Betrayal in the Ranks

DIGITAL NEWSBOOK INTRO PART PART 1

As many as 200,000 women have been sexually assaulted while serving in the armed forces. PART PART 2

Over the past decade, nearly 5,000 accused Army sex offenders have avoided prosecution. PART PART 3

More than 10,000 cases of spouse abuse were substantiated annually between 1997 and 2001. PROFILES

In 2000, 12,068 cases of spouse abuse were reported; only 26 led to courts-martial. RESOU RC BETRAYAL ES IN THE RANKS Series written by Photography by SURVEY Amy Herdy Kathryn Scott Osler and Miles Moffeit and Helen H. Richardson

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS INTRODUCTION 2 INTRO THE POST TEAM About the series REPORTERS : Amy Herdy housands of women have been sexually assaulted in the United [email protected] States military. Thousands more have been abused by their military husbands or boyfriends. And then they are victimized Miles Moffeit T again. This time, the women are betrayed by the military itself. They [email protected] PART are discouraged from reporting the crimes. Pressured to go easy on PHOTOGRAPHERS : their attackers. Denied protection. Frustrated by a justice system that Kathryn Scott Osler readily shields offenders from criminal punishment. 1 Helen H. Richardson The women suffer for it. Some cannot talk about what happened. They were killed by men whose violence was allowed to escalate. Other RESEARCHERS : Barbara Hudson, Sue Peterson victims struggle with anger over a trusted system that betrayed them.

The Denver Post spent nine months investigating how the military PART handles sexual-assault and domestic-violence complaints. The stories, BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS

originally published as a three-part series (Nov. 16-18, 2003), detail 2 Copyright©2004 The Denver Post, the newspaper’s findings that military commanders routinely fail to 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202. prosecute those accused of such crimes. The Post also found the victims often are left vulnerable to retaliation and even threats against All rights reserved. No part of this their lives because of a lack of victim advocates. More than 60 women Digital Newsbook may be used or told The Post stories of being beaten or raped while in the military. PART reproduced in any manner without Most never found justice. written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied 3 in articles or reviews. CONTENTS ON THE WEB INTRODUCTION 1 8 Rape victim thinks of child PROFILES ‘as gift’ You can find a multimedia PART ONE 3 presentation, audio/video portraits of the victims, documents from 8 For crime victims, punishment PROFILES 40 their cases, and interviews with 8 [GRAPHIC] Army sex offenders: 8 Coping with anguish and the reporters at: how cases were handled anger www.denverpost.com 8 Trauma lingers in victim’s life RESOURCES 58 RESOURC PART TWO 19 8 Learn more about sexual DIGITAL NEWSBOOKS 8 Home front assault and domestic violence

This Digital Newsbook was ES 8 [GRAPHIC] Army domestic 8 About the numbers designed and produced for The violence offenders: how cases Post at the Kent State University were handled SURVEY 61 Institute for CyberInformation. 8 ‘I felt the military abandoned 8 Please let us know what you

More information about this SURVEY me’ think about this series and the project can be found at: Digital Newsbook concept. www.ici.kent.edu PART THREE 33 DESIGNERS: 8 Military’s response to rapes, Roger Fidler, Rekha Sharma domestic abuse falls short

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: PART ONE

Women who were raped while serving in the military say they

were isolated and blamed for the attacks, while the system they turned to for PART

help has treated the men who assaulted them far more humanely. 1 For crime victims, punishment PART PART arine Joseph Holguin

sank to the floor, hugged 2 Mhis knees and told the polygraph examiner that fellow lance corporal Sally Fictum had said no. Accused of raping Fictum, Hol- PART guin had maintained in previous interviews that the act was con- 3 sensual. But he changed his story twice after the polygraph results showed deception.

“Holguin stated he continued PROFILES through with the act ... although she had told him to stop, because he felt ‘things had gone too far to stop,”’ an investigator wrote in an SUSAN ARMENTA Aug. 11, 1993, report. “Holguin ◆ stated he had made a mistake.” “I know the way the military structure is; RESOURC Holguin was charged with rape. it will happen to young people coming in. … I want people By October, however, his com- not to be like me. I want those girls to come forward. I know mander dropped the criminal it’s going to hurt them so much more if they don’t.” case, using discretionary power ES granted under military law. For more of Armenta’s story, see Page 45 8 A retired Marine attorney who reviewed the examination results commanders humiliated her and have to be ruined before the mili-

for The Denver Post said: “Based deprived her of sexual-trauma tary listens?” asked Fictum, who SURVEY on the documents I’ve reviewed, counseling. She also was inves- left the Marines after attempting they let a rapist walk.” tigated for lying, even after Hol- suicide later that year. The 19-year-old Fictum faced guin’s admissions. Parallels to Fictum’s case her own punishment. She said her “How many young ladies’ lives emerged last February when

“The military system is like a get-out-of-jail-free card.” INTRO — Jennifer Bier, a Colorado Springs therapist who has counseled military victims

dozens of U.S. Air Force Acad- reporting her sexual assault. “I nearly 18 percent, according to emy cadets stepped forward to was betrayed.” a federal survey in 2000. During

report that they faced punish- The Post’s interviews and an congressional hearings in 1991, PART ment, attacks on their character analysis of records found: witnesses estimated that up to

and intimidation after reporting 200,000 women had been sexually 1 sexual assault, while their attack- ■ Leniency toward sexual- assaulted by servicemen. ers escaped criminal charges. assault crimes is routine. Over Military officials said the trou- the past 10 years, twice as many ■ Victims lack support ser- bles were limited to the Colorado accused Army sex offenders were vices, and many are left vulnerable

Springs school. given administrative punishment to pressure and intimidation from PART But a nine-month investigation as were court-martialed. In the commanders and peers. Despite

by The Post found that the acad- civilian world, four of five people a 1994 congressional mandate to 2 emy scandal is part of a deeper arrested for rape are prosecuted. establish victim advocacy pro- problem. Nearly 5,000 accused sex offend- grams, the Department of Defense All the armed forces have mis- ers in the military, including rap- has a shortage of advocates to help handled sexual-assault cases by ists, have avoided prosecution, safeguard women and navigate the discouraging victims from pur- and the possibility of prison time, military’s bureaucracy. PART suing complaints, conducting since 1992, according to Army flawed investigations and depriv- records. The Air Force released ■ These problems take a human 3 ing victims of support services, only limited data, and the Navy toll. Dozens of veterans told The according to interviews with mili- and Marines gave out none. But Post that being assaulted ruined tary women and an examination civilian victim advocates say the their careers and sent them down a

of records. trends are similar. destructive path, including addic- PROFILES Military officers often have “The military system is like tions and suicide attempts. Many ignored or hidden problems a get-out-of-jail-free card,” said carry the scars for life. “When and findings related to sexual Jennifer Bier, a Colorado Springs I looked at the American flag, I assaults. therapist who has counseled mili- used to see red, white and blue,” The obstacles to pursuing jus- tary victims. said Marian Hood, a veteran who tice are wrenching, more than 50 said she was gang-raped. “Now, all RESOURC sexual-assault victims told The ■ Rape is widespread in the I see is blood.” Post. Many fear retaliation, dam- armed forces, where more than age to their careers and being 200,000 women serve. Sketchy The Post also found that the

portrayed as disloyal. And those military record-keeping makes it military fails victims of another ES who do report are often punished, impossible to quantify. The Penta- abuse — domestic violence. Sol- intimidated, ostracized or told gon puts the percentage of women diers who beat their wives or girl- they are crazy by their superiors. raped in single digits, yet two friends usually avoid jail.

“These people were supposed Department of Veterans Affairs To investigate the military SURVEY to be my family,” said Michelle surveys in the past decade found 21 justice system, The Post inter- Swanson, an Army intelligence percent and 30 percent of women viewed victims, reviewed thou- specialist who said she was dis- reported a rape or attempted rape. sands of documents, including couraged by a supervisor from The comparable civilian figure is court records, databases, medical

records and Defense Department to problems and under constant consistent evidence that one INTRO memos. review. exists. The newspaper also spoke with “It is a bit premature to say that During the past 13 years, the two dozen Veterans Affairs sex- we believe that changes need to be military has grappled with sexual- ual-trauma counselors across the made throughout the Services in assault scandals — from the 1991 country, who characterized the the handling of reports of sexual Tailhook convention to the 1996

women’s stories as credible and assault,” the Pentagon statement Aberdeen Proving Ground inves- PART part of a disturbing pattern. said. tigation to the Air Force Academy

Department of Defense leaders, “Obviously, the incidents at the — only to be met by criticisms and 1 including Secretary of Defense Air Force Academy put the issues findings of coverup and inaction. Donald Rumsfeld, declined to be of sexual harassment and sexual And studies and surveys showed interviewed for this report. Pen- assault in newspapers; so we try a military culture that demeans tagon officials replied in writing to remain attentive to the cur- women.

to questions submitted by The rent policies and the needs for Even deeper problems emerge in PART Post. improvement.” the stories of women such as Sally

They characterized the mili- But overall the military has not Fictum, Michelle Swanson, Denise 2 tary justice system as responsive solved its justice dilemma despite Arroyo and Jennifer Neal. Swanson

Army sex offenders: how cases were handled PART The statistics below are based on the year a crime was investigated, which in some instances may not be

the same the year the crime was committed. The Army says that a spike in offenders in 1996 and 1997 is 3 partly due to the establishment of a hotline to deal with sexual harassment complaints from Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Some of the incidents reported to that hotline occurred before 1996 and 1997.

Action 1,177 Administrative* PROFILES 1,090 Military Courts-Martial 53% Other** 54% 917 895 906 53% 756 50% 54% 737 705 733 676 706 56% 51% 52% 50% 48% 38% RESOURC 20% 18% 25% 19% 22% 18% 28% 22% 21% 27% 28% 21% 27% 44%

31% ES 22% 27% 31% 22% 25% 21% 22% 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

* Administrative also includes non-judicial Article 15 hearings. Some serious crimes, such as rape, may have SURVEY been handled administratively because only a lesser charge could be proved. ** Other includes “no action reported” and where the action was left blank in the database. Percentages may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding. Click here for more about the numbers

Source: Denver Post analysis of U.S. Army database The Denver Post / Jeffery A. Roberts and Thomas McKay

“Most of my clients’ cases are strikingly similar, … In INTRO terms of how harshly the military treats them, all you have to do is change the name on the case ﬁle.”

— Beth Hills, a civilian advocate who represented three of the women PART

was in the Army. Fictum, a Marine. They faced job-related discipline Fort Benning’s commander was 1 Arroyo, Air Force. Neal, Navy. such as reprimands, rank reduc- trying to prosecute a chaplain, All four not only survived the tions, counseling and fines. Some Capt. Robert Peebles, for molest- punishing rigors of boot camp, they were allowed to resign. ing a 15-year-old boy who was loved it. Pursuing justice proved to Since 1992 in the U.S. Army found wandering the base par-

be a crueler obstacle course. alone, the cases of 4,801 service- tially clothed one night. PART Although they have never met, men accused of offenses ranging Peebles confessed to assaulting

all said they faced threats of pun- from rape to indecent acts upon the boy, as well as to past sexual 2 ishment and attacks on their a child were handled administra- misconduct, court records show, credibility after reporting their tively, according to records. and prosecutors were preparing assaults. Their attackers faced That is more than twice the the case for trial. little or no criminal punishment. 2,033 suspects who were sent to “I had the taste of blood in my The military did not provide them court-martial, the military’s ver- mouth,” prosecutor James Willson PART with a victim advocate, forcing sion of a criminal trial, for the testified in a lawsuit by the boy’s them to reach outside the armed same offenses. In 1,283 other family nine years later against the 3 services for help and support. cases, commanders took no action, military and the Catholic Diocese “Most of my clients’ cases are and for 1,555 offenders, Army of Dallas. strikingly similar,” said Beth commanders never reported the The court-martial was derailed,

Hills, a civilian advocate who outcome. however, by Delbert Spurlock, PROFILES represented three of the women, Direct comparisons with the then-assistant secretary of the as well as more than 100 others civilian world are impossible Army, according to Gen. James assaulted in the military during because the justice systems are dif- Lindsay, former commander of the the past decade. “In terms of how ferent. But an analysis by the U.S. base where Peebles was stationed. harshly the military treats them, Department of Justice found that “Let him resign,” Spurlock said all you have to do is change the in 1990, civilian officials sought in a telephone call, according to a RESOURC name on the case file.” to prosecute 80 percent of people 1994 deposition given by Lindsay arrested on suspicion of rape. in the same lawsuit. ◆ Unlike civilian law enforcement, Spurlock was concerned about

Like Joseph Holguin, thou- military officials rely heavily on bad publicity because another ES sands of accused sex offenders in administrative punishments as chaplain had recently been the military have escaped impris- an option to prosecution. Military accused of sexual misconduct, onment during the past decade, leaders consider, according to the Lindsay said. “We have just gone

military records show. Pentagon statement, “the effect of through all of the trauma associ- SURVEY Many of them avoided criminal the decision on the accused and ated with the press coverage of prosecution through administra- the command.” this event,” Lindsay recalled Spur- tive actions that offer no possibil- In 1984, top military officials lock saying. “We really don’t need ity of prison or a criminal record. faced such a decision. another one.”

“The far-reaching role of commanding ofﬁcers in the INTRO court-martial process remains the greatest barrier to operating a fair system of criminal justice.”

— Cox Commission in 2001 PART

Spurlock told The Post: “I don’t soldier to prosecution. The system Dane N. Bogle. Two Air Force 1 have any memory of it.” has defenders and critics. women testified in a hearing that Peebles, who declined to com- “We have found the UCMJ is Bogle sexually assaulted them ment to The Post, took a job with perfectly capable of dealing with two days apart at Dover Air Force the Dallas diocese after leav- any kind of rape allegation,” said Base, Del., in spring 2001. One of

ing the Army. He resigned in Col. Craig Smith, chief of the Air the victims, 19-year-old Denise PART 1986 amid accusations he had Force military justice division. “I Arroyo, now a civilian, accused

assaulted another boy, according am completely confident that my him of entering her room and rap- 2 to court records. The civil lawsuit military law lets me get at any ing her after she had been drink- was settled. Peebles now lives in conduct that’s going to arise.” ing with friends. The other victim New Orleans and has worked as a Officials say administrative also said Bogle sexually assaulted lawyer. punishments give commanders her in her room. Such leniency is made possible useful options. Bogle was headed for a court- PART in large part by a system created But in 2001, the Cox Com- martial, but instead his com- by Congress exclusively for the mission, a panel formed on the manders allowed him to resign. 3 military. 50th anniversary of the UCMJ, Maj. Gen. George N. Williams In the civilian world, prosecu- noted that “the far-reaching role approved an “other-than-honor- tors decide whether to investigate of commanding officers in the able discharge” at the request of

and try accused offenders. In the court-martial process remains the Bogle and his wing commander, PROFILES military, soldiers’ bosses — com- greatest barrier to operating a fair Scott Wuesthoff, military court manders — make those decisions. system of criminal justice.” records show. The philosophy behind the The commission focused on the Wuesthoff noted “inconsisten- system is to keep soldiers in line rights of accused soldiers but also cies” in Arroyo’s story because she so they know they must answer said its review stemmed from “a had been drinking, records show. to superiors with the power to near-constant parade of high-pro- The other victim, citing religious RESOURC convict if they choose not to go file criminal investigations and beliefs, asked only for an apology, to battle. The approach has been courts-martial, many involving records show. She could not be used by other countries such as allegations of sexual misconduct, reached by The Post. Both women

Britain and Canada, though both each a threat to morale and a pub- supported Bogle’s resignation. ES scaled back commanders’ powers lic relations disaster.” Arroyo said she did so only in recent years. Even serial offenders are allowed after months of pressure from The Uniform Code of Military to resign with administrative pun- officers under her commander,

Justice has been adjusted peri- ishments. And, they can slip back Col. S. Taco Gilbert III. She said SURVEY odically, sometimes giving the into the civilian world with no they threatened to charge her accused greater protections. Com- criminal record. Peebles, the mili- with alcohol violations, but didn’t. manders still retain broad powers, tary chaplain, is one example. While Arroyo was on leave recov- including whether to even send a Another is former Airman ering from her attack, she said,

squadron leader Russell Cutting INTRO told her that he planned to put her to work in the same dining hall as her attacker. “I didn’t want to go back there. All I could think was that I would

be raped again,” Arroyo told The PART Post, adding that Cutting’s remark

persuaded her to quit the Air 1 Force. Gilbert, who later went on to become commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy in 2001,

was accused by several cadets of PART derailing their cases and pursuing

punishments against them. Gil- 2 bert denied that. Bogle, who now lives in New SALLY FICTUM Jersey, did not respond to requests ◆ for an interview. Dover officials and Arroyo’s former supervisors, “It’s been my sense of validation.” PART including Gilbert and Cutting, — Former Marine lance corporal discussing a report on her declined to be interviewed. The attacker’s polygraph test, pictured on the table behind her 3 Pentagon issued a written statement for Gilbert, saying: She ran crying into her barracks ber, Col. J.W. Smythe dropped the “The Air Force did not discour- room past her roommate and into criminal case against Holguin.

age Ms. Arroyo from pursuing the shower stall. The roommate “They let a rapist walk,” Pat PROFILES this case in any way. We took sev- called authorities. Gallaher, a military prosecutor for eral extraordinary steps to care On Aug. 10 Holguin was wired two decades who now is in private for Ms. Arroyo’s (safety) needs in to a polygraph machine as an practice in Buffalo, N.Y., said after this case, including allowing her examiner asked if he had had reviewing an official report on the to take extended leave.” sexual intercourse with Fictum. examination. “I would have pros- Marine Sally Fictum’s experi- He said no. “Deception was indi- ecuted him.” RESOURC ence with military justice began cated,” according to a report of the Gallaher said the Holguin case after a run on the beach with interrogation. qualified as rape because Fictum Joseph Holguin outside Camp Holguin changed his story said no.

Schwab on Okinawa. It was July the next day, saying he and Fic- Smythe, now retired, said he did ES 29, 1993. When Fictum stopped to tum had consensual intercourse. not recall the case. He said advis- rest, she said, Holguin threw her Again, “deception was indicated.” ers would have helped him make to the sand and raped her. It was then that Holguin the proper call.

