and yet we continue to hear news of sexual assault and loss of life. in the last year, i have heard from veterans around the country asking me to tell their story. so tonight i am diving in. what do you have the say to the marine corps? >> i'm not giving up. and they are not going to get away with this. i signed up the fight. i did not sign up to rape. -- to get raped. >> deck after after decade, sexual assault existed in the military and victims are left paying the price. >> people have come back and said "that's what you get". >> for them, enough is enough. >> this is a message to the generals and admirals. it's time to reform. ♪ ♪ when i was a kid, my favorite movie was "top gun". this is this hollywood story of camaraderie and courage. >> best fighter pilot in the navy, sir. >> it had hot guys, fighter jets, and the best makeout scene i had ever seen. i was totally obsessed. and i wasn't the only one. in fact, this movie inspired a major recruitment boom for the u.s. military. >> i feel the need. the need for speed! >> offscreen, behind this slick portrayal of fearless fighter pilots, a scandals was brewing. >> more than two dozen women say they were sexually assault by hundreds of so-called top gun pilots. >> it is the latest chapter in what's become known as the tailhook scandal. >> i was in high school when the tailhook sexual assault scandal hit. i was 17. it was early 1990s. i remember it vividly because up until that point the military had always been to me this bastion of rigidity and order and control. and tailhook was anything but. >> this is not the raucous party. this was a case where we had sexual assault on women. >> in september, 1991, thousands of natural and marine corps officers gathered at a las vegas hotel to attend the annual tailhook convention, a three-day event known for its panels and parties. soon after, word of debachry made its way to top naval brass. >> undersecretary dan howard says the navy has identified some individuals who molested women at the convention. he promises they eventually will be punished by their base commanders. >> but months later, the investigation had gone nowhere. tired of waiting for justice, one woman went public with her story. >> i was assaulted by, you know, men that were aviators just like me. >> on saturday night of the convention, 30-year-old navy lieutenant paula coughlin, an aide to a navy admiral stepped off the hotel elevator and onto the third floor where a gauntlet of drunk officers were lined up groping and assaulting women as they passed lieu. >> i got attacked by a bunch of men that tried to pull my clothes off. and they wouldn't let me out of the hallway. i bit somebody. he had his hands down by blouse n my bra. and they were trying to pull my underwear off from between my legs. >> did anybody ever come back and say they were sorry? >> no. no. people have come back and said, that's what you get. >> in the wake of paula's media blitz, the secretary of the navy resigned, and the pentagon took over the investigation, revealing a failing of senior leadership and widespread abuse. >> investigators cite at least 90 victims of indecent assault or exposure during the convention, a general atmosphere of debachry with paid and public sex. >> promises of zero tolerance were made. out of the 140 officers who were investigated, no one was criminally prosecuted. several admirals were forced into early retirement, but most officers were issued small, punitive fines. >> we have heard zero tolerance over and over from secretaries of defense and chiefs of staffs, and the generals, and admirals. but if we look at the data, women are getting sexually assaulted today at the same rate they were in 2006. >> colonel don christensen is the president of protect our defenders, the nation's leading organization dedicated to ending sexual assault in the military. but before becoming an advocate, he joined the air force. the same year as the tailhook scandal. he has an insider perspective on why the issue is so pervasive. is there a particular profile of someone who is assaulted in the military? >> sexual assault impacts literally everyone, special our junior enlisted. but as a percentage, it's much higher for women. predominantly it is women between the ages of 18 and 24. >> is sexual assault more per says vasive in the military than it is in the civilian world? >> i believe it is. the estimates are over 20,000 men and women are sexually assaulted every year that are in active duty. part of it is a male-dominated society. you see a lot of sexual assault originate in this excessive drinking environment. part of it is the military's inability to hold senior leaders criminally accountable for their crimes. tailhook is a perfect example of where command is actually part of the problem. the highest ranking admiral in the navy had attended. he had gone to some of the party rooms. the secretary of navy was there. so at the very highest level, they knew their aviators were out of control. >> colonel christensen has always had