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National News See other National News Articles Title: A Few Bad Men: How the Marine Corps fails to punish senior officer misconduct, time and again “Instead they hold junior officers and enlisted to a higher standard. It sends the wrong message." Editor's note: This story includes graphic descriptions of rape. There is little dispute over what her commander did to her, but Rebecca Cooper is certain she is leaving the Marine Corps because of it. It was November 2019 when Cooper, a Marine captain, alleged that Col. Lawrence “Larry” Miller had sexually harassed her repeatedly after she had joined his staff the year before. Miller, 52, often told sexually- charged stories in the office, she claimed, and had blamed her for her own rape moments after she reported it to him. After she submitted a sworn statement, things moved rather quickly: Miller was transferred, an investigation was opened, Cooper and others were interviewed. It was over by January of this year, though Cooper didn’t learn the results until March. Remarkably, Miller did not deny many of Cooper’s claims, and the Marine investigator assigned to look into the matter substantiated much of what Cooper had told him, according to the investigation report. Yet what the Marine Corps decided to do next was perhaps unremarkable: Almost nothing. Though soon after Cooper submitted her complaint, Miller was relieved of command — an administrative action that is not considered an official punishment — the general who oversaw the inquiry settled the matter with a page 11 entry in Miller’s service record, a non-punitive counseling designed to correct poor performance. “If that had been a sergeant talking to a lance corporal, he probably would’ve been put through the wringer,” said one Marine official who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to discuss the case. Cooper resigned her commission soon after learning of the decision, according to two Marine officials familiar with the matter. Miller is up for mandatory retirement later this month. And so the Marines will lose two officers this year: A colonel unpunished for substantiated misconduct in the twilight of his career, and a captain with many years of service left — if only the Marine Corps valued hers more. This article, which is based on interviews with Marine Corps officials, military justice experts, and the official military investigation into Miller obtained through a public records request, largely tells the story of one of many military investigations. Still, the months-long probe and its aftermath serve as a microcosm of the Marine Corps’ fraught history with women in its ranks, and the service’s tendency to conceal senior officer misconduct rather than weed it out. “The appropriate forum for senior officer misconduct is a court martial,” said Col. Don Christensen (Ret.), a former Air Force judge. “But the reality is that none of the services have the fortitude to actually hold senior officers accountable.” Rebecca Cooper is not a real name. Task & Purpose has used a pseudonym here to protect the identity of the victim, who declined to comment for this article. Miller also declined to comment. Sweeping senior officer misconduct under the rug Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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