Complaint Review: US Army - Fort Drum New York

US Army My wife was raped by an officer and nothing is being done; abused & mistreated Fort Drum New York .....

Honorable Sirs,

I'm submitting this memo to your offices with the hope that this case of sexual misconduct and rape as reported by my wife (SPC Allison DeVante) against Warrant Officer Roy Rucker will encourage positive and corrective steps to protect sexual assault victims in the future. We hope that our personal and public undertaking will help in providing greater resource information and support for female soldiers entering the military before they are subjected to sexual harassment, rape and ultimate banishment by fellow soldiers and commanders. Women should be allowed greater focus of protection than is currently practiced in all the military branches. We all serve this country.

My wife, Specialist Allison DeVante is currently stationed at Fort Drum, New York. On or about September 18th 2002 my wife was asked by Warrant Officer Roy Rucker to come to his house to discuss her training and to discuss personal problems that she was having in trying to complete her recording project. Mr. Rucker was at that time my wife's physical trainer as approved by her chain of command.

My wife alleges that while she was at Mr. Rucker's house he forcibly raped her. After the rape incident my wife said she did not tell anyone out of fear that no one would believe her as Mr. Rucker had stated to her in a previous conversation. According to my wife Mr. Rucker had expressed a few weeks earlier that a young lady he knew had once tried to make a claim against him and she disappeared. My wife expressed these concerns to her immediate supervisor (NCOIC) and to CID once she and I went in to file an official report of rape. After my wife and I discussed the information with CID we left their office without filing a written report. My wife did not file a written report because the agent in charge (Agent Fullerton) indicated to my wife that he might have to charge her with adultery; citing that my wife should not have been at Mr. Rucker's house in the first place and that her being there indicated possible fraternization. After being told that my wife might be charged with adultery, my wife and I immediately left the CID office.

On December 9th 2002 my wife received a call from Agent Fullerton. He told her that he had an e-mail to show her at his office. When she arrived at the CID office on Fort Drum she was immediately read her rights, fingerprinted and photographed. She was further advised that she was being charged with filing a false official statement against an officer. Agent Fullerton advised me that my wife could not leave and that she was being charged with adultery. After hearing this from agent Fullerton, I left the CID office threatening to go to the media; which I did not do until December 23rd when my wife and I both did an interview on local ABC affiliate channel 50.

After doing the interview with channel 50, I went out on January 1st and began picketing both Fort Drum and the local army recruiting station. The impact of the picket encouraged the Fort Drum Garrison Commander to speak with me concerning the entire issue, which he stated he had no knowledge until he saw the report on the evening news. The news interview also caught the interest of Good Morning America (GMA) and I have been invited to appear. Fort Drum was also notified by GMA that I had been invited to the show. During my conversation with the Garrison Commander, he informed me that he would make every effort to resolve all the issues concerning my wife and he stated that he hoped his speaking to me would ease my fears about the things happening to my wife and that maybe I would not have to go onto the GMA show.

Throughout this horrible and unfortunate crisis, no one in my wife's chain of command offered any support whatsoever. Instead, my wife was instructed by her NCOIC to just deny that anything ever happened to her at all. Please understand that we fully believe that soldiers must be tough and prepared to endure many sorts of pressures and circumstances, but no soldier and her family should have to endure what my wife and I are enduring for the sake of protecting rough officers who intimidate and abuse their subordinates.

My wife came into the military to serve her country in many ways, one of which was to encourage teens everywhere that there were alternatives to violence, drugs and alcohol abuse. For seven years my wife has been motivating teens everywhere to create positive solutions to campus and school violence. Through the United Voices Against School Violence (U.V.A.S.V.) organization my wife and I along with volunteers have been refurbishing computers and giving them to individual teens, teen centers and other organizations to help teens and college students research and share school and campus safety information nationally. We are currently completing the development of the U.V.A.S.V. web site at www.uvasv.com, which will provide all the data collected to be shared with anyone seeking additional school and campus safety information.

My wife believed that joining the Army would give her greater opportunity to help diffuse teen violence at school campuses everywhere and here the very institution that she thought would be a helpful outlet has shown that violence prevention against its own female soldiers is not a priority; I believe it should be an American priority.

I hope that this unfinished tragedy that my family is enduring and that many women before my wife has endured will not continue to be the uncontrollable, un-addressed hideous beast that awaits most young women entering the military services. I believe that if my wife had been more informed of the monsters that lurk in uniform, she may have been more prepared for such an assault on her person and her judgment. I wish that I could stand at the doorstep of every recruiting station in the country to share insight to every female who walks through the door. Because I would tell every one of them that the enemy might very easily be dressed in the same uniform.

Your advice or response to this memo would be greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,

Joreal DeVante

Joreal

Memphis, Tennessee
U.S.A.