a strong sense of justice. and it propelled him into a role that was very different from generations of military men before him. knew i wanted to be a lawyer. and the air force gave me a great opportunity to do that. >> as a young lawyer, the colonel had to start somewhere. early on, he worked as defense counsel, representing service members accused in sexual assault cases. were you winning a lot of your cases at the time? >> yes. and you know, that's not unique to me. the defense dominates in sexual assault cases in the military. by the time someone is investigated, by the time a decision has been made to charge somebody, the odds are most of the people you defend are guilty. and there were people that i defended that were acquitted that were probably guilty. >> how did that go over with you? >> it wears on you. you win the cases, but at the end of the day you have caused someone who is probably telling the truth to be viewed as a liar. >> it is a pattern of injustice that over time has permeated all branches of the military. >> more than a dozen female recruits claim they were raped or sexually harassed by superior officers. >> almost 20% of female cadets at the u.s. air force academy say they have been sexually assaulted. >> 31 women who said they were victims of sexual misconduct. >> hundreds of sexually explicit photos of tee mail service members posted via a private facebook group page called marines united. >> we usually only hear about military sexual assaults after a large scandal breaks. but those big cases are the exception. many incidents go unreported. >> family and friends concerned about their loved one who has been missing for more than a week. >> on april 22nd, 2020, 20-year-old private first class vanessa guillen reported to her army post in fort hood texas and was never seen again. >> tonight officials are asking for the public's help in finding a missing soldier. >> reporter: months before her disappearance, vanessa told her mother she was being sexually harassed by a fellow officer but refused to report it to the army. her family went public with her story. >> she was supposed to be safe while working and protecting the country we live in. >> after months of investigation, the army zeroed in on a suspect in vanessa's disappearance. but tragically, it was too late. >> human remains scuffed last week have been identified by army investigators as missing specialities vanessa guillen. >> the specialist, aaron robinson was a suspect in her disappearance. robinson died by suicide when police approached him. >> news of this sparked outrage. as survivors of military sexual assault came forward in numbers, one family in new mexico began to fear what might be happening to their own daughter. >> i just couldn't imagine how her mom felt because that's like our daughter. that's us, too. we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. (tiger) this is the dimension of imagination. ♪ ♪ feel stuck with credit card debt? move to sofi and feel what it's like to get your money right. ♪ move your high-interest debt to a sofi personal loan. you could save with low rates and no fees. earn $10 just for viewing your rate and get your money right. ♪ the american southwest. it has a special connection to military heroes. during world war ii, the marines enlisted navajo men from this area to transmit hundreds of coded messages in their native language across enemy lines. known as the navajo code talkers, they helped lead america to victory and one of them was private james largo, great grandfather to 21-year-old celeste. the marines have been part of your family history. has it been a source of pride for you? >> yes, my grand grandpa was a navajo code talker. my grandpa, he was an aviation jet mechanic. my dad was this the marine corps. the marines are the toughest branch and i wanted to be the best. >> celeste returned home to new mexico where she grew up on reservation with her twin thor and her parents. >> get muddy, get dirty, oh, well, we will watch the clothes. they would have so much fun. >> celeste was such a happy, happy little girl. always a doer, always a leader. >> in high school i was into my studies. i took six a.p. classes my senior year. i was in the navy rotc at school. >> after graduation she followed had her father's footsteps and joined the military. she became the first woman in hadar family to become a marine. >> i was actually pretty happy because she wanted to represent that warrior spirit that we all -- native americans have. >> what was it like when you first got to boot camp? >> it was very challenging. you will be hiking with your 50-pound pack up these hills, and it feels like you are crying because your sweat is going into your eyes. but i was so motivated. when i first got my eagle globe and anchor, i cried. i wanted to become a drill instructor. i wanted to make a career out of the marines. >> in 2019, celeste arrived in booford, south carolina, ranked as private. how often are you talking to her while she's there in. >> she