This was the account Fictum crouched on the floor and admit- “I can’t make a decision like SURVEY said she gave military police after ted Fictum had said no. He signed this without advice from lawyers,” she rushed back up the beach, a statement detailing the events Smythe said, adding that his job is struggling to get a foothold in the that night, records show. fighting wars. “We know how to loose sand in her military boots. But two months later, in Octo- blow up tanks.” Smythe also said

“These women, over and over again, go through INTRO psychological evaluations, punishments, and character assassinations.”

— Christine Hansen, the Miles Foundation director PART

that he would have considered the She copied the file. Center in Great Lakes, Ill. 1 “character” of the alleged victim She and her parents began a When Jessie R. Capers, a fellow in deciding whether to prosecute letter-writing campaign asking petty officer, asked her to get him Holguin. military officials to investigate the a beer from his room, Neal agreed. Reached by telephone in Cali- handling of her case. They said Capers followed her in.

fornia, Holguin said, “I have noth- they never got results. He grabbed her by the throat, PART ing to say for your story.” Several months later, Fictum pinned her to the bed and raped

Fictum said she was never told said, she was granted a medical her, Neal said. Neal then did every- 2 about Holguin’s admissions. But discharge due to psychological thing a prosecutor would want her she was investigated for allegedly trauma from the rape. The charges to do. making false statements. During of lying were dropped, she said. She immediately reported the a meeting called by investigators Marine officials refused to release rape. two months after she reported records of the case. She went to a hospital, where PART the rape, Fictum was told that her Years later, Fictum said, she for- doctors collected DNA evidence roommate accused her of lying gave Holguin. What she couldn’t and investigators took photos of 3 about it. forgive, and struggles with today, her bloody and torn clothing and “But, I’m telling the truth,” Fic- is how the military treated her. the bite marks that covered her tum recalled saying. “He (Holguin) admitted his chest and neck.

Back at her barracks, she began wrong,” Fictum told The Post, But despite all those steps, Neal PROFILES gathering every pill she could find recounting her story publicly for was threatened, intimidated and from friends and swallowed a the first time. “They never did.” deprived of basic assistance from handful. Last year Fictum, now a third- the military that a woman in civil- She awoke in the hospital the grade teacher, stood in the glare ian life could expect, said Beth next morning with tubes running of her backyard fireplace, tossing Hills, the civilian advocate. from her nose and stomach. papers into the flames. The medi- Neal’s experience underscores RESOURC Released from the hospital, she cal records went into the fire. So another defect in the military jus- resumed a recent assignment as an did most of the criminal-case file. tice system, according to the Miles aide in the battalion commander’s But Fictum saved Holguin’s Foundation, a Connecticut-based

office. Alone one day, she noticed polygraph admission. nonprofit victim advocacy organi- ES a brown file cabinet labeled “NIS,” “It’s been my sense of valida- zation that has helped more than for Naval Investigative Service. tion.” 5,800 victims of military-related Inside was a file with her name on sexual assault since its founding ◆ it. She flipped through it. in 1987. SURVEY She discovered the account of On June 14, 2001, Navy sailor “These women, over and over the polygraph examination show- Jennifer Neal, who ranked near the again, go through psychological ing that Holguin admitted to forc- top of her engineering class, went evaluations, punishments, and ing intercourse. Her anger boiled. to a cookout at the Naval Training character assassinations,” said

Christine Hansen, the founda- no one will believe them,” Furey members. INTRO tion’s director. “Everything from, wrote. Yet as soon as Furey left, Sieg- ‘You sleep around’ to ‘You’ve got “Threatened with bodily fried pulled some panel members mental problems’ to ‘You’re a les- harm.” into his office and moved to con- bian.’ And in the majority of our “Referral for psychiatric evalu- tain what he considered a public- cases, there has been no justice for ation.” relations bombshell, Rosen said.

the victim.” “Refusal to pursue complaint.” “He told us to make sure this PART After the 1996 Aberdeen scan- “No forensic medical exam.” doesn’t come out,” Rosen recalled,

dal in Maryland, in which Army “Lack of support advocacy adding that Siegfried seemed 1 drill instructors were accused of within the command.” “concerned that this would reflect raping trainees, defense officials Military women faced intimi- negatively on the Army.” formed a committee to examine dation and punishment from com- Siegfried told The Post he did sexual misconduct. manders, Furey said, and were not recall Furey’s report or the

The next year the commit- vulnerable, in part, because they meeting afterward. He said he did PART tee, known as the Senior Review had no victim advocates. not seek to hide information out

Panel, held confidential Pentagon Furey said her research found of embarrassment, and character- 2 briefings on the issue. Joan Furey, that victims were isolated and ized Rosen as “mental.” director of the VA Center for Wom- blamed after their attacks. Vic- “The Denver Post shouldn’t en’s Affairs, was among the first to tims also were given disciplinary be writing about this,” Siegfried make a presentation. or psychiatric discharges. said. Other panel members said Furey told panel members that Furey ended her report by urg- they couldn’t recall the meeting or PART women veterans increasingly were ing the panel to recognize the declined to comment, citing confi- seeking sexual-trauma counsel- need for victim advocates, ideally dentiality agreements. 3 ing. VA counselors across the female service members. She said Rosen, now a senior analyst country were consistently report- the approach should be modeled for the U.S. Department of Jus- ing disturbing trends from their after civilian police programs in tice, said: “I can fully appreci-

cases. which advocates assist victims in ate that Gen. Siegfried might not PROFILES Furey described more than a obtaining legal help, counseling remember every little sidebar that dozen ways women were discour- and preparing safety plans. occurred seven years ago. People aged from reporting crimes and During Furey’s presentation, the tend to remember events that they derailed from pursuing justice, chairman of the Army panel, Maj. perceive as particularly salient. according to her report, obtained Gen. Richard Siegfried, expressed That meeting certainly got my by The Post. concern, recalled Dr. Leora Rosen, attention, and I kept notes.” RESOURC “Supervisory personnel stating then a scientific consultant to the Furey said she isn’t surprised ES “(Maj. Gen. Richard Siegfried, left) told us to make sure this doesn’t come out. He was concerned that this would reﬂect negatively on the Army.” — Dr. Leora Rosen, right SURVEY Siegfried told The Post he did not recall a meeting at which he allegedly made the above statement. He said he did not seek to hide information, and he characterized Rosen as “mental.”

“What (Neal) is unable to adjust to is being raped by a INTRO shipmate on base, and discovering that this criminal has more rights, freedoms and protections than she does as a victim.”

— Beth Hills, a civilian advocate who represented three of the women PART

that the panel did not pursue her Commanding officers were 20-year-old Neal turned to Hills 1 findings. A Clinton appointee, often the culprits. Fifteen women for help. she no longer heads the women’s said they were assaulted by a A Navy medical board began affairs center but still works for member of their command or a the process of discharging her for the VA. higher-ranking colleague, height- being “unable to adjust to military

“The military doesn’t agree ening their fears of retaliation. service.” PART these are issues, that this is a faulty In the majority of the cases the “Clearly ... what (Neal) is unable

system,” Furey said. “Therefore, Miles Foundation has handled, to adjust to,” Hills wrote in notes 2 they won’t take responsibility for the assailant had a higher rank, she kept on the case, “is being it. The question is, how do you executive director Hansen said. raped by a shipmate on base, and get a society like the military to Even when their cases are pros- discovering that this criminal has change if they don’t acknowledge ecuted, military rape victims say, more rights, freedoms and protec- these problems exist?” they face mistreatment from com- tions than she does as a victim.” PART Four years later, another mili- manders and others. Neal said her commander tary panel raised publicly one of the The situation becomes “psy- informed her that charges against 3 findings Furey presented in vain. chological warfare,” said Hills, the Capers could be dropped because Though Congress in 1994 civilian victim advocate. “After she had “voluntarily entered his required the military to set up their rapes, they are in no condi- room.” The Post was unable to

advocacy programs, today the tion to deal with these pressures. locate the commander. PROFILES majority of installations still lack The commands take advantage of Hills intervened, complain- victim advocates, according to them.” ing to superiors on Neal’s behalf. Deborah Tucker, co-chair of the Neal says that happened to her. Among her complaints, Hills said, domestic violence task force, which After his arrest, her attacker, was that investigators interviewed advised the military to address the Capers, was released. Though Neal without an advocate present shortage in 2001. Neal says she was told his move- and had not made plans to provide RESOURC The Pentagon is providing ser- ment would be restricted, he was an escort to the trial. vices to victims as “defined in the able to roam the base freely, and On Dec. 18, 2001, Capers was law,” according to the statement to she was afraid to leave her room to convicted of rape at a court-mar-

The Post, and intends to expand eat at the dining hall. tial. He was sentenced to a reduc- ES the victim advocate program as On July 12, Neal requested a tion in rank, a forfeiture of pay funds become available. meeting with her supervisors, and three years in prison. Most of the women who told The one of whom threatened to have Neal took little satisfaction in

Post they were sexually assaulted her committed to the psychiatric his punishment. She had planned SURVEY in the military said they were dis- ward, she said. on a military career. The rape took couraged from reporting or they “They kept telling me I was that away, she said. were too scared to report their crazy,” Neal said. Unable to find “Before the rape, I felt like I was assaults. a victim advocate on her base, the in this big balloon and I was sky-

high; I was so happy,” Neal said. INTRO “Then he crashed my balloon.” ◆ The military has been dogged by criticisms that its investiga-

tions were flawed, tainted or PART incomplete.

In 1992, a Pentagon report 1 assailed the Navy’s investigation into Tailhook for “attempting to limit the exposure of the Navy and senior Navy officials to criticism.”

In 1999, a National Academy of PART Public Administration panel said

problems abound in sex-crimes 2 investigations. “Improvements ... are needed from the unit to the MICHELLE SWANSON departmental level.” ◆ The NAPA panel, requested by

“These people were supposed to be my family. PART Congress, called for better train- All through basic training, that’s what you’re taught. ing, organization and recruitment of women as investigators, and the Now I know that’s not true.” 3 addition of sex- crime specialists. Panel members also raised con- The assault occurred on Jan. military police. cerns about commanders’ influ- 18, 2002, after Swanson returned Swanson said investigators

ence, saying allegations of inter- to her barracks room at Camp Red questioned her that day but failed PROFILES ference persist. They called on the Cloud in South Korea from a night to collect the tampon for finger- Defense Department to “vigor- of drinking with friends. Sgt. Jason print analysis, or collect DNA evi- ously enforce guidance” against L. Douglass walked through her dence. Swanson and her mother improper influence. open door, pinned her on her bed, say the additional physical evi- Four years later, the Pentagon removed her tampon and sexually dence would have strengthened has yet to act on the recommenda- assaulted her, she said. the case and led to a tougher pun- RESOURC tions, said William Gadsby, direc- “He weighed 200 pounds. I was ishment. tor of management studies for drunk,” she told The Post. Swan- Douglass was sentenced to four NAPA. Defense officials say they son said she fought him off and months in prison, documents

have taken steps “to ensure that screamed. She immediately went show. The Post could not reach ES appropriate changes have been to a supervisor, who told her to him for comment. made.” “sleep on it,” she said. “He said, Swanson said her commanders The Post also found examples of ‘This will affect your life and his,”’ were more focused on punishing

shoddy investigations. U.S. Army she remembers. her for drinking before the assault. SURVEY intelligence specialist Michelle Swanson didn’t take his advice. Despite promising they would not Swanson faults botched treat- She wrote a statement about what take disciplinary action against ment of her case as a factor in her happened and told another super- her, they did, Swanson said. attacker’s light sentence. visor, who reported the crime to “They were blaming me.”

Her commanders did not INTRO respond to interview requests from The Post. ◆ As a young combat medic during

Operation Desert Storm, Sharon PART Mixon carried litters of wounded

soldiers, wiped patients’ blood off 1 her hands, ran at the shrill whis- tle of an incoming bomb and saw children die. None of it, says Mixon, now 33,

was as devastating as when fellow PART American soldiers gang-raped

her in June 1991 and a military 2 police officer rebuffed her effort to report it. Mixon, a former member of the Colorado National Guard, has been in counseling for more than PART two years. Diagnosed with post- traumatic stress disorder, a men- 3 tal illness caused by trauma, she receives VA disability benefits. During the past decade, thou-

sands of women have streamed PROFILES through the doors of VA hospitals and veteran centers, seeking help in dealing with the trauma of their rapes. They bring stories of devastation and loneliness, of being unable to hold down jobs or RESOURC maintain relationships. They are haunted by fear. Many sleep with weapons.

For those who never found sup- ES port in the military after their rapes, the VA is, finally, a haven. They can find not only professional

counseling but group therapy with SURVEY fellow veterans who they say have SHARON MIXON shared a special kind of hell. Doz- ◆ ens of VA counselors told The Post “I was awarded for valor when I was in Desert Storm, so it that the trauma for veterans is wasn’t like I was a coward. I was a good soldier.”

“There is a stigma of mental-health-care counseling INTRO in the military. You can be discharged based on your mental-health record.”

— Claudia Chavez, a VA sexual-trauma counselor PART

uniquely devastating because they sation. It is, however, recognized attempt but to distract herself 1 believed they were in a safe, sup- as a cause of post-traumatic stress from the emotional pain. portive environment. disorder, which does qualify. The The memories flooded back. “If I was captured, I would have VA defines PTSD as “psychologi- Mixon was 21 and waiting with been mentally prepared,” Mixon cal symptoms that may occur after other soldiers to process out of

said. “If you got shot, everyone a person experiences a traumatic Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, after seven PART would be there to sew you up, to event” such as a physical assault, months there. In an apartment

take care of you.” severe accident, natural disaster building, soldiers played cards 2 In many cases, victims told The or combat. A 1998 VA study says and talked about going home. Post, no trauma counseling was that sexual trauma may be harder Someone had bootleg liquor in made available. Some rejected to cope with than the effects of a water bottle, and Mixon took a counseling because it is not confi- combat. drink. “The next thing I remem- dential. Yet because many sexual- ber is waking up facedown on a PART “A lot of them wait anywhere trauma victims don’t report their cot. Somebody was on top of me, from 10 to 30 years” for therapy, assaults, they struggle to live with penetrating me.” She was disori- 3 when they are out of the military, the debilitating effects of PTSD ented, as if under anesthesia. She said Claudia Chavez, a VA sexual- on their own, experts say. Many remembers two men holding down trauma counselor in St. Petersburg, abuse drugs or alcohol in an her arms. They told her, “We’ll kill

Fla. “There is a stigma of mental- attempt to numb their pain. They you if you talk about it.” But she PROFILES health-care counseling in the mili- isolate, unable to trust anyone. did. tary. You can be discharged based They have problems sleeping and Hours later, Mixon reported her on your mental-health record.” eating, and may develop physical assault to a military police officer. Since 1999, the VA has provided ailments including stomach, heart “He said, ‘What did you expect, free counseling and treatment for or gynecological disorders. being a female in Saudi Arabia?”’ military sexual trauma. VA offi- “They’ve often experienced she recalled. “When I told him it RESOURC cials, who spent $6 million on years of trying to cope with was fellow American soldiers, he the treatment last year, estimate it, years of anxiety they’ve not told me if I knew what was best for it will cost more than $100 mil- understood and cannot explain to me, to keep my mouth shut. I was

lion through 2015. Because of the themselves,” said Carol O’Brien, too dumbfounded to even react. I ES stigma surrounding sexual trauma, director of sexual-trauma services just felt defeated. The other feel- said Carole Turner, director of the at Bay Pines VA Medical Center in ings and the anger came after- Women Veterans Health Program Florida. wards.”

for the VA, “the information is a Mixon presented a brave face Today, she cries at the memory. SURVEY gross under-representation of the to the world until 1999, when she “You know, I was awarded for magnitude of the problem.” began having flashbacks. The valor when I was in Desert Storm, Sexual trauma does not qualify tears would not stop. She began so it wasn’t like I was a coward. I as a disability that brings compen- cutting herself, not in a suicide was a good soldier.”

After her breakdown in 1999, INTRO Mixon enrolled in a residential treatment program at Bay Pines. “This program lifted the world off my shoulders,” she said, “because I was treated with

respect.” PART ◆ 1 Two years ago, Army veteran Marian Hood sat down at the desk in her living room in South Bos- ton and wrote a letter to each of

her four young daughters, to be PART opened when they turn 21.

Hood’s mother had been Army, MARIAN HOOD 2 her father Air Force. ◆ She wants the legacy to stop. “I was beaten and raped for my country. That There may be no better exam- should be enough.” ple than Hood of the human toll exacted by sexual assault in the For more of Hood’s story, see Page 17 8 PART military. Like her, thousands of female veterans are believed to assumed they had forgotten some- tub and dumping Hood in. They 3 have suffered in silence after being thing, and opened the door. dunked her head under water, she raped by fellow servicemen. Either Her drill sergeant stood there. said, until her drill sergeant said, they did not report, their story was He smashed the door into her “We’re done.” Then they left.

never taken seriously or, like Hood, face, she said, bloodying her nose. It had been dusk when Hood PROFILES they were too broken to pursue it. Behind him stood four other men. answered the door. It was deep It is a prison Hood is deter- Dressed in fatigues, they pushed into darkness when her friends mined her girls will never know. their way into the room. returned to find her lying in a bath She tells them she wants them The men took turns raping and of blood and water. “I remember to go to college instead of follow- sodomizing her, Hood said. They laying on the stretcher and looking ing her path. beat and kicked her, fracturing her up at the stars. I remember them RESOURC “I told them it’s because Mommy ribs, right knee, nose, right cheek- putting me into the ambulance,” was hurt really bad by some really bone and spine. They urinated on Hood said. “Everything sounded mean people, and I don’t want that her, burned her with cigarettes, muffled.”

to happen to them.” split her lip and spit on her, while At the military hospital, Hood ES She was 18 and had just gradu- threatening to kill her. said, she heard a nurse tell a doc- ated from basic training in Decem- Hood would later recall it tor she thought Hood has been ber 1987. To celebrate, Hood said, seemed as though her spirit left. raped.

she and some girlfriends rented a And so, detached, she watched her “Oh, we have girls come in all SURVEY room at a motel near their base, body suffer. the time and claim this. She prob- Fort Dix, N.J. The men ransacked the motel ably just got into a fight with her Her friends left to go shopping. room, taking money and traveler’s boyfriend,” she recalled the doctor Hearing a knock, Hood said she checks, before filling the bath- saying.

“That (surgery) would take away INTRO what dignity I have left. Death I can deal with. Living has been harder.”

