80 Military Recruiters Disciplined for Sexual Misconduct Over the Past Year

Desperate for more troops, the U.S. Marines announced it is beginning an involuntary recall of inactive service members to return to duty and go to Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of U.S. troops in Iraq has now increased to one hundred thirty eight thousand. At the same time, sexual misconduct by military recruiters is on the rise.

This is the opening paragraph from a recent Associated Press expose: "More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams."

The article goes on to quote an 18 year-old victim who says: "This should never be allowed to happen. The recruiter had all the power. He had the uniform. He had my future. I trusted him.""

We speak with the Pulitzer prize-winning AP reporter who exposed the story, Martha Mendoza.

* Martha Mendoza, national investigative reporter for the Associated Press.

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