would call me about five times out of the week, at least. >> that's how i am with my mom, too but she sounded happy? >> sounded happy, yes. >> i wonder what it was like as a woman to be living day to day in a culture where everyone is built to be warriors? >> at first i liked it but then something about it wasn't right. during the weekends all marines do is party. that's the culture. and that's what i did. >> it was a party culture that celeste had little experience with. and in her first two months she was cited twice for underaged drinking. >> i never drank alcohol in my life until i went into the marine corps. >> was there a lot of dating? >> yes, but the males go crazy on bays. like it's annoying because that's all they think about. and i just was kind of always disgusted. >> as an out gay woman, celeste wasn't interested in dating men. but that didn't stop some from pursuing her. >> a couple months after i first got into the marines my superior officer started acting weird. he would always talk about sex, show me nude pictures on his phone try to hold my hand. he knew i was gay but he still wanted the sleep with me. >> because this officer was of a higher rank, did you feel intimidated about saying anything about the things that he was telling you and showing you? >> if i didn't give him that attention back, he would have made my life hell. >> celeste feared that the superior officer might cross the line. from harassment to something worse. but she didn't anticipate what would happen with a fellow marine who she considered a friend. one weekend in 2020, celeste and a friend took a sight seeing trip off base. >> he had this girl he wanted to see. they met on tinder. after we ate we were going to go to some club, but we decided to get a hotel. it was a two-bed room. the girl fell asleep and it was just me and my friend. and we were just talking. and we had a few drinks. i struggle with sleep a lot. and i took sleeping medicine. and it hit me really hard. all i remember is just falling asleep. >> that morning, celeste had a horrible feeling and asked her friend if anything had happened. he brushed her off. but his story soon changed. >> three days later, on snap chat, he messaged me, do you know what happened that night? and i told him, i don't remember anything. what happened? he's like, well, did you know we had sex that night? and after he told me that, i just completely broke down. and i got really sick. why would you have sex with me? like, i did not give consent. >> when celeste returned to base, she reported her sexual assault to an army chap lane. she filed a restricted report that allowed her to confidentially disclose the details of her assault. >> after the report, you get provided medical services. and i was seeing counselling. but the counsellors -- they don't really deal with sexual assaults like really good. you have got to work. it's just a waste of time. >> i first started noticing something was off in mid march. celeste seemed very frustrated. it seemed like night and day. she went from this really really happy active very determined young lady to just very withdrawn, depressed. >> for several months, celeste says she kept this secret from her parents and tried to cope with the trauma of her assault on her own, turning to alcohol to numb the pain. in june, she asked the military to admit her to in-patient rehab. but her request was denied. celeste decided to unrestrict the report of her attack. >> i wrote a letter to my command. it detailed everything, what happened that night, how i was feeling, how depressed i was. and that's when he called me in and we talked about it. he tried to be positive, but then in another letter i mentioned something about my superior, that he was also doing misconduct. and he wasn't on my side anymore. >> there is an immense amount of pressure to report to the chain of command, to your boss, to say, i was sexually assaulted. but once that report is made and investigated, that investigation is turned over to the commander to make a decision whether or not the case is prosecuted. >> how qualified are commanders to be able to deal with things like sexual assault? >> the military has clung to this idea that commanders, even though they are not lawyers, they are the ones qualified to make prosecution decisions. but they are not. >> and what are the fundamental flaws with this kind of system? >> the starting point is the commander's knowledge of the accused. if they think highly of them, that's going the impact how the case is processed. >> as a lawyer, colonel christensen witnessed this kind of bias firsthand. and after years of representing the accused he felt he had to make a change. >> i could not stands up in court again and call a woman a liar that i believed was telling the truth. >> from that point on, the colonel primarily worked as a prosecutor and a judge. and in 2010 was named chief prosecutor of the air force. but, to his frustration, he rarely found himself representing sexual assault victims. few cases