— Marian Hood discussing her cervical cancer PART

Military police arrived. “The most exciting thing was to press nerves in her legs. Hood’s 1 “They came in, looked me over, go down to the riverbed and drive medical history is consistent with and said they’d be back the next trucks through the mud.” her account of a brutal attack and day,” Hood said. “The MPs didn’t Basic training was a breeze rape, her orthopedic surgeon said. come back at all.” except for her drill sergeant, who And records show that her severe

Her drill sergeant did. Her sec- pressed Hood for sex, she said. back pain began then. The VA PART ond day in the hospital, Hood said, She refused and reported him, but diagnosed Hood with PTSD “due

he brought her yellow daisies. said a supervisor told her she was to the in-service stressor of a sex- 2 “He said if I told, no one would delusional and gave her extra duty. ual assault.” believe me,” Hood said. “I flipped “I was young and naive,” she said. There are other reminders of out.” “I wanted to be all I could be, and the rape: a chipped bone on Hood’s Reporters and military officials he didn’t see me that way.” right knee, seizures from a blood could not locate him for comment, The rape, and her powerlessness clot in her brain, rectal problems, PART so The Post is not using his name. in reporting it, she said, “changed a scar on her lip. A senior officer at Fort Dix at the everything.” Then, in 1998, Hood faced a new 3 time did not respond to requests She spent two months in the heartbreak. She was diagnosed for comment. hospital. “When I got out, they with cervical cancer, which this She was hospitalized two weeks gave me a bus ticket, discharge year spread to her intestines.

before calling her mother to say papers and sent me home,” Hood “They’ve given me a time limit PROFILES she was coming home. “She asked said. — three years if I don’t do the sur- why, and I said, ‘I don’t want to tell She arrived home in February gery,” which she refuses to have, you,”’ Hood recalled. “I begged 1988. She never told her mother as it would leave her with a colos- her not to come see me because I what happened, Hood said, “but tomy bag. “That would take away didn’t want her to see my face.” she knew.” what dignity I have left. Death I DeLois Hood had been in the Seven months later, her mother can deal with. Living has been RESOURC Army. Yet, she would never talk put a .38-caliber revolver in her harder.” about it and didn’t want her mouth and pulled the trigger. Her instructions for her daugh- daughter to enlist. Hood has struggled with guilt over ters are explicit. “I have a will.

“I believe she was raped,” her mother’s suicide. They join the military, they get no ES Marion Lane, 65, Marian Hood’s “For a long time, I felt like that money.” father, said of DeLois Hood. Dur- was my fault,” she said. And although she is a veteran, ing their two years together, Lane Now 34, she lives with her she refuses to fly an American flag.

said, DeLois Hood would often daughters, ages 4, 7, 9 and 14, in “The red represents the blood SURVEY lapse into despair. government housing. I’ve shed. The blue represents my Marian Hood, eager to leave Her body is a litany of scars. bruises — the way my face looked. Columbus, Ga., joined anyway. “I She has had four surgeries on I was beaten and raped for my wanted to move away,” she said. fractured vertebrae that painfully country. That should be enough.”

Marian Hood hugs her youngest daughter, Gabby, 4, in their apartment. She has left a will that stipulates that her four 3 daughters not enter the military. ‘They join the military, they get no money.’

Trauma lingers in victim’s life PROFILES BY AMY HERDY to avoid a man who had been pressuring her to dance. PHOTOS BY KATHRYN SCOTT OSLER He followed her outside. She said she pulled out a straight razor and cut him. “I blanked out,” Hood fter she was beaten and raped in the mili- recalled later. “People came out and pulled me off.” tary, Marian Hood said, she had to rethink She was charged with attempted manslaughter. RESOURC Aeverything about her life. Her attorney cited her military history as reason for There no longer would be a military career. So she the attack, Hood said, and she avoided jail in a plea began working as a secretary for a car dealer. Hood agreement that included counseling.

married and divorced twice. She had two daughters That counseling changed her life. ES by her first husband, and two by her second. Her “That was my awakening period,” Hood said. “I only son had heart problems and died as an infant. didn’t know who I was. Didn’t know why I was so When her second husband became violent, the angry.”

5-foot-3, 116-pound Hood fought back and broke his Now 34, she lives with her daughters, ages 4, 7, 9 SURVEY nose. “I told the police I would do whatever it took” and 14, in government housing in South Boston. She to protect her and her daughters, she said. relies on myriad medications. In 1992, she snapped again. Out with a group of “I was kicked so bad, my spine is like an ‘S,’ ” she girlfriends before a wedding, she walked out of a club said of the beating she suffered during her rape.

Diagnosed in 1998 with cervical cancer that has INTRO spread to her intestines, she undergoes chemother- apy every week. It burns her skin, makes her so sick at times that she throws up all day. “What keeps me going are those four kids. “I wonder why things happened. I would have

been a different person. A lot was taken from me.” PART In December 2002, the

Department of Veterans 1 Affairs awarded Hood disability payments based on her having post-traumatic stress disorder. On Aug. 28,

she received notice that she PART is losing Medicaid benefits

because her income exceeds 2 the limit by $82 a month. She underwent surgery on her back the week before. Now she is panicked that mounting medical bills will dash her plans. She had hoped to buy her sister a business and a house in her PART hometown of Columbus, Ga., so her sister could take care of Hood’s children after she is gone. 3 “I’m not afraid of death. The only thing I worry about is my babies. Not being able to hug them or comfort them. ... But I’m tired of fighting.”

She wants to complete a book of poetry before she PROFILES dies. “That will be my legacy.”

A beating and gang rape in December 1987 left Army veteran Marian Hood with a fractured spine and other RESOURC injuries, she says. She’s had four surgeries since then on vertebrae that painfully

press nerves in her legs, and ES she also is battling cervical cancer that has spread to her intestines. Hood, seen, at left,

with boyfriend Rey, in her South SURVEY Boston home.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: PART TWO

While civilian

prosecutors crack down PART on domestic abuse, the military emphasizes 1 counseling and tells commanders to consider

the accused’s career. PART Home 2 PART PART

front 3 ort Bragg police amassed a 3-inch-thick homicide file Fto prove Sgt. Forest Nelson PROFILES killed his girlfriend, and two military prosecutors said they would take him to trial. A witness saw Nelson’s car backed up to Tabitha Croom’s apartment door the night she dis- RESOURC appeared. And hikers found her body 500 feet behind his barracks, among other evidence in the case.

But last year, as the North Car- ES olina Army base faced intense public scrutiny over a cluster of domestic-violence murders, Nel-

son’s commanders shut down the SURVEY investigation. “We all thought he was going to Tears flow when Christina Croom talks about the 1999 killing of her sister, trial,” said Ann Croom, Tabitha’s Tabitha. The Army had backed away from prosecuting Sgt. Forest Nelson, mother. “I will never understand Tabitha’s boyfriend, but has now reopened the case.

how they could do that. Never.” disclose any data. In a report this month before Navy sailor David INTRO The military investigative file year, a congressionally formed DeArmond killed his wife and obtained by The Denver Post does task force said the Department of mother-in-law in 2002, his spouse not explain why Nelson’s com- Defense was too lenient with abus- sought a restraining order, cit- mander shelved the case, using his ers and added: “Offenders must be ing a death threat. Commanders discretionary power under mili- held accountable for all criminal received a copy of the restraining

tary law. The documents indicate conduct.” Often, offenders are order but did not provide her a PART Nelson faced administrative pun- allowed to leave military service victim advocate or restrict DeAr-

ishment, noting that “disciplinary with an honorable discharge. mond to the base. Commanders 1 action is pending.” also contend they did not know The Army reopened the murder ■ The military has been slow to that DeArmond choked his first investigation last summer after The respond to congressional mandates wife during a Navy stint in San Post raised questions about the case and other calls for improved inves- Diego. The couple later divorced.

and uncovered evidence of violence tigations. In 1988, Congress told Top Department of Defense PART in Nelson’s previous marriage. defense officials to report crimes officials refused repeated requests

The Croom homicide and other to the FBI. Today, the military has by The Post to discuss their han- 2 domestic-violence incidents, a yet to finish the computer system dling of domestic-violence issues. nine-month Post investigation designed to comply with the man- Secretary of Defense Donald found, reveal a secretive jus- date. Congress told the Department Rumsfeld’s office released a state- tice system tightly controlled by of Defense to respond by June 30 to ment to The Post saying defense commanders that routinely fails a task force’s recommendations on officials are cracking down on PART to prosecute domestic-violence improving military handling of domestic violence. offenders and creates obstacles for domestic violence, but Pentagon “We are working with the ser- 3 victims, sometimes leaving them officials have yet to comply. vices to ensure that command- unprotected. ers take domestic violence seri- Some end up dead. ■ The military leaves victims ously and take appropriate action,

The military often mishandles vulnerable. Many military bases including court-martial proceed- PROFILES cases of domestic violence, as well lack advocates to help safeguard ings when appropriate,” the state- as sexual assault, according to a women who have been beaten or ment said. review of thousands of military are in danger. Commanders must “DOD wants to stop domes- documents and interviews with react faster to threats of violence, tic violence because it’s the right dozens of victims. in part by ensuring that abusers thing to do,” David Lloyd, head Among the The Post’s findings: are kept apart from victims, mili- of the military’s Family Advocacy RESOURC tary consultants say. In 10 cases Program, said in a symposium ■ Batterers in the military are reviewed by The Post, an advocate presentation last year. “We are rarely prosecuted. In the Army, was not provided, and in some as concerned about this national

twice as many accused domes- instances commanders who knew problem as anyone else.” ES tic-violence offenders faced job- of assaults or threats downplayed Domestic abuse is pervasive in related discipline in the past concerns. the military. Between 1997 and decade as faced criminal prosecu- 2001, more than 10,000 cases of

tion in a court-martial. In 16 mur- ■ Some soldiers go on to kill spouse abuse a year have been SURVEY der cases, administrative actions their partners after their threats substantiated in the armed forces. were taken against the accused, were known to commanders or Of those cases, 114 were homicides but the Army provided no details. after they were given light pun- of adults, according to military The other service branches did not ishments for previous assaults. A records.

The military defines domestic Few studies have compared Violence to examine how the mili- INTRO violence as acts of physical, sexual military domestic-abuse trends tary handles abuse cases. and emotional abuse. For statisti- with the civilian world. One study The 24-member task force, with cal purposes, however, the mili- performed for the Army in the civilian and military members, tary often does not count intimate early 1990s suggested that the concluded this year that the sys- partners such as girlfriends as prevalence of the crimes could tem needed an overhaul to hold

domestic-abuse victims, contrary be twice as high as in the civilian batterers accountable, protect vic- PART to the civilian world. world. Other studies have con- tims and train commanders.

The rate of reported spouse cluded rates are similar. A 1999 According to the Defense 1 abuse in the military declined study found that the Army showed Department statement to The from 1997 to 2001 - from 22 per a higher rate of cases with severe Post, military officials agree with thousand active-duty personnel injuries. most of the recommendations and to 16.5 per thousand. But memos A series of spousal killings at are in the final stages of reviewing

show that Pentagon officials Fort Campbell in Kentucky during them. PART believed in 2001 that the decline the late 1990s, as well as concerns If the military does change its

was caused in part by fears that raised by The Miles Foundation approach, it will be overcoming a 2 reporting the crimes could hurt and other advocacy groups, led historical tendency to downplay careers, and that commanders Congress in 2000 to create the the severity of domestic-abuse were not reporting all incidents. Defense Task Force on Domestic problems, said Deborah Tucker, PART PART Army domestic violence offenders: 3

how cases were handled Action The statistics below are based on the year a crime was investigated, which Administrative* in some instances may not be the same the year the crime was committed. Military Courts-Martial Other** 239 229 PROFILES 48% 46% 186 168 49% 159 144 48% 139 134 140 49% 129 51% 43% 118 53% 52% 40% RESOURC 20% 21% 40% 27% 24% 12% 33% 34% 26% 29% 23% 17% 24% 25% 48% 24% 27% % ES 26% 31% 25% 23% 28% 37 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Source: Denver Post analysis of U.S. Army database The Denver Post / Jeffery A. Roberts and Thomas McKay

“It’s a sad commentary on the military justice INTRO system that we still do not treat domestic violence like other serious crimes.”

— Casey Gwinn, a San Diego prosecutor PART

co-chair of the now-defunct task ing the offender accountable,” the such crimes were incomplete. 1 force whose recommendations are task force report said. Separate data the Army pro- being considered. Civilian prosecutors place a vided to The Post this summer “Philosophically, domestic vio- high priority on convicting abus- show that more than 800 soldiers lence has been viewed by the mili- ers, said Denver District Attorney faced administrative penalties

tary as a case of family dysfunc- Bill Ritter, who chairs the board during the past decade, more than PART tion, not through a lens of criminal of the American Prosecutors twice the 400 who went to court-

behavior.” Research Institute. Two decades martial. Specific punishments 2 ago, domestic violence was too were not disclosed. The outcomes ◆ often considered a family matter, in 320 cases were blank. While civilian prosecutors in he said. In the most severe domestic- the past two decades have cracked “Now there is a focus nationally violence cases — murder — 16 down on abusers, the military on the scourge of domestic vio- accused offenders were handled PART emphasizes counseling and lence,” Ritter said. “Prosecution is administratively, the records instructs commanders to con- part of it.” show. An equal number faced 3 sider the effect of punishments on Batterers are rarely prosecuted court-martial proceedings. careers of the accused. in the military, but the exact pic- The outcomes for 14 homicide Often, offenders are given ture is obscured by flawed record- cases were blank.

administrative punishments. Or keeping and the fact that com- Defense Department task force PROFILES no discipline at all. manders have failed to report members were frustrated when “It’s a sad commentary on the punishments of their service they encountered similarly incom- military justice system that we still members to a central office, docu- plete data early in their review, do not treat domestic violence like ments show. said Tucker, the panel’s co-chair. other serious crimes,” said Casey In 2000, 12,068 cases of spouse “We were stymied by a lack of Gwinn, a San Diego prosecutor abuse were reported to the mil- information,” Tucker said. “Infor- RESOURC and member of the domestic-vio- itary’s Family Advocacy Pro- mation came back to us blank or lence task force. “When was the gram, which handles abuse cases, blacked out. This said to me that last time somebody robbed a bank according to a Defense Depart- (military officials) really don’t

and expected only counseling?” ment memorandum submitted to want to know how bad the prob- ES The task force found the system Congress. lem is.” severely flawed, preventing true Of the 1,492 cases investigated The Pentagon says its solu- accountability for offenders whose by military police, the memo tion to the poor tracking of crime

violence typically persists, leaving shows, only 26 led to courts-mar- — called the Data Incident Based SURVEY victims on their own. tial. The outcomes of 983 incidents Reporting System — should be “Commanding officers must were not reported by command fully operational next year. ensure that the institution, not officials. The memo also states After touring several military the victim, is responsible for hold- that databases designed to track installations, task force members

discovered that offenders in the INTRO military typically escaped prosecution. On a visit to the Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, records given to the task force showed that

most airmen who abused their PART spouses or girlfriends in 2000 and

2001 avoided incarceration. 1 Five airmen received light punishments for choking their wives or girlfriends, records indicated. Their punishments included rep-

rimands, extra duty and fines. PART “Case after case, the victim said

nothing was done,” Tucker said of 2 the military in general. “Then, when we look at the records at the base, it showed indeed little or LAURA SANDLER nothing was done.” ◆ Instead of taking abusers to court “All we have to protect us are the laws and the systems PART for severe assaults, they found, that are put in place, and when they are neglected, commanders relied on counseling women not only die but they are left with lifelong 3 and anger-management classes. scars that may or may not heal.” Members sat in on domestic-violence case-review committees, used For more on Sandler’s story, see Page 48 8

to screen cases and recommend PROFILES clinical treatments for batterers. most sophisticated batterers today ment, records show. Tampa police “One of them had blood and avoid accountability in the mili- arrested him on a felony charge guts everywhere, and they were tary. They’re really sorry. They go of battering a pregnant woman, talking about it like it was a minor to counseling. They want to save which was later reduced to a mis- dispute,” Gwinn, the San Diego their career.” demeanor because Hine would not prosecutor, said of a meeting at James Coleman, a Marine cooperate. RESOURC Camp Lejeune, N.C. “The social assigned to Central Command at Base officials weren’t concerned worker said, ‘Put (the husband MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, about the violence, Coleman said and wife) in counseling.’ Our jaws was sent to counseling before he in a telephone interview with The

dropped.” went on to smother his girlfriend Post. “They were mad at me for ES Commanders’ decisions are and prop her corpse on the couch bringing negative publicity.” inconsistent, Gwinn said. for a week. He later smothered her A supervisor sent him to a Men- “We deal with some who say, infant son and put the boy’s body tal Health Skills class.

‘This guy is wastewater. We bilge in the freezer. “I told him I didn’t really need SURVEY out our wastewater.’ Others say, On Sept. 15, 2002, Coleman it because I wasn’t starting any- ‘Just because he can’t get along pushed and choked his pregnant thing,” Coleman said. “He told me with his wife doesn’t mean he girlfriend, 19-year-old Jessica it would be in my best interests to can’t be a good Marine.’ ... The Hine, at their off-base apart- ework things out.”

“He came to his command and said, ‘She said this INTRO under duress. She didn’t mean it. My service record reﬂects I’ve done nothing to warrant this.’ ”

— Maj. Pete Mitchell, Central Command spokesman at MacDill Air Force Base PART

Central Command spokesman hit her. With the baby in her arms, tary committee members) would 1 Maj. Pete Mitchell said that after she repeatedly tried to climb out say, ‘Yes, we do.”’ Coleman’s arrest, “he came to his the bedroom window or run out The military camp argued that command and said, ‘She said this the front door, but he pulled her proposing changes to the code, under duress. She didn’t mean back each time. which Congress wrote and can

it. My service record reflects I’ve Finally, he choked her to death, modify, would be too politically PART done nothing to warrant this.”’ then left her for a week on a couch, charged to result in any change.

