Service Women's Action Network Announces Keynote and Award Recipients at Historic Summit on Military Sexual Violence

Mary Lauterbach, Mother of U.S. Marine Maria Lauterbach, to Keynote Event, Present Awards to Reps. Tsongas and Turner, Senators Collins and Kerry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) announced the keynote speaker and award recipients for the first gathering of Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine veteran sexual assault survivors in the nation’s capital, “Truth and Justice: The 2012 Summit on Military Sexual Violence.”

The Summit, held in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, May 8, will provide military sexual assault survivors and their families the opportunity to share personal experiences with Members of Congress. The day will begin with remarks from Members of Congress, a veterans panel on resilience and reintegration, and a law and policy panel on strategies for system reform.

An awards ceremony will follow, keynoted by Mary Lauterbach, the mother of Marine Lance Corporal, Maria Lauterbach, who was 20 years old when she was murdered in 2007 by a fellow Marine accused of raping her only weeks before. Since her daughter’s death, Mary has been actively working to increase awareness of sexual assault in the military and to improve both the care and justice that service members receive when sexually assaulted.

Following the keynote, The Lauterbach Award for Truth and Justice, a distinction recognizing sustained commitment to the elimination of sexual violence in the military, will be presented to Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). Last year, Rep. Tsongas and Rep. Turner introduced the Defense Sexual Trauma Response Oversight and Good Governance (STRONG) Act, which then received Senate support from Sen. Collins and Sen. Kerry. Elements of this legislation were introduced into law through the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama last December. These included key reforms such as expedited base transfers for sexual assault survivors and retention of evidence in unrestricted sexual assault investigations for 50 years.

After the awards ceremony, more than 100 survivors participating in the Summit will attend advocacy training and then mobilize at the U.S. Capitol to share their personal experiences with their own elected officials. These visits to policymakers will take place one day before the House Armed Services Committee begins full mark-up of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which contains additional proposals for reforming military sexual assault investigations and prosecutions.

For more information on SWAN's "Truth and Justice: The 2012 Summit on Military Sexual Violence," visit www.truthandjusticesummit.org or contact Katy Otto at

katy@servicewomen.org or 240-478-9387.

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SWAN is a national civil rights organization founded and led by women veterans. SWAN’s vision is to transform military culture by securing equal opportunity and the freedom to serve in uniform without threat of harassment, discrimination, intimidation or assault. SWAN also seeks to reform veterans' services on a national scale to guarantee equal access to quality health care, benefits and resources for women veterans and their families. You can follow Service Women’s Action Network on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/servicewomen, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/servicewomen.

Fulcher, Mock and Prins

Editor's Note: One of the authors is a former servicemember.

April 4, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added three police officers from California law enforcement agencies.

Dean Fulcher grew up in the state of Michigan along the southern shores of Lake Superior. Upon completion of high school, he spent four years in the United States Marine Corps in the aviation and intelligence fields. After serving honorably for four years, he left the Marine Corps and was hired by the Santa Ana Police Department (California), where he currently holds the rank of homicide detective. Dean Fulcher is the author of The Grand Island Adventure.

According to the book description of The Grand Island Adventure, “An edge-of-your-seat adventure novel for young adults. The Grand Island Adventure follows three teenagers trapped on an uninhabited island pursued by a band of criminals who have freed their leader from prison. The three will need the latest in technology, their wit and commitment to one another to escape a certain death.”

James Mock spent 19 years with the Torrance Police Department (California). He current works as a teacher for law enforcement related occupations, on both a volunteer and professional basis. James Mock has worked street narcotics, major narcotics, and was certified as a Drug Recognition Expert in 1992. After his retirement he was certified as a DRE instructor. He currently teaches DRE, the DRE instructor course, DRE recertification classes for many States, for the California Narcotic Officers’ Association, and for various law enforcement and related agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. James Mock is the author of Basic Latent Print Development.

According to one review, Basic Latent Print Development, “can be used as a training text for new employees or can be read by beginners. Many instructors use it as a primer for basic latent print development college classes. Sections cover: How latent prints are deposited, Investigating the Crime Scene, Which powders to use, How to lift and preserve the latent prints. There are simple to follow sketches on how to powder a surface and how to tear and lift with tape.”

Sergeant John Prins is a 27-year member of the Torrance Police Department. He has served the Torrance Police Department in many capacities, including as a patrol officer, crime scene investigator, detective, background investigator, SWAT officer, and K-9 handler. John Prins is the author of Torrance Police Department.

