Damning Court Martial Testimony

The executive officer of a Marine Corps training unit testified Tuesday that a captain charged in the heatstroke death of a reservist once compared his troops to dogs.

Capt. Lloyd Freeman, second in command at Camp Lejeune's infantry school training battalion, said he talked to Capt. Victor Arana after noticing that Arana's sergeant had a negative attitude.

"He said, `Well, I see them like dogs. You tell them what to do and you don't worry about their feelings,'" Lloyd testified at Arana's court-martial. “At that point I was shocked.... I think I said I'm glad I wasn't around as an enlisted man with you as a leader.”

Freeman also said he felt company commanders at the infantry school pushed the new Marines too hard on conditioning hikes. He said he was particularly concerned about heat casualties during hot months.

Arana, 28, of DuPage County, Ill., is charged with dereliction of duty and failure to obey an order and could face 9 months in prison and dismissal from the corps if convicted. His court-martial began Monday.

The captain was charged after Lance Cpl. Giuseppe “Joey” Leto, 21, of New Milford, Conn., died last July 7 during an 8-mile conditioning hike at Camp Lejeune.

On Monday, Freeman's commander testified that Arana didn't properly plan the fatal hike or the camp afterward.

Lt. Col. Christopher O'Connor, chief instructor at the school, said Arana told him he hadn't stayed for a head count after the hike ended about 10 p.m. Leto's body was found about two hours later.

“He had departed the area before all of his weapons, equipment and personnel were accounted for,” he said.

Arana also didn't have a plan for the overnight camp in an open field, leaving that up to a noncommissioned officer who had just returned from three years of recruiting duty, O'Connor said.

“He had no notion of what was going to happen to his company between the time he left that night and his return the next morning,” he said.

O'Connor said safety is paramount during the hikes, but some company commanders, including Arana's previous superior officer, didn't think the marches were rigorous enough to prepare them to be Marines. He told a defense lawyer he didn't know Arana's previous commander once completed a hike 31 minutes faster than scheduled.

Marines on the hike testified they were marched so fast that many became overheated and ill and straggled out of the sight of Arana, who stayed at the head of the 180-man formation and didn't check on his troops.

“People were going down all over the place,” said Lance Cpl. James Vasser. “I saw Marines in the road vomiting, with cramps in their legs. Myself, I was vomiting the majority of the hike.”

A prosecutor, Maj. Chris Hamilton, told the judge that Arana was overheard on the hike saying, “I don't care who dies,” and that Arana told his staff as he left after the hike, “Mama ain't waiting up all night.”

A wrestler and lacrosse player, Leto had just completed his second year at Western New England College when he came to Camp Lejeune for infantry training. Arana led Leto and 179 other Marines, all carrying weapons and packs, on a night conditioning march in 80-degree heat.

Arana's company was supposed to take one of two rest breaks after covering the first 3 miles at a 2@1/2-miles-per-hour pace. But the company reached the stopping point in just 49 minutes, meaning they were hiking at 3.7 miles per hour, prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Mark Stevens said in his opening statement that Arana's superiors didn't give him specific guidance for conducting the hike, Arana's first command assignment.

“The evidence will show that he did slow down at the request of his staff,” Stevens said.

Stevens said a defense witness will testify that Leto had a normal conversation with a sergeant and showed no evidence of heatstroke. But Lance Cpl. Grant Emdee testified Leto was “very red and flushed” and sweating profusely.

Leto's mother and father, Domenica “Mimi” Leto and Francesco Leto, attended the trial as did his brother, Vincent Leto; his aunt, Rosalia DesBiens; and a cousin, Anna Maria DesBiens. Leto's mother and cousin were not permitted in the courtroom because they might be called as witnesses.

Domenica Leto said she wants to testify about the oldest of two children who turned 21 two days before leaving for North Carolina.

“I need to face him (Arana),” she said. “I need to say my piece about my family.... My biggest fear was war, not that he would be left behind.”