Mitchell said the commanders at times sitting next to her to watch The UCMJ has been modified but 2 decided to let civilian authorities football on TV. not revamped since it took effect handle the matter. But Coleman Finally, Coleman placed Hine’s half a century ago. became violent again. body in a brown suitcase with the The task force decided not to On Oct. 28, 2002, Hine told head and feet sticking out both tackle changes in the UCMJ. police Coleman choked her. As sides, and dumped it in a wooded The heart of the panel’s find- PART civilian prosecutors reviewed the area. ings was to encourage the mili- case, Hine returned home to Cole- For a week he fed the baby spo- tary to aggressively investigate 3 man. On Nov. 15, she told police radically until finally the child was and prosecute crimes by setting he beat and kicked her. Officers “not looking good,” he told police, up domestic-violence interven- drove her to a domestic-violence so Coleman smothered him. He tion teams. Team members would

shelter, where she stayed briefly wrapped the body in a white sheet ensure that victims had advocates PROFILES before again going home. with red roses before placing him to aid them and create safety plans Mitchell said that if police were in a Staples cardboard box and immediately. involved, “his chain of command putting the box in the freezer. They also argued that military would have known about it.” He On Dec. 26, Hine’s body was officials should conduct fatality said Coleman’s supervisor was no found. Police questioned Coleman, reviews after domestic-violence longer at Central Command and and he confessed. Now in jail, he homicides to pinpoint failings of RESOURC could not be reached for com- faces two charges of murder. the system. The reviews, increas- ment. The rules — the Uniform Code ingly common in civilian commu- Coleman said he continued with of Military Justice — that give nities, would critique how police,

counseling twice a week for about commanders wide discretion in commanders and social services, ES two months while the fights with handling cases such as Coleman’s among other agencies, respond to Hine escalated. ignited a battle among the members domestic-violence incidents. Finally, Coleman said, “things of the domestic-violence task force. Otherwise, “domestic-violence

got worse until the last one, when “We had these horrendous policies and case-management SURVEY she died.” arguments,” said member Peter practices ... may inadvertently con- On Dec. 7, 2002, Coleman later McDonald, a retired Kentucky tribute to the death of a victim or told police, he and Hine argued judge. “We would say, ‘But you offender,” said the task force report. over the stereo being too loud. He don’t do anything to them.’ (Mili- A year after the recommen-

dation, Fort Bragg suffered five INTRO domestic homicides. Tucker said task force members saw it as a perfect opportunity to perform a fatality review. “One of our members dashed

into the office of the secretary of PART defense and said, ‘Let us do this,”’

Tucker said. “But the secretary 1 had already assembled a team.” Not a fatality-review team, however. It was an Army panel that focused on the soldiers’ post-

combat stress. PART “In the crisp, bright light, Fort

Bragg might have shown the ben- 2 efits of a complete investigation” into the system, Tucker said. At the same time, Fort Bragg investigators were looking into another slaying, the details of PART which stayed hidden. No one can know whether 3 Tabitha Croom’s life could have been saved had Fort Bragg done a better job of handling domestic-

violence cases. But, experts say, PROFILES the case shows how batterers, like burning fuses, can give off visible smoke trails before an explosion. ◆ From the thick wilderness RESOURC around Fort Bragg to Croom’s small apartment in Fayetteville, N.C., the trail of evidence in her

1999 death always seemed to lead ES investigators back to her boyfriend, Sgt. Forest Nelson, documents and interviews show.

“Investigation established prob- SURVEY able cause to believe Sgt. Nelson committed the offense of murder,” Ann Croom, above center, Tabitha’s mother, is flanked by daughter Christina, reads the cover of the evidence file left, holding her son Elijah, and Ginger Bullard, Tabitha’s friend, holding another obtained by The Post. of Tabitha’s nephews, Justin. They’re seated behind a portrait of Tabitha.

“She said he told her he could kill somebody and nobody INTRO would ﬁnd the body or anything. I told her she should break up with him, get rid of him, he wasn’t good for her.”

— Maria Davis, a friend of Croom’s since the ninth grade PART

Yet after two years of build- said. When Croom began talking told police he saw Croom walk to 1 ing a case with the help of civil- about how he slapped and pushed Nelson’s car and get in. ian law-enforcement agencies, the her and made ominous state- Around midnight, Croom’s investigation was “terminated” in ments, friends urged her to leave next-door neighbor, Henry Moore, November 2002. The report noted him, they told The Post. heard “rumbling or tussling”

that “the offense was committed “She told me he would say noises coming from her apart- PART by a person who is no longer sub- things, like, to scare her,” said ment, according to a police state-

ject to the UCMJ.” Fort Bragg offi- Maria Davis, a friend of Croom’s ment. He noticed Nelson’s car 2 cials declined to comment because since the ninth grade. “She said backed up to Croom’s apartment, of the reopened investigation. he told her he could kill somebody with the trunk lid open. He later “There was enough evidence to and nobody would find the body recalled seeing white sheets in the take him to trial,” one investigator or anything. I told her she should trunk. close to the case told The Post. “The break up with him, get rid of him, The next day, Croom’s purse was PART bottom line is that his chain of com- he wasn’t good for her.” found in a downtown Fayetteville mand decided to let him go.” In April 1998, Croom filed a com- trash bin. The sheriff’s depart- 3 Nelson, who now lives in the plaint with the Cumberland County ment began a missing-person Washington, D.C., area, ended his Sheriff’s Department, stating that investigation, interviewing family tour of duty with the Army in Feb- Nelson knocked over her TV set and and friends. They learned about

ruary 2002, records show. He did threatened her and her family. Croom’s fears in recent months PROFILES not respond to an interview request. And in September 1999, she and sought to question Nelson. For several years, Nelson served reported that Nelson pounded on Talking to detectives the next in the 9th Psychological Opera- her front door, yelling, records week, Nelson “showed no emo- tions Battalion, responsible for show. She declined to press charges tion” and denied any role in her propaganda missions. Its motto: in both incidents. disappearance, records show. The “Win the Mind, Win the Day.” Croom tried to break off the rela- trunk to his car was open that RESOURC But he never won over Croom’s tionship. She started dating other night, he told police, because he friends and family, interviews and men, and Nelson, who also was was unloading laundry. records show. From the begin- seeing another woman, was grow- During the interview, Nelson

ning, the relationship between the ing fiercely jealous, records show. kept his arms and hands under- ES Fayetteville native and the older, Oct. 4, 1999, was the last day neath a table. But at one point, he cigar-smoking Nelson struck anyone saw the 22-year-old Croom raised his arms to make a gesture. Croom’s friends as odd. alive. That’s when investigators noticed

Croom, a part-time exotic Nelson was the last person “numerous scratches” covering SURVEY dancer, was gregarious and always known to have been with her. He them. smiling; Nelson was silent and picked her up that night from the They snapped pictures, specu- circumspect. He never seemed to Fayetteville Omni Theater, where lating they could be defensive fit in with her crowd, her friends she worked until 11:30. An usher wounds. Nelson said he had been

nicked while on a 4-mile “terrain INTRO run” with a friend. But records show his friend had no similar scratches and did not see cuts on Nelson’s arm the day of the run. The friend said he did notice

scratches the day after Croom dis- PART appeared.

When Nelson took a polygraph 1 examination several days after Croom was reported missing, he denied involvement in her disappearance.

“The examinee was being decep- PART tive when answering the relevant

questions,” the examiner, David 2 Soldano, wrote on Oct. 13, 1999. Justin, above, views In December 1999, hikers photos of his aunt found Croom’s body covered Tabitha, whom he in thorns in a wooded area 500 never knew. At left are feet from Nelson’s barracks. The newspaper clippings PART medical examiner ruled her death of the disappearance. “strongly suspicious of homicide” 3 and consistent with strangulation but could not establish a cause of death because the body was

severely decomposed. PROFILES Because the body was found at Fort Bragg, military investigators jurisdiction over Nelson’s unit They were stunned to find out took over the case with the con- were backing off prosecution. earlier this year that he had left sent of the local district attorney. Fort Bragg Special Agent David the military without facing pros- Police believed that Nelson’s Rodgers discussed the possibility of ecution. arm scratches could have been having Nelson reassigned to another Ann Croom and Maria Davis RESOURC caused by those thorns, records unit, under a different command, said they are dumbfounded and show, and the medical examiner where two other prosecutors sup- angry about the lack of justice in agreed they were consistent with ported sending him to trial. Tabitha’s death.

the theory. Lt. Col. William F. Lee “They stated they would seek “He’s living his life, when ES authorized a search of Nelson’s to prosecute Sgt. Nelson if he were Tabitha can’t,” Davis said. Ford Escort. The search produced reassigned,” Rodgers wrote in a Ann Croom was more upset “head hairs microscopically Sept. 25, 2001, report. when she learned from The Post

similar” to Croom’s in his trunk, By late 2002, Croom’s fam- that there is another violent chap- SURVEY records show. ily members said, Cumberland ter to Nelson’s story that military But by September 2001, records County sheriff’s investigators were investigators missed. indicate that an investigator on the telling them that Fort Bragg would In January 1992, seven years case believed that officials with probably court-martial Nelson. before Tabitha Croom died, Nel-

“The Air Force became my husband’s No. 1 enabler. As INTRO long as his superiors did not think his abuse was a problem, neither did he.”

— Nicole Beassie, whose husband was given an honorable discharge PART

son’s wife at the time, Angela, three months after civilian police His supervisor violated mili- 1 walked into the emergency room charged him with a misdemeanor tary protocol by failing to report at Cape Fear Valley Medical Cen- for dragging his wife, Nicole, down one of the incidents to Beassie’s ter, a civilian hospital in Fayette- a stairway by her feet, records squadron commander, according ville, her abdomen bleeding from show. Beassie pleaded guilty. to Peterson officials who reviewed

a gunshot wound, records show. Such a discharge was warranted the case. Nicole Beassie said her PART “We started arguing” after she because his entire Air Force ser- husband never attended the anger-

told him she wanted a divorce, she vice record was considered, said management classes. He could not 2 told The Post. “He shot me one Lt. Col. Albert Klein, the staff be reached for comment. time in the abdomen. He had me judge advocate for Peterson. Even “The Air Force became my hus- to say it was just a struggle, so the though Beassie’s record included band’s No. 1 enabler,” she said. “As military wouldn’t find out.” an administrative punishment long as his superiors did not think That was the story she gave the for the Oct. 28, 2000, assault and his abuse was a problem, neither PART hospital, medical records show. his commanders knew Nicole did he.” She divorced him. The military claimed he abused her two other A Defense Department study 3 insurance program paid for much times, Peterson officials said, showed that of abusers who left the of her recovery, she said. the Air Force considered him an military between 1988 and 1993, But she added that no criminal asset. 75 percent to 84 percent received

investigator interviewed her about “In our eyes, he was a pretty honorable discharges. For all mili- PROFILES the shooting — or about Tabitha good guy,” Klein said. “We look at tary personnel who left the service Croom’s death. the entire service record.” in the study period, 90 percent In August, Fort Bragg told The According to military rules received honorable discharges. Post that the investigation had governing discharges, command- The study also found that 54 been reopened in light of the new ers determine whether a member’s percent of abusers had been pro- evidence. service “generally has met the moted in those years, compared RESOURC standards of acceptable conduct with 65 percent for the overall ◆ and performance of duty for mili- military population surveyed. In the U.S. military, a service- tary personnel, or is otherwise so Because Beassie received an

man with a record of spouse abuse meritorious that any other char- honorable discharge so he could ES can be honorably discharged. acterization would be clearly inap- take a higher-paying civilian job, That happened in Colorado propriate.” his wife and 3-year-old daughter Springs, when Rockford Beassie, Nicole Beassie said that in could not qualify for a military

an Airman of the Year at Peter- response to her two previous abuse insurance program called Tran- SURVEY son Air Force Base in 1999, was allegations, officials sent Rockford sitional Compensation, Peterson released from the Air Force in Beassie to marriage counseling officials said. That program is January 2001. and gave him the option of attend- limited to spouses whose hus- His honorable discharge came ing anger-management classes. bands are separated from the ser-

vice for abusing them, according INTRO to the law. Nicole Beassie said the base was trying to protect Beassie and its image by releasing him honorably.

The Beassies divorced in the PART summer of 2001. Nicole and their

daughter have been left without 1 military benefits to deal with mounting medical bills and living expenses. Members of the Defense Depart-

ment domestic-violence task force PART said the transitional compensa-

tion law needs to be more flex- 2 ible, so commanders cannot create additional hardships for abuse victims. Meanwhile, Nicole Beassie has appealed to Defense Department PART officials and U.S. Rep. Joel Hef- ley, R-Colo., to help her obtain the 3 transitional compensation, saying DOROTHY FINIELLO that because she was abused, she’s ◆ entitled to the money. The military Finiello’s paintings reﬂect her pain after the years

has rejected her appeals. she spent with her husband. “Women came out of my exhibit PROFILES “It’s nice to know a criminal crying and hugging,” she said. shares the same integrity as the good men and women who serve For more on Finiello’s story, see Page 53 8 the United States honorably,” Nicole Beassie said. other news organizations reported potential victim. that commanders knew of threats “It’s probably the second most ◆ RESOURC in at least two cases but did not frequent reason a victim gets in Several military abuse cases enforce orders restricting them to touch with us: the fact they have in recent years have revealed that the installation. a restriction or a protective order

commanders knew of threats or Since then, there have been and he has now left the base and ES violence by soldiers before they more deaths. assaulted her,” said Christine went on to kill their wives or girl- Often, commanders have failed Hansen, executive director of the friends, raising questions about to enforce protective orders, civilian Miles Foundation, which

whether officials took strong steps despite having the power to moni- has assisted victims in more than SURVEY to protect victims. tor perpetrators and restrict them 11,000 cases of military domestic After a string of spousal kill- to housing or order confinement. abuse since its inception in 1987. ings at Fort Campbell in the late They also can require escorts and The scenario happened again at 1990s, CBS’s “60 Minutes” and issue orders barring contact with a Fort Campbell in August 2000.

“The danger to her couldn’t have been any clearer.” INTRO — Nancy Kreidman, a legal adviser for domestic-violence victims

Sgt. Derrick McFowler, violating military police station and con- visitation rights to see the children a state protective order as well as fessed. with her permission.

an order to stay on base, drove off Despite the death threat, DeAr- “There was not evidence to PART the Fort Campbell grounds, found mond’s commanders had not pro- believe the threatening statement

his wife, Silke Meyer, and killed vided Zaleha with a victim advo- constituted intent to commit this 1 her before fatally turning the gun cate to help her with a safety plan. crime,” the statement said. on himself, local police said. And though DeArmond was sepa- Yet other warning signs were “He was supposed to be rated from his wife, commanders known to the military, such as restricted to the barracks, but had not restricted him to his bar- DeArmond’s conviction in 1994

they’re not really restricted,” said racks or provided for supervised for choking his first wife. He PART Brian Prentice, a sheriff’s investi- movement. received counseling through the

gator in Clarksville, Tenn. “He was offered a room in the Navy for the offense, Navy officials 2 Fort Campbell authorities barracks as a result of comments acknowledged. But they did not declined to comment about the that he made indicating that he have his California record because case. had problems with his marriage,” policy does not require transfers And the scenario repeated itself said a written statement released of closed cases, they said. in June 2002. by the base. In 1999, The Miles Foundation PART It was a month after David Pearl Harbor officials said in and 79 other victim-advocacy DeArmond, a sailor based at the statement that Zaleha’s safety organizations asked the Penta- 3 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, flew into a was discussed the previous Janu- gon and Congress to require that rage while arguing with his wife, ary as part of a “counseling pro- when service members move to a Zaleha. cess” but said regulations prohibit new base, any records of abuse are

He broke the dining room table. them from releasing more infor- transferred with them. PROFILES He trashed her Koran holy book. mation. Zaleha’s family said the military And he tried to flush their wed- Nancy Kreidman, a local legal should have done more to safe- ding album down the toilet. adviser for domestic-violence vic- guard her. They also were angered “You are going to pay for every- tims whose agency helped Zaleha that the charge against DeArmond thing you did to me,” he told her. obtain the restraining order, said for killing his wife was reduced “Die. Bitch.” the base should have done more from murder to manslaughter in RESOURC The death threat and violence to protect her, such as supervising exchange for his guilty plea. The were described by Zaleha in court DeArmond’s barracks stay and base commander also agreed to papers she used to obtain a civil- providing her an advocate to fol- limit DeArmond’s prison time for

ian restraining order for him to low up on safety concerns. both slayings to 30 years. ES stay away from her. “The danger to her couldn’t A panel of fellow sailors even- A month later, DeArmond, who have been any clearer,” Kreidman tually sentenced DeArmond to 22 had been living in the barracks, said. years. He will be eligible for parole

entered their home on the base Officials defended their in about eight. SURVEY and bludgeoned Zaleha with an response, noting in the statement “For him to get 22 years for iron skillet, killing her. He then that Zaleha DeArmond agreed to killing two people?” said Zaleha’s stabbed her mother to death. The amend the restraining order prior brother, Kasti Ahmad, who lives next morning, he walked into the to her death, allowing her husband in Singapore. “Is this justice?”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS PART TWO 31 INTRO PART PART 1 PART PART 2 PART PART 3 With her daughter, Elizabeth, at her side, Toni Walker looks at a photo taken five days after the beating she suffered in January. Police arrested her husband, Army pilot Kent Walker, but Florida prosecutors dropped the case. Toni, who says she wants to forgive him, decided not to testify. PROFILES ‘I felt the military abandoned me’

BY MILES MOFFEIT “We don’t want to go out like this,” she remem- PHOTOS BY HELEN H. RICHARDSON bers crying. “We have a little girl.” RESOURC The next few hours were a blur, shifting back and n the middle of the argument, her husband forth between her pleas for him to stop choking her unlocked his gun box, telling her she needed to and his putting the gun to his own head, she said. Ifeel the barrel of his 9mm pistol. She persuaded him not to kill her, she said, shortly ES “This has got to be a joke,” Toni Walker recalled. before he collapsed on the bed from exhaustion. She In seconds, Kent Walker, an Army pilot stationed ran to a neighbor’s house to call police. in Jacksonville, Fla., pinned her to the floor of their Jacksonville sheriff’s officers soon entered the

bedroom, she said, jamming the barrel into one house and found him asleep with his fingers curled SURVEY of her eyes, then into her lips so hard it chipped a around the gun, blood on the barrel, according to tooth. the report. They arrested him. “Open your mouth, open your mouth,” he said, “Our world had crumbled,” she told The Denver grinding the barrel against her teeth. Post recently.