ever reached his desk. it is a pattern of inaction that continues today n. 2020, the u.s. armed forces investigated 5,640 allegations of sexual assault. of those, only 4% went to trial. and in the end, there were only 156 convictions. why are conviction rates so low? >> poor investigations, the wrong people making decisions. one of the most common things we hear is oh, this is a he said-she said case. it immediately discounts the allegation, makes it sound like it is unprosecutable. there is definitely a culture of disbelief, where very little credit is given to the victim. >> i felt like i was going crazy because no one was listening. >> all of a sudden, it was, i don't like it here. and that was a big shock to me. i said, what's going on? she goes, well, my knee hurts. i said, celeste, please, why do you want to get out? i know it's not your knee, please tell me. and she got really quiet for a second. and that's when she told me that -- that she was raped. that's when everything made sense. >> tell me about when you heard this from your daughter. >> broken hearted. numb. not knowing what to do, where to turn. >> when you went into boot camp what was the party line about sexual assault? >> we were taught to report it and that it's not tolerated. >> so you believed that if sexual assault were to happen that they would deal with it swiftly? 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>> i didn't really know why because in my mind i had a ptsd episode. >> upon arrival, celeste tells me she was kept in solitary confinement for three days. >> that's when i knew it was intentional. >> what was intentional? >> the retaliation. after she reported they were intentionally trying to silence her. >> if you try to speak up in this military, you are going to be reprimanded one way or another. >> would you say that the military intentionally tries to discredit victims? >> i don't know if i would say intentionally, but i would say habitually. it is the social retaliation. it is professional retaliation. so while you are telling your story over and over to investigators, suddenly now you are a problem child because you are experiencing trauma and you are being sent to mental health to see if they can force you out that way. >> celeste kept copies of the letters she wrote to command and her medical records. i wanted to see for myself how the marine corps was handling her case. after multiple suicide attempts, after being diagnosed with ptsd, after being prescribed so many medications, after a psychotic episode, rather than getting her help, she was sent to jail. what i find in some of the pages makes it sem like either no one was paying attention or they were trying to down play the impact of her rape. the day after celeste's second suicide attempt, the hospital ended up saying that celeste was in no acute distress. despite there being record of her being diagnosed with ptsd and having multiple suicide attempts. inside the brig, another doctor claimed celeste showed no sign of recent trauma, then diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder. that to me just doesn't -- it doesn't sit well. these detailed letters she wrote to her command are very lelling. the marine corps is not safe for my mention and physical well-being. i have developed anger, rebellion, anxiety and other problems from military sexual assault. that's depressing because as i go through all this stuff i am watching this young woman who had so much promise and ambition start to self-destruct. one month into lockup with no end in sight, celeste asked a friend to post her story to social media. since vanessa guillen's murder this has become an effective strategy to speak out. >> #, i am vanessa guillen took off like wildfire. >> vanessa opened the door that we have been banging at for years. >> it was -- for the first time, i think, for so many survivors the opportunity to raise their hand and say yeah, this is me too. >> once celeste's story gained attention, it wasn't long after the marines offered her a plea deal. >> the prosecutor was trying to charge me for assaults for the ptsd incident. and they wanted me to plead guilty. and i told them, i'm not guilty. that's when me and my lawyer, we worked out this plea deal with the prosecutor to get me discharged completely. >> in a letter to the u.s. marine corps, a military advocate cited a pattern of misconduct as reason for celeste's discharge noting her chain of command found her to be a below average marine who only did work when instructed. for this, they let celeste go with a less than honorable discharge. it is a stark contrast from a statement issued five months earlier where a direct supervisor called celeste's work exceptional, and if in case of a discharge recommended an honorable one. >> when we look at all the data, one in three people who report a sexual assault are forced out of the million terry within a year of reporting. >> they are discharged. >> discharged. 