In the early 1990s, Rich McCormick was one of several hundred young Marine lieutenants at The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, when he was interviewed to appear in a new recruiting ad.

They entered the Marines through the Buddy System, a program often employed as a recruiting tool since it guarantees that friends who enlist together go through boot camp together as well.

Editor's note: This article contains references to sexual assault. Lawyers for a former recruit are appealing the Marine Corps' decision to deny her legal claim alleging that the service failed to ...