The assault on Jan. 19 of this year was the flash testify against him, and finally decided not to. INTRO point of almost a year of abuse, after her husband, “He’s been punished enough. I did not want his 42, had survived a helicopter crash that killed his children to see him go to prison.” co-pilot. Kent Walker referred questions to his attorney, After the incident with the gun, she asked his who told The Post that a polygraph test Walker took Florida National Guard commanders to restrict him substantiated his assertion that he did not abuse her

to the base, records show. A brigadier general wrote that night. The attorney declined to give the docu- PART back, saying military lawyers would handle the case, ment to The Post.

but he did not address her specific request. Toni Walker said she finds solace in the Bible, 1 “They said they would order him not to talk to playing the guitar and being with her children. She me, but I told them that that wouldn’t stop bullets also is trying to forgive her husband. from hitting me,” she said. “I felt the military aban- “The scar on my heart is what hurts the most,” doned me.” she said.

She said she asked for a victim advocate to help PART create a safety plan but never received one. Florida

Guard officials did not return calls from The Post. 2 Toni Walker was on her own. She spent almost a month in a shelter with her 8-year-old boy and 1- year-old daughter, trying to stay safe and find a job. Finally, she moved into her own apartment. After contacting local crisis centers, she obtained a victim PART advocate in the Navy to advise her and to help her plan for recovery. 3 Florida prosecutors dropped the domestic violence case against Kent Walker, his attorney said. Toni Walker said she agonized over whether to PROFILES RESOURC ES Top, Toni Walker strums a tune on a guitar for Elizabeth in their apartment, which still holds memories of her

marriage. Above, Walker prepares a SURVEY quick bottle of formula for her daughter. At left, Waller and her son, Preston, stand arm in arm during service at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: PART THREE

Military’s response to rapes, PART domestic abuse falls short 1

candal after scandal, time

after time, experts inside PART and outside the military

S 2 have pointed out shortcomings in how the armed forces handle cases of domestic violence and sexual assault. They have offered solutions, pleaded for changes. PART And, a nine-month Denver Post investigation found, the military’s 3 response to suggestions and criticisms has fallen short or fallen flat.

Many of the warning signs have PROFILES been glaringly public. After a naval aviation conven- VA HOSPITAL SUPPORT GROUP tion in 1991 where more than 100 ◆ officers sexually assaulted and “I was asked the question, ‘Was I ever sexually assaulted harassed dozens of women, inves- in the military?’ ” recalls Susan Armenta, above. “No one tigations were undermined and no ever asked me that question. I had been labeled depressed. I RESOURC one was convicted. Experts called thought a minute and said, ‘Yes.’ ” for more aggressive punishment of offenders. But today, leniency For more of Armenta’s story, see Page 45 8

is still the rule, as military leaders ES continue to choose administra- tims of sexual assault are vulner- still lack an advocate. tive punishments twice as often able because there are not enough After a Department of Veterans as criminal prosecution for those advocates to represent their inter- Affairs official warned a Pentagon

accused of sexual assault and ests and develop safety plans. As panel six years ago that rape cases SURVEY domestic violence. Congress did in 1994, the task were being mishandled through- The Defense Task Force on force called for more advocacy out the military, committee mem- Domestic Violence found over the programs. But task force members bers said that was a concern. But past three years that military vic- say a majority of military bases the VA official’s findings were

“The system is grossly tainted. It’s a Trojan horse — it INTRO loooks really good, but it’s not what it appears to be. And it’s done a great disservice to our military veterans.”

— Dorothy Mackey, a retired Air Force captain who now heads a rape-victim advocacy group PART

omitted from the committee’s change the Uniform Code of Mili- ■ Require more openness and 1 report to the Pentagon. tary Justice. But when it comes to accountability from the military, Despite calls for reform from sexual assault, “it is a bit premature which has failed to adequately within and outside the military, to say that we believe that changes respond to repeated scandals and the armed forces and Congress need to be made throughout the criticism.

still grant commanders disciplin- services in the handling of reports PART ary discretion, allowing them to of sexual assault,” officials said in “The system is grossly tainted,”

be lenient with criminals whom their statement. said Dorothy Mackey, a retired 2 they also regard as good soldiers. The Post research revealed that Air Force captain who now heads The system remains so insu- the military mishandles cases of a rape-victim advocacy group in lated and resistant to change that, sexual assault and domestic vio- Ohio. “It’s a Trojan horse — it as a last resort, one woman who lence. Some interviews with mili- looks really good, but it’s not what was sexually assaulted in the Navy, tary victims of sexual assault were it appears to be. And it’s done a PART Kori Hansler of Seattle, is seeking conducted even after Pentagon great disservice to our military justice from a unique venue — the officials ordered VA centers not to veterans.” 3 United Nations. make patients available to speak The pattern of problems goes “It wasn’t just the rape” that with the newspaper. back at least 15 years. damaged Hansler, said her attor- The Post found widespread In 1988, a Pentagon survey

ney, Dan Johnson. “It was the mili- consensus on how to improve the found that more than 90 percent PROFILES tary’s refusal to validate the events system: of military sexual-harassment and take any action that caused as victims did not report their inci- ■ Hire more advocates for vic- much harm.” dents, some because they feared tims of rape or domestic violence, Secretary of Defense Don- they would be blamed. At the 1991 improve investigations and keep ald Rumsfeld and other officials Tailhook Association convention, track of offenders. declined to be interviewed for this 117 naval officers were implicated RESOURC report. ■ Lessen the authority com- in sexual misconduct at a Las But Rumsfeld’s office released manders have to decide whether Vegas hotel, according to the Pen- a written statement to The Post, an offender is prosecuted and who tagon’s inspector general. Most

saying military officials are con- sits on the court- martial panel. were administratively punished; ES sidering changes proposed by the none were convicted. ■ Remove legal hurdles for vic- domestic violence task force and In 1997, following a sexual tims who want to pursue claims in agree with most of its recommen- assault scandal at the Aberdeen court or to obtain benefits. dations. “Because we review poli- Proving Ground in Maryland, an SURVEY cies and procedures on an ongoing ■ Protect victims who report investigative panel shelved find- basis, we have been making changes crimes by granting them amnesty ings linking sexual harassment for some time,” the statement said, for lesser violations such as drink- to military culture, according to adding that it is up to Congress to ing at the time of their assault. an adviser to the panel. Two years

“It (the law) is antiquated. It needs to be held to a higher INTRO standard. The military, in my opinion, is normalizing rape.” — Dorothy Mackey, a retired Air Force captain who now heads a rape-victim advocacy group

later, a panel of the National Acad- look into sexual assaults at the The Joint Service Committee, PART emy of Public Administration said academy until late last year. the military panel that reviews the

that problems were widespread in armed forces’ legal system, dis- 1 ◆ military criminal investigations agreed and said the system should into sex crimes. Military offi- In Great Britain and Canada, be retained. cials say they’ve responded with courts in recent years have sharply Then in 2001, the Cox Commis- changes but provided no specifics, curtailed the discretion com- sion implored Congress to conduct

and NAPA says the Pentagon has manders can exert over military a top-to-bottom review of the mil- PART taken no action. justice. itary justice code.

In 2001, the Cox Commis- But in the United States, the The commission said the rape 2 sion, an independent panel that military’s justice system has been statute in the military code should reviewed the military justice code only modestly modified during be changed to directly prohibit a on its 50th anniversary, found that the past few decades. service member from pressuring commanders had too much discre- Not since the 1970s has Con- someone of lower rank to have sex. tion. The Defense Task Force on gress fully assessed the military The move would reflect civilian PART Domestic Violence in March 2003 system, which gives commanders trends to address coercion. recommended dozens of ways to the authority to determine whether Many of the Air Force Academy 3 better handle domestic violence their soldiers face criminal pun- cadets and military sexual assault cases, such as providing advo- ishment and to choose the people victims who spoke to The Post cates and reviewing how the sys- who will judge the accused. said they were assaulted by some-

tem managed cases in which the Military officials contend that one who outranked them. PROFILES victim died. The task force report such powers are central to their “It (the law) is antiquated,” said victims “wish they had never mission of maintaining order and said Mackey, the former military disclosed their abuse because the discipline. “The purpose of mili- officer. “It needs to be held to a disclosure damaged their military tary law is to promote justice, to higher standard. The military, in careers.” Pentagon officials said assist in maintaining good order my opinion, is normalizing rape” they agree with 80 percent of the and discipline in the armed forces, with its policies and procedures. RESOURC proposals, but they missed the to promote efficiency and effec- Not so, said Col. Craig Smith, June deadline for responding to tiveness in the military establish- chief of the Air Force military jus- the findings. ment, and thereby to strengthen tice division.

This year’s sexual assault scan- the national security of the United “Force, under our military law, ES dal at the Air Force Academy States,” the preamble to the mili- does not have to be just physical followed two decades of warn- tary justice code states. force,” Smith said. Force can also ing signs. In 1996, for example, In 1999, Congress told the Pen- mean intimidation or threats, he

an academy official warned that tagon to plan for random selection said, “where a victim’s resistance SURVEY “female cadets may be at high of court-martial panel members, a would be futile.” risk for physical or sexual abuse change that would take away the And while the issue of force because of institutional culture.” power of commanders to decide and consent may not be addressed The Air Force did not aggressively who hears a court-martial. fully in the military justice code,

“It’s a total conﬂict of interest. The commander can INTRO choose zero punishment all the way to court-marshal.” — Christine Hansen, director of the Miles Foundation

he said, it can be found in mili- In the British military justice to take in abuse cases,” the report PART tary case law and the manual for system, the duties of the com- stated.

courts-martial. mander, or convening authority, Many in the military support 1 “So I have a lot of resources,” are divided among three bodies. the current system. Smith said. A prosecuting authority decides “Removing the commander The Cox Commission also criti- whether to take a case to court- from the panel selection process cized the role of the commander in martial, an administration officer … sends the message that the

the military justice system. selects the court-martial panel military justice system is more PART Commanders’ broad powers, members based on recommen- important than the military,”

the commission said, can sub- dations from other officers, and Army lawyer Maj. Christopher W. 2 vert the true meaning of justice. a reviewing officer justifies the Behan wrote this year in the Mili- For example, one service mem- decision. tary Law Review. ber can be court-martialed for a After a 1992 court case that “At best, random selection felony, while another committing challenged the Canadian mili- confers no actual benefit on the the same crime can be handled tary justice system, Canada also military justice system. At worst, PART through lighter, noncriminal restricted the commander’s role so it adds additional administra- administrative actions. he no longer has the authority to tive burdens that needlessly com- 3 “It’s called command discre- appoint judges or panel members. plicate the system, reduce its tion, and it’s a total conflict of A director of military prosecu- efficiency and, most critically, interest,” said Christine Hansen, tions determines whether to pur- withdraw from commanders the

Hansen, a lawyer who has han- sue a case, and court members are ability to direct the disposition of PROFILES dled military cases and heads the chosen under a modified random their personnel.” Miles Foundation, which assists. selection process based on rank. ◆ “The commander can choose zero This ensures greater fairness punishment all the way to court- than the U.S. system, Mackey In 1998, Christine Hansen was martial, and he can ask himself, said, where “you have people who walking the corridors of the U.S. ‘Is this a good soldier?’ And he can are under the thumb of the com- Capitol with Sen. Paul Wellstone RESOURC ask, ‘What is our financial invest- mander. Any of those people on and his wife. ment in this soldier?”’ that jury who vote differently than Hansen’s Miles Foundation had In the U.S. military, a com- what he wants — I dare say their counseled thousands of military

mander appoints panel members career is over.” victims of domestic violence and ES to hear court-martial cases for The military itself, in a study sexual assault. charges that the same commander ordered by Congress in 1993, Wellstone asked her: “What has referred to the court. Other found “concerns and complaints would it take to help these

countries, such as Great Britain of arbitrary and inconsistent puni- women?” SURVEY and Canada, have changed their tive responses” to abuse. She replied, “A B-52 bomber.” justice systems by removing top “Commanders … need more He looked confused. officers from this apparent con- guidance on when and what types “What I mean is, if you took flict of interest. of legal or administrative actions the money it cost to build and

“These women need rabble-rousers. They need advocates to INTRO ﬁght for their rights and make sure they stay safe.” — Deborah Tucker, a co-chair of the domestic violence task force

maintain the B-52, we could put advocates to fight for their rights Grainger ran into a federal law PART enough personnel in place to help and make sure they stay safe.” called the Feres Doctrine, which

victims,” Hansen recalled telling Lily Grainger was on a mission holds that members of the armed 1 Wellstone, who died last year in a to find justice for a young Navy forces cannot sue the military for plane crash. victim of sexual assault. injuries received on active duty. Hansen sought more money Kori Hansler was 19 when two So Grainger suggested another to staff victim advocates on all fellow sailors assaulted her on tack: Go around the Pentagon

military bases to help victims of board the aircraft carrier USS and the courts and go before the PART domestic and sexual assault. Such Abraham Lincoln more than two United Nations.

advocates provide safety planning years ago, leaving her bruised, Attorneys Dave Breskin and 2 for victims and help them navigate infected with a sexually transmit- Dan Johnson said they intend to the military’s legal system. ted disease and pregnant. appear early next year before the Wellstone later supported a Her assailants, Donnell D. Tay- Commission for Human Rights $5 million appropriation toward lor and Damany S. Degrant, were to ask for accountability of the the effort. But millions more are found guilty of conspiracy to com- officers in charge, compensation PART needed to provide women help, mit an indecent act, indecent acts for Hansler and safeguards for Hansen said. Today, a majority of and sodomy. Taylor was sentenced preventing cases like hers in the 3 the roughly 300 military bases lack to a “bad conduct” discharge and future. advocates, said Deborah Tucker, a nine months’ confinement, with Some legal experts, frustrated co-chair of the domestic violence five months’ credit for being held with a lack of improvement in how

task force. A network of civilian before trial. Degrant was sen- the military handles rape cases, PROFILES agencies, such as rape crisis cen- tenced to the same discharge and have called for an independent ters, has scrambled to fill the gap. six months’ confinement, with a investigative agency to handle During the past 10 years, there credit for five months. sexual assaults. has been an outcry for more from While Hansler’s assailants The Violence Against Women organizations and government spent less than a year behind bars, office of the U.S. Department of agencies, including the Department the Navy labeled her “a disci- Justice, among other organiza- RESOURC of Justice, the Defense Depart- pline problem,” her attorney said, tions, has called for a congres- ment’s own task force, Veterans and gave her a general discharge. sional investigation into military Affairs officials and more than a Hansler became homeless and a sexual assaults that would parallel

dozen advocacy organizations. single mother to a child who she the domestic violence task force. ES Under the Family Advocacy says is a product of the rape. At issue in the Hansler case is Program, which handles most In the summer of 2002, she a basic violation of human rights, domestic violence complaints, the turned to a civilian law firm to Johnson said. “If Kori had been

approach is tailored for treating force the military to compen- taken prisoner and raped in Iraq, SURVEY the perpetrator, not protecting the sate her for emotional distress. there would be outrage,” he said. victim. Grainger was assigned to research Said Hansler: “I would like some- “These women need rabble- the case. thing back from the people who are rousers,” Tucker said. “They need But everywhere she turned, responsible for my daughter.”

Two-year-old Angelina cries as Kori Hansler runs a comb through her hair. Hansler gave birth to the girl nine months after she says she was raped while serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. PROFILES Rape victim thinks of child ‘as gift’

BY MILES MOFFEIT the attackers,” she said. “She has his eyes, and his PHOTOS BY HELEN H. RICHARDSON hands. The forehead and hairline.” RESOURC The method of her daughter’s conception does not n the medical exam following her sexual assault change how she feels about her, Hansler said. “I just on Jan. 21, 2001, the military doctor asked Navy think about it like, a sperm donor. She was born on Isailor Kori Hansler if she had any bruising. “Then my Grandpa’s birthday. He had passed away the year ES she gave me some ibuprofen,” Hansler recalled. “That before. I thought of her as a gift.” was it.” Hansler said she did not think to ask for Yet her daughter also is prone to extreme mood emergency contraception. “I thought, ‘You can’t get swings, Hansler said, and she’s not certain how much

pregnant from being raped.”’ of it is normal 2-year-old behavior and how much is SURVEY On Oct. 21, 2001, Hansler gave birth to a daughter, passed on from her father. whom she named Angelina. Like all new mothers, she “My daughter, she throws these fits constantly scrutinized her newborn, but for a different reason. now. … The attitude, I want to blame on him.” “When she was born, she looked just like one of After her pregnancy became apparent, Hansler

said, “the Navy just let me go. I was on the streets.” my movies and just lay there.” She is physically and INTRO She moved into a homeless shelter in Washington emotionally unable to work, she said. “I can’t handle state, where she has lived for about a year. Her second being away from my kids, even though I can’t handle daughter, 9-month-old Mackenzie, was the result of a being with them.” brief relationship. She has no car and dreads the crowds on public Hansler receives disability benefits from the transportation, so she and her daughters rarely leave

Department of Veterans Affairs for post-traumatic their cramped apartment, where she shares her bed- PART stress disorder and migraine headaches, and hopes room with the baby. She sees friends on occasion,

to soon have a place of her own. and although she is not in therapy, she turns to her 1 The migraines began after her rape, she said, and church for support. strike about twice a week. When they occur, she can- Life holds little joy. Hansler says she is simply not function. “I get sick to my stomach. No lights, no existing. Yet she is not bitter and is thankful for her kids. … I shut the door to my room, turn on one of daughter. “She’s helped me be stronger than I am.” PART PART At left, Hansler shops with Angelina and

her younger daughter, Mackenzie, 9 2 months. She spends the entire $328 in food stamps she receives for a month during one trip to the store. Hansler also gets disability payments from the VA and has learned to stretch a dollar, she said, PART but often runs short of diapers and baby formula before the month is over. Below 3 left, Hansler ties Angelina’s shoes while getting the girls ready for one of their infrequent trips out. One place Hansler

turns to for support is her church, where PROFILES the pastor, below right, and his wife help watch over the young family. RESOURC ES SURVEY

“When she was born, she looked just like one of the attackers. She has his eyes, and his hands. The forehead and hairline.”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: PROFILES

Most of the more than 60 women interviewed by The Post never

reported the attacks to authorities, fearing that they would not be believed PART

or that they would face retaliation. These are some of their stories. 1 Coping with anguish and anger PART PART A R A B E L L A RIBERA

◆ 2 Arabella Ribera came from a military family. Her brother was in the Air Force; her father, the Army. In 1984, at age 18, she joined the Air Force, and was sent PART to Lowry. She had been in photography school there about three 3 months when she was invited to a party off base. She got a ride with a man in her dorm and was

caught off guard when he turned PROFILES on her in the car and forced her to perform oral sex. “I didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He grabbed me and pulled me down. … He wouldn’t let me go. I was choking. I RESOURC thought I would die,” she recalled. After that night, Ribera began to drink heavily. A few days later,

walking home from drinking at ES the airmen’s club, the same man hands up her shirt, she “freaked because of the threats and feeling followed her to a remote part out,” she said. He stopped, and that no one would believe her. of the base and sodomized her told her the incident never hap- She began to drink heavily,

again. She said she screamed and pened, and that life would be hell in order to dull the fear and her SURVEY cried until he let her go. if she told anyone. inhibitions. She became pro- The next week, when a mas- By that point, recalled Ribera, miscuous. “I was disgusted with ter sergeant followed her into a now 37, “I was shot.” myself. The guys I slept with, I bathroom and began putting his She never reported the assaults didn’t even like.”