According to the book description, “The Torrance Police Department dates to May 23, 1921, when city trustees appointed Ben Olsen as city marshal and, shortly thereafter, hired Byron Anderson as night watchman. The efforts of these men were devoted to dealing with thieves, keeping the peace, and “declaring war on speedsters.” From such humble beginnings, the Torrance Police Department has grown into the fourth largest municipal law enforcement agency in Los Angeles County. Its position as the anchoring police force of the South Bay section of the county and its reputation as an innovator in crime fighting have been firmly established over time. Today, with a total of 242 sworn and 100 support personnel, the highly regarded Torrance Police Department serves more than 142,000 inhabitants in 21 square miles.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 930 police officers (representing 391 police departments) and their 1944 police books in 33 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Tactics and Fiction

Editor's Note: One of the authors is a former servicemember.

April 3, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books.

Special Agent Ronald Adams, Riverside Police Department (California), retired, is a 28 year veteran, of law enforcement and a widely known and recognized as an expert in police officer safety and survival. He is the co-author of Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters.

Peter Wright is a retired detective from the Redlands Police Department (California). Peter Wright is the author of The Iron Dog.

According to the book description, “The Iron Dog case follows the abduction and assault of a seventeen-year-old highschool girl and the hunt for the suspects by Barton Keene, a former San Francisco homicide detective, and his two close friends, Buddy Bigfeather, a grape grower in the California wine country, and Denton Tuggle, a local cop. Keene’s pursuit of the outlaw gang that kidnapped Tonya Charbonneau eventually includes murders, crime scene investigations, airplane crashes, and autopsies.”

Charlie Staump is a retired investigator from the Orange County Sheriff's Department in California. After 8 years in the Marine Corps and 18 years in law enforcement he found himself in the unenviable position of being retired at the age of 43 because of health problems. In an attempt to keep busy, he organized and directed an eighteen-piece swing band which was comprised of many veterans of the famous big bands of the forties and fifties. He also started a little business of making miniatures which he sold throughout the country. Charlie Staump is the author of The Calico Incident and The Lady of Goldstone.

According to the book description of The Calico Incident, “In the year of 1988 Johnny M. Johnson, a retired deputy Sheriff in San Bernardino, California, takes a job as an actor-gunfighter in the ghost town of Calico. He was well aware of the history of that old mining town and the rumors of its reported ghostly legends. Johnny had a personal connection to Calico that went back one hundred years. He had no idea that this connection would come back to haunt both he and his partner.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 918 police officers (representing 390 police departments) and their 1926 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

America Supports You: Soldier's Legacy Benefits Wounded Troops

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

Dec. 21, 2007 - An Illinois-based group is working to honor one soldier by supporting many other servicemembers. "The Captain Scott Corwin Foundation is dedicated to helping our men and women in uniform, concentrating on those wounded," said Greg Corwin, one of the foundation's executive members, and Scott's father.

The foundation was established to honor Scott Corwin, an active-duty soldier killed, not by foreign terrorists, but while walking home in Savannah, Ga., after a night out with friends.

"We try to tailor our organization after what we think Scott would want, and we do a lot in the field of sports events, as Scott was a huge sports fan," Greg Corwin said.

Corwin said the foundation, which has arranged for wounded servicemembers to attend sporting events, doesn't limit itself to this type of support but finds such events are a great distraction for recovering vets.

"We also grant an annual scholarship in Scott's name at his high school in Dairen, Ill.," he said.

The scholarship is part of a leadership program that will build upon the values of athletes in areas of scholarship and citizenship while encouraging them to give back to the community at large, Corwin said.

The U.S. Military Academy graduate was serving as the construction officer assigned to 92nd Engineer Battalion (Heavy) at Fort Stewart, Ga., on May 29, when he was shot and killed. The case is still unsolved.

The foundation recently became a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

"We believe being (affiliated) with America Supports You puts us among some of the finest military-support groups in the nation," Corwin said.

Corwin and the foundation also worked with U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania to get the Captain Scott Corwin Armed Forces Protection Act, House Resolution 3884, introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill, which was recently introduced, would make it a federal and capital offense to murder any member of the military, Corwin said.

Current law applies such penalties to those who kill a police officer, even if that police officer is unidentifiable as a police officer, according to the foundation's Web site. For military homicide victims, prosecutors currently must prove the defendant knew the victim was a servicemember.