25% of those were forced out with less than a if ehonorable discharge. if you don't get an honorable discharge you lose benefits, gi bill, ability to get a va loan, you lose your ability to get medical care for injuries you received while on active duty. >> it could affect their the rest of their lives. >> the rest of their lives. >> at this point there is not much more she can do. the military has dropped the investigation into her alleged rape for lack of sufficient evidence. >> we are in a battle with celeste's offenders. >> and those trying to keep it quiet. fighting against them as well. >> i think it could have been very easy, celeste, for your spirit to have been broken. but is your spirit broken? >> it was. but now it's back together. all the odds were against me, but here i am today. >> the road to justice is long and difficult. most survivors never achieve it. but i'm about to meet a woman in florida who is fighting to upend the system. nyquil severe gives you powerful relief for your worst cold and flu symptoms, on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. when you really need to sleep you reach for the really good stuff. new zzzquil ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. it's non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. new zzzquil ultra. when you really really need to sleep. did you know some deodorants may not last all day? secret works immediately! and is designed to last for up to 48 hours. with secret, keep it fresh. available in over 10 amazing scents and aluminum free. secret. jeff's been to the bottom of the ocean. the tops of mountains. and wherever this guy runs off to. a life well lived should continue at home. with home instead care, older adults can stay home, safe, and happy. home instead. to us, it's personal. switching wireless carriers is easy with xfinity. just lean on our helpful switch squad to help you save with xfinity mobile. they can help break up with your current carrier for you and transfer your info to your new phone. giving you a fast and easy experience that can save you hundreds a year on your wireless bill. visit your nearest xfinity store and see how the switch squad can help you switch and save. it's the xfinity black friday sales event. learn how to save up to $1000 on select phones by visitng your local xfinity store today. i'm in the state of florida, about to meet a 40-year-old veteran of the u.s. air force. harmony suffers from post-traumatic dress disorder and relies on her service dog gunny for support. he's even trained to call 911 in case of emergency. >> gunny, touch phone. touch phone. good boy. but harmony's wounds don't come from combat. they stem from an incident that happened more than 20 years ago, during her first year in air force radiology school. on the night of august 25th, 2000, harmony went to a club on base to grab a quick bite and ran into an instructor. he appeared very drunk. unsure what to do, harmony deferred to an old adage she picked up on the air force. >> on the base they preach being a good wing man all the time. to be a good wing man means that you are looking out for your fellow airmen. you never let your airmen drink and drive. >> harmony gave her instructor a ride hope. after she helped him inside, he brutally attacked and raped her. >> he slammed me up against the wall. he was like, this is what you want. and he told me that if i told anybody, he would kill me and that nobody would believe me anyways because he was my instructor and outranked me. >> how did you get out of there? >> i honestly don't remember driving home. >> initially, harmony didn't want to tell anyone what had happened. but her injuries were impossible to hide. at a civilian hospital, a rape kit was administered and she was questioned. at the time, harmony was too afraid to name her attacker, a man who was part of her chain of command. she wouldn't feel safe until a year and a half later, after she transferred to another base. >> i reported the rape and told them who did it. sergeant collins. >> harmony tells me she filed two separate reports naming sergeant collins. but instead of prosecuting -- >> they didn't do anything. >> it was common practice in the military. close ranks and discount the victim. harmony wanted collins punished but her reports went nowhere. she tried to soldier on but the next ten years were difficult ones. what was your condition like psychologically? >> i was having trouble personally dealing with things. i was having trouble with my leadership. i wasn't getting along with my staff. >> in 2011, harmony sought counselling. in one of her sessions, she told the story of her rape and once again identified her attacker by name. this time, instead of ignoring her, harmony was discharged. >> once i was discharged, i no longer was entitled to any type of legal defense. i didn't have the money either to hire a lawyer. >> but three years later, long after harmony had given up hope of collins ever being held accountable, she got an unexpected shot at justice. harmony had just moved to florida when she attempted to seek