Being a female in the military, military, she said. “It’s so ugly, don’t remember how I got in the INTRO she said, meant “you had to fight you don’t want anyone else to go back seat,” she said of that day. “I tooth and nail to compete with through it.” remember saying, ‘No! Stop!”’ the men. So I became one of the “The next thing I know, I was boys. Had a foul mouth like the being let off at the barracks.” men. Drank like them. I didn’t She became pregnant.

know how to be a lady anymore. I “When I realized I was preg- PART didn’t show emotion. I didn’t cry.” nant, I told my mother I wanted

Soon she became angry, and an abortion,” Glover said. An aunt 1 then violent. She left active performed the abortion using two duty in 1988, but stayed in the No. 22 knitting needles. Reserves until 1993. A host of After that, Glover said, she physical problems sent her to began drinking.

the Denver VA Hospital in 1996, She never reported her rape. PART where a doctor asked her if she “You have to report it to a man,

had ever been sexually assaulted. who talks to a man, who gives it 2 “I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s no big deal.’ to a man, to make the decision.” The doctor said, ‘Please, just P A U L A GLOVER She never saw that sergeant report it.”’ ◆ again. She had passed her typing Months later, in an effort to get Paula Glover joined the Air test and began to work. help, she did report her assaults Force in 1965 at age 18 because After that, two things mat- PART to the VA. She was diagnosed with of some bad weather in Philadel- tered: working hard and drinking post-traumatic stress disorder phia. hard. “I got promoted quickly,” 3 because of sexual trauma in the “I ducked into a recruiter’s she said. “I didn’t want a man to military, records show. Still, “I office to get out of a snowstorm,” be my supervisor again.” was in denial. I just wanted to get Glover recalled. “I took the test She also became promiscu-

married and have kids.” But she while I was there.” ous, but sex was not enjoyable. “I PROFILES couldn’t hold a job, and stopped Within a few months, she was couldn’t have cared less. I was a dating. in technical school at Amarillo functional alcoholic. I drank my She began therapy, but at first Air Force Base in Texas. The one way through many bases.” reliving the trauma was too much hitch to her graduating: typing She left the Air Force as a first to take. “I crawled on the floor, class. Aware that if she failed the sergeant in 1975 and took a job cried and cried and said, ‘I can’t class she would be sent home in at the post office. “I convinced RESOURC do this anymore.’ shame, Glover practiced. And myself that if I wasn’t sleeping, I “I didn’t want to die, but I practiced. should be making money. And in didn’t want to live.” The day she took the test, the between, I always found time to

She ended up in the VA Hos- instructor, a sergeant, graded it drink.” ES pital. She attends group therapy without telling her how she had Eventually, she was admitted with other women at the VA, and done. Then he asked if she wanted to the psychiatric floor of the feels there is much she has over- to get something to eat. Philadelphia VA Hospital in 1998.

come. “I blamed myself. ... I want After their meal, Glover recalls, “The women there were very SURVEY to help other women know that he stopped at a store and bought compassionate,” she said. “I was it’s not their fault, and they can a pint of Bacardi light rum and a comforted.” get counseling.” Coke. “I remember him coming Once out, she began seeing “Things need to change” in the around the car to my door, but I therapists but did not find them

helpful. “One white female psy- surplus store. Ran to and from kept to herself, and gained weight INTRO chiatrist called me an angry black school with that rucksack.” rapidly. woman,” said Glover. “I told her Marquez took an ROTC schol- When she finally reported the not to take it personally but that arship and graduated from the assault in September 1989, the she should leave the profession.” Colorado School of Mines in battalion commander said she Glover said one of those thera- Golden with a degree in engineer- was making up the complaint to

pists diagnosed her with post- ing and geophysics. She entered “ruin” the man’s career, she said. PART traumatic stress disorder and put the Army Corps of Engineers in She was immediately given a

her on medication. At the time, 1987 as a second lieutenant. reprimand for being overweight, 1 she did not tell VA officials she “I was in charge of 36 men, and then accused of cheating during a was raped. they didn’t like it,” she recalled. physical fitness test, she says. Finally, in September 2002, she “They questioned my integrity, had a breakdown and planned to and that was the last straw. That’s

kill herself. “I was tired. Tired of when I buckled.” PART not knowing, hurting, drinking, In August 1990, she applied for

being alone, getting angry.” medical school at the University 2 A friend stopped her, and she of Colorado at Denver and was was hospitalized for 19 days in a accepted. But a phone call about ward with men. “THEY should her assault from an officer, who have been scared of ME,” she may have been investigating jokes now. During that visit, a another crime by her attacker, PART doctor asked her for the first time sent her reeling emotionally. if she had been sexually assaulted Marquez, 40, of Denver keeps “After that call, I couldn’t con- 3 in the military, Glover said, and a scrapbook of that time, full of centrate,” Marquez said. “I had to she told her yes. awards for athletic events and drop out of med school, and my She joined a sexual-assault other accomplishments. “This life has been all about dropping

treatment program. Now, she is the person I was,” she said, out ever since. ... I have a degree PROFILES said, “I better understand why I nodding to it. “Ambitious, moti- that I should be making about a did so much of what I did.” vated.” six-figure income. Yet since the And she wants to help other A man in her unit was helping military, in 12 years’ time I’ve women. “As a first sergeant, I kept her train for company runs. gone through 31 jobs. No relation- referral numbers to abortionists. Afterward, at her barracks, he ships to speak of. I push them Told my rookies of the option. sexually assaulted her, she said. away.” RESOURC Many came to me that had been She did not immediately report She wonders what has hap- sexually assaulted. How do you the crime. She was the officer, pened to her life, her plans. “Why take this from people? This thing and he was the noncommis- can’t I fit in? Why am I always

needs to be told so badly.” sioned officer, and Marquez felt on the outside looking in? What’s ES she would be blamed because she the point to this life - I can’t do was supposed to be in control, she anything right. O R L I N D A MARQUEZ said. “I think, ‘I could be a colonel

◆ Afterward, Marquez said, “I right now ...’ I felt like I was weak. SURVEY Ever since she was a kid, quit. I found every excuse I could I let them break me.” Orlinda Marquez dreamed of from a stubbed toe to a cough She has gone to the VA for help, being an officer in the military. “I that wouldn’t go away” to not was diagnosed with post-trau- bought a rucksack from an Army participate in any events. She matic stress disorder, and attends

counseling sessions for sexual She was walking home from said, “I had enough. I threw stuff INTRO trauma. She has been hospitalized a movie theater one night with in the office, said, ‘You will never for depression. a sailor from the base when he touch me again.”’ She was ordered Group therapy at the VA is suddenly pulled her into a dugout to go to the infirmary, and from helping her put the pieces of her on the baseball field and raped there an ambulance came and life together, Marquez said. “I’ve her. She fought him hard enough she was taken to Oakland Naval

not totally accepted I’m a worth- to make him bleed, she said. Hospital, where she was put in a PART while person yet, but it’s helping Later, afraid of being blamed, she psychiatric unit.

me get there.” washed her bloody clothes and Once released, she was told 1 did her best to wipe the memory she was being given an honorable of the rape from her mind. discharge for medical reasons. Assigned to a job at Lemoore Two days before the congressio- Naval Air Station in California nal aides were due to return to

as an engine mechanic, Jones Lemoore, she was barred from the PART struggled for acceptance from her base, Jones said.

peers. “Being a black female in Still, as a result of her earlier 2 a nontraditional job is hell,” she complaints, some of the men said. “From day one, they didn’t were brought in for a hearing like me.” before a captain. At the hear- The hazing became malicious, ing, Jones said, she was asked, and happened every day. Some- “What clothes did you wear? Did PART times, she said, they groped her. you brush your breasts against F A R E N JONES She went to her commanding them?” The men were given ver- 3 ◆ officers, who dismissed her com- bal warnings. “They got nothing. “Every time I tripped over plaints, Jones said. She went to a I got destroyed.” another female veteran, it was human resources officer, “who Nobody talked to her after

almost always the same story, and told me I was hallucinating.” that. Now living in Florida, she is PROFILES there was no help for us,” recalled A group of congressional aides unable to work and, some days, Faren Jones, 38, who served in the concerned about sexual harass- struggles just to go grocery shop- Army Reserves and the Navy. ment visited Lemoore in 1988 to ping. In 1983, Jones was stationed gather information, Jones said. Jones, who records show is con- near Fort Bragg, N.C., when During an assembly, one of the sidered by the VA to be 100 percent she was raped in her home by a commanders told the aides “there disabled by post-traumatic stress RESOURC Marine who was a friend of her was no sexual harassment on this disorder related to sexual assault, husband, she said. He choked her base,” recalled Jones, who was said she is still in treatment. “I and threatened further harm if there. “I said, ‘Well, I don’t know have flashbacks, panic attacks,

she told anyone. which base he’s on.”’ migraine headaches. So many ES She became pregnant, and She stood up in the assembly, things I have to struggle with daily was not sure if the father was her she said, opened a notebook and just to get out of the house. It’s husband or the rapist. After five began reading incidents she had taken over my life.”

months of anxiety, she miscar- recorded. “Then I pointed to “They looked at me and SURVEY ried. different people, talking about laughed. I still get angry about Jones then attended a naval things I had witnessed.” Silence that. I was powerless, and have aviation school in Memphis, swept over the room, she said. been powerless ever since. But I’m Tenn. At work a few days later, Jones working on it.”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS PROFILES 44 INTRO B E V E R LY KONDEL ◆ Beverly Kondel was 18, in the Army and out with a friend of a friend in the military when he invited her home to meet up with his wife, whom she knew. Yet his wife wasn’t there.

“He raped me,” Kondel, now 47, said of that night PART in 1974. “The next time I saw him, he joked about

how he had to throw the sheet away because it had 1 my virgin blood on it, so his wife wouldn’t find out.” After that, she said, “I started drinking pretty heavy. Became promiscuous.” The military attitude concerning rape, she said,

“was that it was always the woman’s fault.” So she PART did not report it.

“My life was ruined. I had been brought up Catho- 2 lic. Virginity was for your husband. … I felt like I was ruined, damaged goods. As a result, I’m not a mother and I’m not a wife. I know I’ll never be a mother, but I hope to be a wife, if I can find someone to put up with the idiosyncrasies of PTSD.” PART She began therapy, but still struggles with depression and issues of self-worth. “I don’t know who Bev 3 Kondel is, and I live in her body. And I don’t know how to find out who I am. I’ve had guns put to my head over the years - I’m not very good at picking

men. After being raped, you don’t think you deserve PROFILES much in life. So it’s real hard to get it when you don’t think you deserve it. “I think I should have been a different person.”

MAURINE “I was so scared,” Maurine because she was pregnant from RESOURC ◆ said. “I didn’t know what to do.” the rape, she said. “I told my Maurine, 72, joined the Air She was 21. “You never heard commanding officers. They were Force in 1951 at age 19. “I was much about rape then. … I dumbfounded, sympathetic. They

treated with respect,” she recalls remember thinking they could found out the officers’ names. ES of basic training. “I was the only kill me.” Nothing ever happened to them.” woman in medical supply.” She did not report it at first. Maurine, on the other hand, At a party outside her base in “They were officers. I was an was forced to accept an immediate

Westover, Mass., she accepted a enlisted person. We were not sup- honorable discharge because of her SURVEY ride from two officers, pilots as posed to fraternize. I was afraid of pregnancy, her records show. She she remembers. They drove her being in trouble. You’re ashamed. was sent to a Salvation Army home to a secluded area and took turns You don’t want anybody to know.” for unwed mothers in Connecticut. raping her, she said. But soon she had to tell, She arrived in May, had the baby

in August. She put the girl up for the rape itself, but can recall wak- INTRO adoption. No one suggested she get ing up the next morning feeling counseling. “I was just sent away, numb. “I went to the bathroom and that was it.” and saw the blood and the sticki- In the years since, she married, ness and the bruises,” she said. “I had children and worked a series took the longest shower of my life,

of nondescript jobs so no one and that was it.” PART would check her background and Weeks later, she realized she

perhaps find out about the baby, had contracted a sexually trans- 1 she said. “It’s guilt and it’s shame.” mitted disease from the assault, Then her anger began to sur- she said, and was treated by a doc- face, and it turned to rage. Her SUSAN A R M E N T A tor. She never told him what hap- marriage ended. “I couldn’t stand ◆ pened. “You just didn’t hear about

for anybody to touch me.” As one of the few women work- being raped in the military.” PART Finally, in January 2002, Mau- ing in an ambulance unit at Tripler She regrets that decision.

rine blurted out to a friend that she Army Medical Center in Hawaii in “I know the way the military 2 had been raped. She began going to 1983, 18-year-old Susan Armenta structure is; it will happen to young the VA in Boston and getting coun- did not question a supervisor when people coming in, and I don’t want seling, which helps, she said. “I’m he instructed her to wear only them to be afraid to come forward. trying to control my rage. I don’t get dresses. Then he told her to wash ... I want people not to be like me. I angry like I used to. Sometimes I the ambulances in front of the bar- want those girls to come forward. PART feel like ripping the world apart. It’s racks. Finally, he asked her to din- I know it’s going to hurt them so a horrible thing, rage.” ner, and she asked for a transfer. much more if they don’t.” 3 After the anger, she said, comes She was alone in her barracks After the rape, Armenta depression. “Sometimes I get so early one morning when her next returned to work. “I drank wine depressed I feel like I’m an empty supervisor walked in and sexually to keep myself under control. I

paper bag. But I fight it. assaulted her. As he was leaving, was so scared I would see him PROFILES “I deserve more,” Maurine said. Armenta, now 39, recalls his saying, again. One day at work I began “My life was ruined; it was com- “Thank you. You just made my day.” crying hysterically. I asked for pletely wrecked. I could have been She did not report him, she said, a chaplain, and the next thing anything. But I didn’t want anyone for fear she would be demoted or I knew I was admitted to the to know I had a baby. I could have punished. Two months later, she psychiatric hospital.” stayed in the service, been an offi- left the service and eventually Because of her breakdown, RESOURC cer. I loved the service. And they joined the Reserves. she did not go to Saudi Arabia. told me, ‘You have to go.’ In 1991, Armenta was activated After getting out of the hospital, “Sometimes I feel like ripping for Operation Desert Storm. She she said, people shunned her. “I

the world apart. It’s a horrible was at Fort Carson in Colorado was treated like an outsider and a ES thing, rage. … I don’t like people. Springs doing laundry when she coward.” I don’t trust people. I can’t work walked back into her room and She took a job with the Depart- with the public. That’s why I suddenly felt a huge shove. ment of Veterans Affairs as a

stopped driving.” “I remember seeing a face and claims specialist, and one day at SURVEY She keeps a billy club at her blond hair. I know the person was the end of 2001 she was working bed. “I can tell you no one will very heavy because I was hurting on a rape claim when she became ever touch me without my consent so bad,” she recalled. depressed, so she went to see a again. Never.” She remembers few details of counselor.

“I was asked the question, ‘Was do was cry and think, ‘What’s Her only hope, Rodriguez said, INTRO I ever sexually assaulted in the going to happen to my baby?’ I can has been the VA in Denver. “I’m military?’ … No one had ever remember the tears coming down doing better, and I believe it’s asked me that question. I had my face, and he was saying I was because I have a support system. been labeled depressed. I thought crying because I was enjoying it. I’m not alone. I no longer have to a minute and said yes.” He had his hand on my throat.” be in denial. I couldn’t figure out

Rodriguez, now 51, doesn’t what’s wrong with me. Why can’t PART remember how she got away. “I I function?”

went to my dorm, locked myself She now rents a room in Boulder 1 in my room, and my whole life and is being treated for post-trau- changed.” matic stress disorder “for a trau- She did not report the attack matic experience she had in her because she dreaded returning to military service,” her records show.

the general who had belittled her “To be able to get to this point PART before, and she was afraid the mili- seems like a miracle,” she said.

tary would regard her as a trouble- The trauma from rape, she 2 maker. “I was not about to ask the said, “takes your life if you let it. S O F I A RODRIGUEZ same general for anything.” ... I joined the military with my ◆ After that, she withdrew. “I whole heart. You don’t expect to It was hard enough to tell the blamed myself. I even thought be raped by your own peers or general about the baby. about suicide.” Yet at that moment, superior.” PART Sofia Rodriguez was 25 and she felt the baby move for the first had been in the Air Force one time. “It changed my perspective.” 3 year when she fell in love with She gave birth to a son in someone in her unit and became August 1978, and stayed in the pregnant. Air Force three more years. After

So Rodriguez told the com- that, she worked a string of jobs. PROFILES mander at McClellan Air Force “I’ve always kept myself under the Base in California that she was radar — trying not to make any pregnant, and begged him to waves.” Her relationships were allow her to stay, something the volatile and brief. military was just beginning to Last fall, it all caught up with permit in 1976. He agreed, but in her. Stress had taken a toll on Y U R I R I A ACUNAPINEDA RESOURC a mocking tone. her health, and when she arrived ◆ She was in her third month of at the VA Hospital in Denver for In the report that cleared the pregnancy and not yet showing medical services, seeing people in man accused of raping Navy

when she was raped. A staff ser- uniform brought flashbacks. sailor Yuriria Acunapineda, the ES geant, who had always appeared “All the memories started investigator cited many reasons quietly professional, told her he coming.” She began having panic for dropping the case: would help her prepare for an attacks so severe that, if driving, No one heard Acunapineda say

evaluation of her job as an aircraft she would have to pull over. Soon no or cry for help. Her supervisor SURVEY mechanic if she came by his home. she could not work, could hardly said that, in general, he did not “The next thing I remember function. She lost her job, then believe she was a truthful person. … he was raping me,” Rodriguez her apartment and ended up on The investigator questioned said. “I couldn’t move. All I could the street. her fear, her emotional trauma

and brought up that she had been nia, but he couldn’t acknowledge grabbed her until she kneed him INTRO drinking the night of the alleged what happened to her. in the groin. rape in June 2001. She said she would follow him There was another major who There was one hitch: The poly- around the house saying “rape, stopped by her apartment unan- graph exam of the accused rapist rape, rape” to force him to accept nounced to talk about work, then showed he was deceptive when he reality. began groping her. She screamed,

denied forcing Acunapineda to She said she slept with many and a neighbor came to her door. PART have sex. men. “If I had sex with different Her attacker left.

