house! - a few "good" men?
Too many women screwing up the Armed Forces now days! They always have one
problem or another! Their specific problems (periods, pregnancy, etc) cost the tax
payers an enormous amount of money. They should go back to a mostly all male
force!
Murder of civilians, murder of children, rape... we still have problems with males in the military. We should go to an all female armed services, but then those psychopathic males would be let loose on our society. Guess it's better they're placed in a camp.
When I was oversea's in the Gulf War, there was women selling themselves so male soldiers could relieve themselves. I didn't here of any rapes at that time, because for a 100 - 150 dollars they received what they wanted and the women went home richer.
They don't call them jarheads with no reason.
This is a very sad story. I actually did a paper on this subject while in college and caught a lot of slack about it. So many people told me that, even though my sources were good, that I had no idea or right to say that women are raped in the military... Key word for you people, not just the Marines, but the MILITARY!!!