COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Women
Marine Corps to pay $200,000 to 2 young women who say recruiters sexually assaulted them
Associated Press, Boston Herald
June 8, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO - The Marine Corps agreed Thursday to revamp its
recruiting practices in Northern California and pay $200,000 to two
young women who claimed they were raped during a slumber party at a
Ukiah recruiting office.
The women were in high school, 17 years old, and interested in
joining the military in late 2004 when they claimed the two
recruiters, Sgts. Joseph Dunzweiler and Brian Fukushima, raped them.
Both recruiters were demoted after court-martial proceedings but were
acquitted of the most serious charges.
The unusual settlement, signed Thursday by a federal judge in
San Francisco, requires notices to be posted at recruiting stations
throughout the region advising potential recruits how to reach a
confidential advocate if they feel a recruiter has behaved
inappropriately, and explaining that young women have the right to
work with a female recruiter. The settlement also requires female
supervision at slumber parties with female recruits.
An Associated Press investigation published last year found that
across all military services, one out of 200 frontline recruiters _
the ones who deal directly with young people _ was disciplined for
sexual misconduct in 2005. In response, the Defense Department
announced last summer it would closely monitor military recruiters
and their commanders and consider a policy change.
Ukiah attorney Barry Vogel, who represented the plaintiffs, said
Thursday that although the court settlement applies to Northern
California, "it sets a precedent nationwide."
"The Marine Corps will have the opportunity now to show their
good faith behind this settlement and make this a nationwide
practice. That will test their mettle," he said.
Marine Corps officials declined to comment.
One of the young women told the AP last year that they were
drinking and playing cards at a recruiting station slumber party when
Fukushima climbed into her sleeping bag on the floor of the station
and took off her pants. Two other recruiters were having sex with two
of her friends in the same room, she said. The Associated Press
generally does not name victims in sexual assault cases.
"Even though I think this is a bunch of hush money and the
Marines failed to acknowledge their involvement, we encourage all
other women to join us and stand up and fight against this kind of
behavior in the military or anywhere else," the woman, now a college
student, told the AP in an interview Thursday.
She said that she met Dunzweiler in late 2004, and that he
immediately began flirting with her, asking her out and sending her
e-mails about how he wanted to "get her alone."
She said she believed Dunzweiler would prevent her from joining
the Marines if she didn't have sex with him. The other plaintiff said
in court documents that she was very drunk, had vomited and could not
resist Fukushima's advances.
Dunzweiler, reached Thursday at a hotel where he works, was
surprised to hear of the settlement and said he never agreed with the
plaintiff's version of events.
"No, no, not at all," he said.
Vogel, and his co-counsel Michael Sorgen of San Francisco, said
their clients were adamant that policy changes accompany the settlement.
"We're very proud of our clients for the change they made,"
Vogel said. "They are the forerunners of this kind of change so that
hopefully other women will stand up and speak up."
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