Still, the investigator dismissed people, it would validate me. I There was the commander’s 1 this “contrary piece of evidence” came so close to killing myself.” driver who pushed her against a with the accused rapist’s own At a homeless shelter for veter- wall, trying to kiss her, until she explanation: While at one point ans in Long Beach, she met Linda began slapping him. Acunapineda said no, she later Miles, a caseworker who also was There was the officer who gave

changed it to yes. a veteran and victim of military her a ride home when her car PART “He coaxed her to allow him to sexual assault. Miles helped Acu- was in the shop and followed her

continue, which, according to his napineda apply for benefits for inside. She fled to the bathroom 2 description, was successful,” wrote post-traumatic stress syndrome and locked the door, staying there Navy investigator Kevin O’Neil in a and begin counseling. for hours until she was sure he report dated Oct. 15, 2001. There- Although she is only 24, she had left. fore, O’Neil said, he recommended said it’s hard to feel hopeful about The first time, Hudson the accused rapist, Roger Northern her future when she had planned reported the incident. She never PART II, receive no more than nonjudi- to remain in the Navy. “Every- heard back from the Army. cial punishment. The Navy refused thing I learned in there, it’s use- In 1969, after a party at a base 3 to say if Northern was disciplined, less now. I have to start all over. I in Germany, a lieutenant she had and he could not be reached for feel it was all taken from me, what dated raped her in her apartment comment. I had worked so hard to get.” on Halloween night.

O’Neil also discounted Acu- “I fought him at first, but he PROFILES napineda’s account of putting her was getting really aggressive, and hands on Northern and choking I was afraid I’d be seriously hurt,” him after the encounter, something Hudson recalled through tears. backed up by an eyewitness who Finally, he fell asleep, and she fled walked into the bathroom where to a girlfriend’s home. the incident occurred. He also did Frances Hudson was sexually RESOURC not give weight to the fact she ran assaulted many times while in the from the bathroom and immedi- Army. The man who wanted to ately reported the alleged assault, marry her asked no questions.

breaking down in tears to those Hudson says the problem of ES who asked her what happened. F R A N C E S HUDSON sexual assault in the military has During the investigation, Acu- ◆ been going on a long time. napineda said, “My chief, every- For Frances Hudson, it’s hard She did not report that assault.

body, said, ‘You weren’t raped.’ ” to remember the details of each “There was no support,” she said. SURVEY It took Acunapineda six months time she was assaulted while “The standard reply was, ‘Are you after the alleged rape to be released serving in the Army from 1965 to sure you want to ruin his career?’ It from the Navy. Once out, she 1971. (the consequences of reporting) got moved in with her father in Califor- There was the major who around very quickly. The charges

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS PROFILES 48 INTRO would never come out. You’d lose L A U R A SANDLER your position, be transferred.” ◆ She became pregnant from the In the summer of 1999, Laura Sandler walked into the office of her rape. “Even though I don’t believe boyfriend’s Fort Bragg commander, holding a stack of police documents in abortion, there was no way I detailing a months-long streak of abuse by the soldier, Joshua Ott. There was going to have his child and was the April 10 report, in which she said he dragged her by the hair and

be reminded of him the rest of my threw her into his car. There was the May 5 report about his death threat. PART life.” She borrowed money and There was the recent restraining order from a local civilian judge.

flew to England for the abortion. Crying, a pregnant Sandler told them she feared for herself and the 1 Months later, she met the man baby she carried. She wanted help. “Yes, this is serious,” she recalled who would later become her hus- Ott’s captain telling her. His commanders ordered him into anger-man- band. He also was in the military. agement classes. Sandler When he proposed, she consented said Ott only got angrier.

under one condition. A few months later, PART “I told him I was raped and after she had delivered

had an abortion, and if he could their baby, she decided 2 accept that and never mention to visit his barracks on it again. He agreed. We’ve been the North Carolina base married 33 years this December.” to retrieve her books and Hudson married and left the personal belongings, she Army in 1971. She and her hus- said. Figuring she would PART band had one child, a son born be safe while other soldiers with multiple disabilities. “I dealt were around, she knocked 3 with a lot of guilt from that. I on his door. His roommates were sleeping. She later told police that didn’t know if it was from my after she and Ott argued, he dragged her into his bathroom, grabbed abortion,” she said. her by the neck, slammed her against the wall, pushed her against the

For years, she tried to never toilet, shook her and bent her fingers back. Trying to fend him off, she PROFILES think about the rape, but memo- scratched his abdomen. He then told her to get out. ries of it surfaced. Ott’s version: Sandler angrily showed up at his barracks asking if he “I have problems to this day was going to beat her up in front of his friends, then started scratching — nobody can touch my face,” him after he tried to hug her. Investigators found both of them respon- said Hudson, now 60 and living in sible but didn’t prosecute, she said. Denver. “I freeze; I get flashbacks. Later, she returned to see his commanders. She showed them the RESOURC I can’t breathe because he (the report of the latest incident. They had no reaction, she said. She left, rapist) covered my face.” asking that they keep him away from her. Ott continued to harass her Her son, who is in a wheelchair, until he was discharged and left Fort Bragg, she said. “He realized he

has trouble understanding why his was untouchable,” Sandler said. Ott could not be reached for comment. ES mother turns away when he reaches Sandler now lives in the Fayetteville area, where she works part-time out to touch her face, she said. doing research for her father’s radio talk show. She also has spoken at a She now attends group counsel- congressional hearing and at fundraisers for victims of domestic violence.

ing. “After all the brainwashing She said she still lives in fear of Ott and has trouble trusting men. “Basi- SURVEY you get in the military, you really cally, Joshua and their commanders escaped accountability for the devas- feel it’s your fault,” Hudson said. tation they caused,” she said. “All we have to protect us are the laws and “The hardest thing to get past the systems that are put in place, and when they are neglected, women not is that you are not the guilty one.” only die but they are left with lifelong scars that may or may not heal.”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS PROFILES 49 INTRO C O N S T A N C E CULBRETH ◆ The day she died, Constance Culbreth had brought with aggravated battery on a pregnant 18-year-old, her 4-year-old daughter to her mother’s home and but police say she left the state and so the charges told her family she was going to collect her things were dropped. Culbreth’s mother, Constance Weeks, and be back. She never made it. The scene where said she believes base officials knew he was unstable

Culbreth lay dying was so gruesome that the first and yet worked to protect him and not her daughter. PART police officer to look into the room exclaimed, “Oh, Williams had received counseling while overseas,

my God.” police said, and had told his supervisors he was 1 “There was blood from one end of that apartment stressed, having domestic problems and contemplat- to the other,” recalled Tampa homicide detective ing suicide. Upon his return to the States, Weeks Julie Massucci of the May 20, 2003, case. Culbreth, said, he checked up on Culbreth constantly, to the 20, had been stabbed and shot in the head. Her nose point that it interfered with his work. “The military

was nearly severed. She had two stab wounds to her asked her, ‘Why is he calling you all the time?”’ PART left thigh, stab wounds to her right arm and left eye, Weeks said, recalling a conversation with her daugh-

and gunshot wounds to her left arm, left cheek and ter. 2 left ear, records show. She died minutes later at a A few weeks before Culbreth’s death, Weeks said, Tampa hospital. her daughter was brought to MacDill to meet with Her boyfriend, Army Sgt. Richard Williams, had Williams’ commanders. “They wanted him to stay in returned to MacDill Air Force Base from Kuwait six the Army and her to keep him calm.” weeks earlier, police say. He confessed, telling detectives Central Command spokesman Maj. Pete Mitchell PART he had been stressed while he was stationed overseas, said that he had no information on Williams’ case and and was worried that Culbreth was being unfaithful. that because of a high turnover rate, Williams’ supervi- 3 “He felt like she drove him to do what he did,” sor could not be located. Weeks said she would like to recalled Massucci of her interview with Williams. It plaster posters of her daughter along the streets that wasn’t the first time Williams had been violent with lead to MacDill for base officials to notice. “So every

a woman, police said. In July 2002, he was charged time they drive by, they have to see her face.” PROFILES

Constance Weeks, at left, holds a T-shirt bearing a portrait of her daughter, Constance Culbreth. RESOURC Culbreth’s boyfriend, an Army sergeant, has confessed to

killing Culbreth. ES SURVEY

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS PROFILES 50 INTRO G I L L I A N FOY afraid of my father right now and ◆ don’t want to see him.” Last spring, Gillian Foy was The incident occurred during a crushed to learn that her hus- visit to New Mexico by Lt. Col. Ross band, Sgt. Sanz Foy, was having Gobel, who was stationed in Los an affair and had fathered a child Angeles, to see their two boys, who

in the relationship. After she told were in the custody of their mother. PART him she wanted a divorce, he went The parents began to argue on

into a rage, choking her until she the porch of her home. Neal-Post 1 passed out, she told police. When asked Gobel to leave the house. she awoke, he was raping her. She told police Gobel refused and Afraid and ashamed, she said, Later, a “case review com- lunged toward her as she screamed she didn’t immediately report mittee” concluded that Foy had for her son to call the police.

the assault to police at the Army sexually abused her. He was given Gobel ordered him not to, then PART installation in Grafenwoehr, Ger- counseling. Investigators said pushed her to the floor and began

many, where they were based. there was insufficient evidence to choking her. After a few minutes, 2 Instead, she slept in a separate prosecute Foy. Gobel jumped up and grabbed the room while trying to plot her way Gillian Foy is staying with her phone to call the police himself, out of the marriage. sister on the East Coast while according to affidavits. Over the next two weeks that asking Congress and lawyers to The local police investigated April, he would slip into her room investigate the handling of her and charged both Neal-Post and PART in the middle of the night and case. Unable to find work, she is Gobel. Both charges eventually rape her repeatedly, she said. applying for welfare and hopes to were dropped, she said. 3 He would “take it” any time he return to school. Later, Neal-Post’s son, who she wanted, she said he told her. “The military talks a lot about said initially was too distraught “I finally decided I would leave how important family values are,” and scared to testify after the

the house either on my own voli- Foy said. “But if you are being incident, swore in an affidavit PROFILES tion or in a body bag,” Foy said. abused and speak up, you are that his father attacked his mom. She packed her bags on May viewed as a troublemaker that Gobel’s commanders in Los 9. For five hours, she told police, needs to be sent away. What they Angeles reviewed the allega- they battled while he blocked said to my husband was: You can tions and dismissed them. But the door. She finally escaped to a do this again.” Neal-Post said the California friend’s house. officials never questioned her or RESOURC She reported the attacks to his the 12-year-old. Gobel and his commander, Sgt. Marc Hickey, J O D Y NEAL-POST commanders did not respond to and the police. She expected he ◆ requests for comment.

would be prosecuted. Neither Jody Neal-Post’s medical “From what I can tell, they ES Hickey nor Sanz Foy responded to records tell the story of an attack: didn’t do anything to him,” said requests for an interview. the fingerprints on her neck, the Neal-Post, a lawyer based in A few days later, she learned bruises up and down her chest Albuquerque.

that her husband, with his com- and stomach. The base’s attorney wrote her SURVEY mander’s permission, had filed So does a May 2002 affidavit a September 2002 letter, explain- papers to have her sent back to from their 12-year-old-son: “He ing why his supervisors didn’t the United States. She had three got on top of her and then began take action against him for the days to pack. to beat her and choke her. I’m May incident. “This is a private

civil matter and appears to be an shut down.” She drank, did drugs, INTRO outgrowth of the ongoing legal whatever it took, she said, to disputes between you and your numb herself. “I felt like nothing. former husband,” the letter said. Vulnerable. Less than. Angry. Neal-Post is battling with mili- Hurt. Scared. Like I wasn’t pro- tary officials to release records tected and like I should be able to

that would show why her ex-hus- protect myself.” PART band was not punished. She went to Fort Stewart, Ga.,

“In the military, you are where a major invited her to a 1 rewarded for violent behavior. barbecue at his home. No one else This indoctrinates people to a was there, she said. He tried to certain state of mind, that they rape her, and she fought him off. While she was in training school, a can do this even at home.” After that, she began having dis- fellow soldier came to her home to

cipline problems for her attitude get notes for a class, beat her and PART and would hide in the hospital raped her. He told her he’d kill her

where she worked. She began to if she told, she said. 2 drink and do drugs more. “I didn’t report it because Finally, McGrail left the Army, where was I safe on that base? He because “I didn’t think I could could go anywhere ... and who keep it together anymore.” was I going to tell?” In 1999, a doctor’s exam trig- She wants to warn women who PART gered flashbacks of the rape, and join the military that they need to she was in a state of panic for protect themselves and get help 3 weeks. She hasn’t worked since. if they are assaulted. “It’s too late “Everything crumbled. Like I for me, but these young ladies was living on a tower of cards and just beginning (in the military)

R O S E MCGRAIL someone knocked one out. Now — who gives them the right to PROFILES ◆ I’m working on building some- snatch their lives away?” A year after Rose McGrail thing substantial.” “It has affected my life from joined the Army at age 19, a pla- McGrail, who lives in Florida, that time on,” said Scott, who toon sergeant at Fort Benning, Ga., was told she could not get service lives in Southern California and kept her in and raped her while the benefits because she had no proof last year was laid off as a telecom- rest of her company went to the of her assaults, and she is appeal- munications worker. RESOURC field, she said. She fought him, and ing that decision, records show. “I was just going through the he mocked her because she was so Now her days are scheduled motions,” she said. “I had a lot of small (5-feet-2). around therapy and medications. hostility, terrible outbursts. Any

She did not report him, she “Not what I had envisioned for my man, it was like, let me at him. ES said, because “he was in my chain life.” “I beat myself up a long time. of command.” Why did I stop fighting him? It “I wish the military were better was my fault. I couldn’t cope. I

communicators to women,” she G L O R I A SCOTT still see the bruises. I don’t look SURVEY said. “I had fear that if I reported, ◆ attractive to me because I still see I’d be retaliated against. Also, Gloria Scott, 45, was in the those scars. counseling carried a big stigma.” Army from 1980 to 1984 and in the “You say, ‘I’m going to suck it After that, she says, “I kind of Army Reserve from 1985 to 1992. up. I can cry in the shower.’ The

other women are compassionate, next morning” with a man raping lesson, (the nurse) left the baby INTRO but they’re happy as heck it’s not her. there all night, curled against my them.” One of her girlfriends also was stomach,” Johnson said, crying at Now, she is gathering records in the room. Silently, they got the memory. to prove her claim to the Depart- dressed. “I didn’t think it was fair to ment of Veterans Affairs for As they were leaving, they saw have kids after that. I feel like a

benefits. “To this day I have the a group of men outside the door. murderer.” PART same nightmare: I’m fighting for At that point, Johnson said, she She retreated into an isolated

my life. And when I wake up, the realized she had been gang-raped. life. “I buried it deep, and I for- 1 covers are all jumbled and torn She said she reported to the got.” up. But they tell me they need officer on duty, a female lieu- In 1990, she watched the movie proof something happened to me. tenant, that she had been gang- “The Accused,” with Jodie Fos- How dare they?” raped. “She wrote nothing down. ter portraying a woman who is

She told me other women had gang-raped. “I fell apart. Couldn’t PART been raped at that party that stop crying. The memories came

night and other women reported back.” 2 the rapes, but nothing had been She began counseling, which written down.” she continues. Still, she is angry. Ashamed and demoralized, “I don’t get along with people. I Johnson did not try to report her get fired from jobs.” assault again. In 1991, Johnson began receiv- PART Months later, Johnson real- ing benefits for post-traumatic ized she was pregnant from the stress disorder related to her rape. 3 assault. Her command scheduled To this day, “I’m deathly afraid her to get an abortion, records of hospitals,” she said. “I have to show. take a tranquilizer before I do a

D E B O R A JOHNSON After the abortion, the Army dental procedure.” PROFILES ◆ gave her an honorable discharge. She has found an unusual At Fort Gordon in Georgia, “I wanted to stay in, and talked way to cope: her white standard women on base “were encouraged to the major,” Johnson recalled. poodle, Echo. “I hate to admit to drink in our rooms, because “She said, ‘We don’t want people to being afraid of doing things,” rape was an issue there,” said like you in the military.”’ Johnson said, and Echo helps. She Debora Johnson, who joined the Back home, Johnson became takes him everywhere. “People RESOURC Army in 1969 at age 18. promiscuous, which experts say say, ‘You don’t look blind. What’s Johnson and four other female is a common reaction to sexual wrong with you?”’ friends agreed to watch one trauma. She became pregnant And although she jokes that

another’s backs. Invited to a again and scheduled an abortion. Echo is her service dog for “being ES party, they reminded one another The nurse reviewed her medi- crazy,” Johnson wants others of their deal. Yet after half a cal records and became angry to realize she is a sane person drink, Johnson said, she felt very because Johnson was having coping with a horrible trauma.

disoriented. “Later on I learned I another abortion, she said. “People who know me know I’m SURVEY was drugged,” she said. The procedure involved not crazy. I’m really not crazy. If “I have a shadow memory of injecting her with saline solu- you want to join the military, join that night. Two men helping me tion, which caused her to have a the military. But by God, watch up a flight of stairs. I woke up the miscarriage. “So to teach me a your back.”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS PROFILES 53 INTRO D O R O T H Y FINIELLO ◆ During the meeting at Fort Bragg in North Caro- lina, Dorothy Finiello wore long sleeves to cover her bruises. Her husband’s civil-affairs unit had invited couples to the Army base in the summer of 2002 to

discuss counseling services and to introduce a new PART chaplain in the wake of a series of spousal killings.