medical benefits from the local v.a. they claimed they had no paperwork documenting her sexual assault. >> i turned in the records, and they said, you just reported a rape. and i was like what do you mean i just reported a rape? i've been reporting a rape. >> so what happened then. >> they researched, and they said, hey, the guy is still on active duty. now we're going to prosecute. >> what's what harmony had wanted for so long. finally, the military was stepping up. but as soon as the lawyers got involved, they tried to shut down the case, saying there wasn't enough evidence. harmony wrote the base commander with a personal plea. >> i said, i need you to think of me as a mother, as a daughter, as a sister, and not just an airman. i need you to let me bring my case forward. and the base commander said yes, let her have her justice. and that was basically the first right thing the military had done. >> the trial lasted six days. what was the verdict? >> it was unanimous, and it was guilty. they walked him right out of that courtroom. and it was -- it was justice. the sentence was 16 1/2 years. >> but he didn't serve 16 years? >> no. >> what happened? >> the air force happened. i finally got justice, and the air force is taking it away from me. is now a good time for a flare-up? 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[thud] [clunk] ugh... unbelievable. unbelievable. [ding] colonel christensen served in the air force for 23 years, but his military career would come to an ends in the fallout over one case. as chief prosecutor of the air force, the colonel was ordered to italy in 2012 to try a senior officer accused of sexually assaulting a physician's assistant. he convinced the jury of this man's guilt. but four months later. >> with the stroke of a pen, air force lieutenant colonel james wilkerson, an f-16 fighter pilot was freed from a navy brig after only about four months, his conviction tossed out. the man who freed him, his commanding officer, left hand general craig franklin. >> a shocking turn of events that sent congress into a tailspin. >> my heart is beating past right now, i am so upset about this. >> there was pressure from leadership that i support the process and support the general. and i refused to do that. >> it's a pretty bold move to go against this entrenched system. >> yes. after i chose not to defend the general, i knew my career was over. >> in the aftermath, the colonel retired while the military created a new loop hope in its justice system n. 2018, a military appeals court ruled sexual assaults occurring between 1986 and 2006 would be subject to a five-year statute of limitation. it was a ruling that released at least three convicted rapists from prison, including the man who raped harmony. >> because the rape happened in 2000, he won his appeal. >> here's where harmony's story and colonel christensen's story come together. harmony wanted to fight the appeal. she contacted protect our defenders and met its new president, retired colonel crispson who wanted her to do something drastic. >> he said you need the take your case to the supreme court. >> the united states supreme court. >> he said, it is not very likely. they only accept 87 case as year. but i said, i'm going to get it there. i'm going to take it to the supreme court. >> for harmony, it was yet another uphill climb. her case couldn't go anywhere without the military's permission. it took a year of persistent letter writing from harmony and pressure from congress, but the military finally gave in. >> when the solicitor general brings a case to the supreme court, the supreme court about half the time grants reviews. i felt confident going in. it was a clear injustice. my only concern was it was an injustice that only affected the military, and would the supreme court care? >> in december of 2020 they delivered their ruling. >> supreme court deciding in favor of aport st. lucie veteran and rape attack you are survivor who wanted her attacker back behind bars after an early release. >> that was important because the lower military court had been extremely hostile to victims and had gone out of their way to overturn verdicts convicting sex offenders. they needed to hear loudly that they were wrong. >> i was just jumping for joy. i called everybody. you know? i was like, we did it. we won! >> the supreme court win sent harmony's rapist back to prison. for her, it was a significant victory. but ultimately, it didn't change the law. and today, that's harmony's new mission. together with florida representative brian mast they have created a bipartisan bill called harm me's law that, if passed, would eliminate the statute of limitation for prosecuting military sexual assault. harmony wants to make sure no rapist walks free because of a technicality. it's a step in the right direction. but what is it really going to take to hold the military accountable? >> this is a message to the generals and admirals. it's time to reform. 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