Finiello sat silently, tears welling up in her eyes, 1 she said. The previous December, she and her teen- age children said, her husband, James Finiello, pushed her head into a windowsill. Then, two weeks before the meeting, the enlisted serviceman she had

loved for 10 years had another meltdown. PART She said she found out that he was having an affair

and that he was secretly draining their bank funds. 2 Her husband, she said, had forced her to the floor in their bedroom and stepped on her head with his boot. “He told me not to say a word or it would be the end of our marriage,” said Finiello, a Fayetteville art gallery curator. PART When she told one of his sergeants, he responded: “Think about what you’re saying; this could ruin his 3 career,” she recalled. Her paintings reflected her pain. Tears dripped her husband’s actions and his command’s lack of from the eyes of her subjects, many of them self-por- response. An investigation ensued, she said. Inves-

traits. One depicted her sullen face recoiling at his tigators never detailed their findings to her, but she PROFILES angry words. said Fort Bragg eventually dropped her husband in In mid-June, she had called his team leader, Sgt. rank and restricted him to the base. And this year, William Wright, seeking help for marital problems. documents show, he was discharged from the mili- His answer: “Pray about it.” Not satisfied, she went to tary. Fort Bragg officials did not respond to ques- a captain, who told her he would look into it. Mean- tions from The Post. James Finiello could not be while, she said, Wright called her back, accusing her reached for comment. RESOURC of making unfounded allegations. After she insisted “I was finally listened to,” Dorothy Finiello said. she desperately needed help because her marriage “Once I got the system figured out, I got a response. was falling apart, he gave her the number for the It seemed like they were aiding and abetting him.”

Family Advocacy office at the base. Finiello, meanwhile, has been trying to rebuild ES Unknown to Dorothy Finiello, her husband’s boss her life. She recently staged an exhibit of her art, was having his own meltdown. Two weeks later, showcasing some of her most painful pieces recalling Wright killed his wife, burying her in a parachute- the abuse. More than 200 people attended.

recovery bag near the base. Looking back, Finiello, “Women came out of my exhibit crying and hug- SURVEY now pursuing a divorce, said she was lucky: “I can ging. Some told me about their abuse. My heart just say I survived.” aches for these women. If it hadn’t been for God and Once her husband moved out, she went outside his the love of my family and friends and my church, I command to the Army inspector general to report would be dead.”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS PROFILES 54 INTRO LORI ◆ Lori says she was raped in a children’s sandbox by a fellow Navy service member. She was 18 that April in 1981, and had been

strolling with the sailor. She tried PART to fight, then finally took her

mind elsewhere until it was over. 1 “I knew I wasn’t getting away, and I wanted to just live through it.” Four days later she was taken by ambulance to the military hos-

pital. She had contracted herpes, PART which she told the doctor was

from her rape. 2 G E N E V I E V E TURENTINE “The doctor wrinkled his ◆ nose,” she recalled. “I was so Beginning two years ago, 63-year-old Navy veteran Genevieve Turen- infected and swollen the specu- tine began having panic attacks, chest pain, nausea and dizziness. lum stuck and he used the heel of While at a Department of Veterans Affairs women’s health clinic for a his hand to force it in. He brought PART medical exam, Turentine said, she was asked on a questionnaire if she in students, and he made them had ever been raped. She answered yes and was referred to a psychia- watch. He told one of them to shut 3 trist. “I never cried so much,” she recalled of that first visit. “I used me up so they shoved something Kleenex after Kleenex, saying, ‘I’m sorry.” in my mouth and held me down She started going to group counseling for sexual trauma, and the on the table.”

memories began coming back. It was spring of 1965, and Turentine was At the emergency room, a PROFILES assigned to Naval Air Station Lemoore near Fresno, Calif. A fellow sailor military police officer asked her had agreed to drive her to Los Angeles so she could visit a museum, she what happened, she said, and said, when he suggested they take a side trip to Yosemite National Park. then demanded, “What were you She recalled dozing in the car. “My next memory is of him on top of wearing?” me, pulling at my clothes. I’m telling him to stop! Stop!” He raped her, “I said, ‘A red T-shirt and then drove her to Los Angeles and dropped her off at a YMCA, she said. jeans,’ and he said, ‘Well, what RESOURC She said she did not report the attack for fear of being blamed. “I felt did you expect?’” she recalled. “I so violated, confused, helpless, numb, powerless, angry, shamed and was treated like I had done some- grossly traumatized,” she said. thing wrong and I asked for it.”

She married and worked as a nurse until the physical symptoms She identified her rapist, but ES from burying it caught up with her in 2000. “Rape? Three years ago, I doesn’t believe a formal report was couldn’t say the word,” Turentine said. “I was in total denial.” Now, she ever filed. “Nothing ever happened said, “I’m consumed by it. I want all the information I can get. If I can to him.” About a month after the

help just one woman, look what that’s done. You’ve saved a life.” rape, her face broke out in herpes SURVEY Turentine is now a rape-victim advocate and urges women to report lesions. The outbreaks still occur, abuse so the public is aware of the problem. “They don’t want to know Lori said, which is why she did not what’s going on with their wives and their daughters and their sisters want to be fully identified or pho- — but the American people need to know.” tographed. “It’s almost constant.

Now when I look in the mirror and York, where she worked at various INTRO see those sores, I have to relive jobs, including as a developmen- this, and it never goes away, and it tal aide for the handicapped. never gets better.” Then a co-worker began to call She also developed an eating her names and follow her, but disorder. “After I got back to the when she reported him, she was

barracks, I stuck my fingers down transferred, she said. PART my throat, and it hasn’t stopped “It was like what the military

since.” did — punish me for being a vic- 1 She left the military in 1985, tim.” Now 34, she goes to coun- and was able to work only briefly seling for sexual trauma. “I said, at a post office. “Five or six days About a month after the January ‘I need help. I’m going crazy.”’ will pass, and I will not leave my 1988 rape, Frame said, her room-

front door.” Over the years, Lori mate told a corporal what had PART said, she has abused cocaine and happened. D I A N E BRENT

alcohol. “I kicked them,” she said, Frame said an officer “told me I ◆ 2 “but I can’t kick the food.” could go to sick bay to get checked Diane Brent’s first assignment She gets disability payments for AIDS, STDs,” she said, “but not in the Air Force was in a building for having PTSD caused by sexual tell them why I was there.” where she was the only woman. trauma. Although the VA recog- Then military investigators “They said the last female they nized the herpes as being “service began asking her questions, she put there lasted only two weeks,” PART connected,” it does not qualify as said. “How did I dress? Did I pro- Brent, now 48, recalled of her job a disability, records show. voke him? Did I invite him in?” at McGuire Air Force Base in New 3 She’s been in and out of ther- “When they found out I had Jersey in 1973. apy for 20 years, she said, and on left my door unlocked, they said it She was 18. a variety of antidepressants. was my fault,” she said. “I couldn’t “The men were really profane.

“I’m a broken vase. You can plug handle it.” Soon she asked them to They bragged about their sexual PROFILES the holes, but I’m starting to leak.” withdraw the rape charge. exploits. Would rub up against Her commanders then charged me. My staff sergeant would tell her with having a male in her me I had to gas his car, wash it.” D E N I S E FRAME room and demoted her a rank, Soon his demands turned sex- ◆ records show. Her attacker was ual. “He would tell me, ‘If you want Denise Frame had just turned charged with consensual sodomy, to make it in this man’s military, RESOURC 18 and graduated from Marine she said. She has no idea what you do what your supervisor says boot camp when a fellow Marine happened to him. and you don’t complain,”’ she said. followed her back to her barracks at After that, she said, she

Camp Johnson in Jacksonville, N.C. resolved to never report anything ES “I opened the door; it was him. else. She said she was raped twice ‘Bet you never expected me.’ He more by fellow service members. pushed my arms against the steel She got married and had a

railings of my porch, raped me. daughter and was given an honor- SURVEY Then he left. I sat in the shower able discharge. and cried. Didn’t know who to “I thought I was handling life report it to.” pretty good,” she said. She confided in her roommate. She moved to upstate New

They drank alcohol, and he erable,” she said. She attempted INTRO raped her, she said. Within a week suicide. Then she divorced. she went to the captain in charge A Department of Veterans of her unit and told him what had Affairs psychiatrist diagnosed happened. her with depression. As she began “He just said that I should shut experiencing flashbacks, Curtis

up and bear it because that was started therapy in Seattle. PART the only place I could work and Curtis, now 55, feels as if she is

anyway he didn’t believe it was just starting to live again. 1 happening because my sergeant “I had blocked everything. was married.” K A R E N CURTIS It has been a horrendous trip She did not try to report it ◆ because it hurts a lot,” she said of again. “It meant my career. With- They gave Karen Curtis her her therapy. “But now, there’s a

out good performance ratings, earrings back. wonderful reawakening.” PART I couldn’t make rank. And rank She was 19 and had just She wants the issue of sexual

meant more money I could send reported being sexually assaulted assault in the military to be out 2 home because at that time I was while walking to her barracks on in the open. “It is time for these supporting my siblings.” her Army base, Fort Benjamin women to be recognized,” Cur- The sergeant forced her to have Harrison, in Indiana. tis said. “The military and the sex several times over a period of When she told military police government have ignored these 18 months until Brent was trans- what had happened, Curtis said, women over the years. It’s time PART ferred to Japan. By that point, she “their reaction was very negative, somebody understood this.” said, “I was drinking pretty heav- as if it was my fault.” 3 ily” to deal with the pain. They questioned her, then left. Her self-esteem plummeted. “Two to three hours later they L I N D A MILES “It formed a pattern after that said they couldn’t find the per- ◆

because I didn’t expect to be son.” They found the place where Navy veteran Linda Miles was PROFILES treated any differently. That’s the assault had happened, and her raped at gunpoint during ROTC what I felt I deserved.” earrings, records show. boot camp in Orlando, Fla., in She went on to have a string of As far as base officials were June 1975, she said. She was 20. abusive relationships, continued concerned, Curtis recalled, the “I never told anybody” for fear to drink and got into trouble on case was closed. “No one offered of not being believed, she said. “I the job, finally leaving the Air counseling.” isolated. I drank.” RESOURC Force in 1989. “I was so young and so naive,” Later, she heard that the man Estranged from her family, she she recalled of that time in 1968. “I who raped her was court-mar- could not hold down a job. “If I was a virgin. It traumatized me.” tialed for being a serial rapist,

tried to work, I would get anx- Curtis became promiscuous and that helped her heal, she said. ES ious, panic and then shut down,” and got pregnant to get out of the In 1979, Miles was stationed in Brent recalled. She began living Army. She was given an honorable Sicily, at a base with 2,000 men on the street until she entered discharge three months after the and 50 women. “It was unbear-

May Day House, a homeless pro- rape, in August 1968. able. I’ve never been called ‘bitch’ SURVEY gram in Buffalo, N.Y. She began She married and lived a normal so many times in my life.” to get counseling in 2000. life for more than two decades. While stationed there, she “Now, it’s one day at a time,” But when she turned 45, she was supposed to model in a fall she said. began to melt. “Life became intol- fashion show, and she invited a

Linda Miles, at right, shares her anguish with another rape victim, Yuriria Acunapineda. See her story on Page 46 PROFILES fellow sailor she had formerly She had a nervous breakdown, istration. She became certified as dated to the event. Before the records show, and moved in with a drug and alcohol counselor. She show, he suddenly became angry her parents in Southern California. receives disability from the VA with her, dragged her to a remote For years, she said, she stuffed for post-traumatic stress disor- part of the parking lot, and beat down the painful memories with der from her sexual trauma in and raped her, she said. When she drug and alcohol addictions. the military, records show. The RESOURC returned to her base, she reported Then in 1994, Miles began trauma still resurfaces. the rape, Miles said. “I was asked, attending a women’s group at a At work in December 2002, ‘What did you do to provoke it?’ Veterans Affairs center in Los a male co-worker grabbed her

— and I had two black eyes and a Angeles and became sober. For in anger, and it triggered flash- ES broken nose.” the first time in years, she said, backs of her attack. She became Her attacker was given a she has hope, not just for herself, inconsolable and went into a deep psychiatric evaluation and then but for other women like her. depression. “I could not func-

fined, she said. “Every time I meet a woman in tion.” SURVEY They were left on the same this group, I know there’s a way Now, she wears dark sun- base together. “I was scared to out for her,” she said. glasses when she goes to the VA be anywhere. I got out and came Recently, she received a bach- for counseling to avoid eye con- home. I could not stop crying.” elor’s degree in business admin- tact with the men in the lobby.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: RESOURCES

Learn more about sexual PART assault and domestic violence 1

Some of the resources available to victims and

survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence in PART the military:

National Domestic Violence Hotline 2 1-800-799-SAFE or 1-800-799-7233 (TTY) 1-800-787-3244 National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN)

1-800-656-HOPE or 1-800-656-4673 PART The Miles Foundation Inc. P.O. Box 423, Newtown, CT 06470-0423 3 1-203-270-7861 Welcoming remarks of David W. Lloyd, director [email protected] or [email protected] of the military Family Advocacy Program, for a For more information regarding the Veterans domestic violence symposium in 2002. Provides Association and sexual trauma counseling, overview of services and statistics. PROFILES call 1-800-827-1000. www.mfrc-dodqol.org/domestic_violence/ppt/ Lloydslides.ppt

ONLINE RESOURCES House National Security Committee subcommittee To learn more about military-justice issues study on Sexual Misconduct in the Military, 1997.

involving sexual assault and domestic violence: Findings include factors that inhibit reporting of RESOURCES misconduct and variations in prevention efforts. The Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence, armedservices.house.gov/Publications/ 2001-03. The three volumes describe the military 105thCongress/Reports/sexualmisconduct system for dealing with domestic violence, and interim.pdf recommend improvements. www.dtic.mil/domesticviolence/reports/Start.pdf General Accounting Office report from 2000 on Military Dependents: Services Provide Limited

“A Considerable Service: An Advocate’s Confidentiality in Family Abuse Cases. Overview SURVEY Introduction to Domestic Violence and the of spousal abuse and confidentiality issues. Military,” by Christine Hansen, executive director, www.gao.gov/archive/2000/ns00127.pdf The Miles Foundation, 2001. civicresearchinstitute.com/dvr_military.pdf MORE ONLINE RESOURCES 8

Article in May 1998 Psychiatric Services magazine on Rape cases increase “Focus on Women: Duty-Related and Sexual Stress in at Texas air base the Etiology of PTSD Among Women Veterans Who Seek Treatment.” Study shows sexual trauma is more

influential than duty-related stress in producing post- Military brass pressed on PART traumatic stress disorder in military women.

psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/ sex assault review 1 full/49/5/658 Sex Offenses and Offenders: An Analysis of Data Senator demands on Rape and Sexual Assault, a 1997 report from full investigation

division of U.S. Department of Justice. PART www.vaw.umn.edu/documents/sexoff/sexoff.html

“Development, Adoption and Implementation of Department of Defense 2 Military Sentencing Guidelines,” 2000. Review names ofﬁcial to task force in Military Law Review of disparities in military court-martial sentences. www.jagcnet.army.mil/JAGCNETInternet/Homepages/ PART PART AC/TJAGSAWeb.nsf/0/e679a02db2dcbbec8525697d00 55c3ce /$FILE/Volume165Immel.pdf BETRAYAL 3 Air Force Academy Working Group Report, 2003 report IN THE RANKS on sexual assault scandal at the Air Force Academy. www.af.mil/usafa_report/usafa_report.pdf PROFILES “The Court Martial Panel Selection Process: A Critical Analysis,” 1992. Military Law Review article with history and criticisms of court-martial panel selection. www.jagcnet.army.mil/JAGCNETInternet/ Homepages/AC/TJAGSAWeb.nsf/ This story isn’t over. 998537a74c7b990885256cfa0052d46c/ 996878030256db7585256cfb0065e306/$FILE/ RESOURC MLR%2027-100-137%2019920701.pdf “Don’t Tug on Superman’s Cape,” 2003 Military Law Review article defending a commander’s ES discretion in appointing court-martial panels. DENVERPOST.com www.jagcnet.army.mil/JAGCNETInternet/ CLICK HERE Homepages/AC/TJAGSAWeb.nsf/ FOR CONTINUING ONLINE SURVEY 998537a74c7b990885256cfa0052d46c/ COVERAGE OF THIS AND OTHER 8ece463cca6b81a885256d7400545b55/$FILE/ DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORTS Volume176Behan.pdf

MORE ONLINE RESOURCES 8

Report of the Panel to Review Sexual Misconduct Rape cases increase Allegations at the U.S. Air Force Academy, 2003, at Texas air base congressionally mandated report on AFA sexual assaults. www.dod.mil/news/Sep2003/ Military brass pressed on PART d20030922usafareport.pdf

sex assault review 1 ABOUT THE NUMBERS Senator demands The Denver Post asked for statistics on domes- full investigation tic violence and sexual assaults from the Army, PART Navy, Air force and Marine Corps. Only the Army responded in detail, providing computer records for 2 cases from 1992 through part of 2003. Department of Defense The Post analyzed the data to determine how soldiers accused of crimes were punished. Though names ofﬁcial to task force specific punishments were not provided, the data show whether the suspects were handled through

the courts or through administrative actions, which PART provide no possibility of prison. The Post grouped

the two types of administrative actions, “non- BETRAYAL 3 judicial” and “administrative” to contrast the numbers with court-martial cases. If an offender IN THE RANKS faced multiple punishments, The Post made calcu- lations using the most severe action listed for each offender. Names were not disclosed by the Army. PROFILES Sexual assault crimes included child molesta- tion, indecent acts, rape, carnal knowledge (sexual intercourse with a minor), indecent assault, sodomy and incest. Domestic violence included assault, murder, voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery, communicating a threat and This story isn’t over. harassing communications. Many sex crimes also were categorized as RESOURC domestic violence. Some more serious offenses were handled administratively rather than by courts-martial because only a lesser charge could be proved, according to Army officials. DENVERPOST.com ES GRAPHICS CLICK HERE Army sex offenders: how cases were FOR CONTINUING ONLINE SURVEY handled 8 COVERAGE OF THIS AND OTHER Army domestic violence offenders: DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORTS how cases were handled 8

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