Eradicating Sexual Assaults from the Military

Sir, I've never had occasion to quote myself before, but I mentioned my thoughts on this in a conversation started by SSG V. Michelle Woods.

"For myself, I consider the title of Marine, and the aura that comes with it the greatest honor of my life. Nothing can replace the reverence I have experienced as people discover that I wear the cloth of a US Marine. Because of this, and this alone, we simply cannot allow ourselves to be soiled with audacities such as sexual assault, domestic violence and others. Not with our legacy. We are far from perfect and these things do happen in our Corps. If it is allowed to continue the magic will eventually fade, along with that sparkle in the eye of anyone who you just introduced yourself to as a Marine. That cannot be allowed to happen."

I would extend that to the other services. In my travels I have never experienced a country with more reverence for their military. But if this type of behavior is allowed to continue, eventually our citizens will begin to see us as animalistic thugs, and a big part of the magic that is America will be lost. Our service members need to be reacquainted with the magnitude of their calling and the caliber of individual that is requires.

MG (Join to see) , Sir, I would be very interested to hear the responses you are getting from the different groups you are addressing or the individuals who approach you after your presentation. Can you share some of their concerns or thoughts?

I have a concern that the attitude of "good" people (to protect themselves and their units by "crushing" those who raise a red flag or by victim blaming) will cause this issue to become worse in the future before it gets any better. While I agree that education and training are key, it must be structured properly and designed to change the values that lead to this behavior in the few without losing the attention and respect of the issue by those who see this now as abhorrent behavior. I personally was deeply disappointed and angered by the current mandatory JKO training module. Commanders/superiors should never being getting drunk and "partying" with their troops so how did that training assist me in intervening? We slapped a "one size fits all" approach to the training right now that is inadequate to changing the behavior which should be the "ends" of the strategy in place.

While I also agree that victim advocacy and support must be improved, that is only the "response" aspect to the problem. As a military community we must (and can, since we control who comes in and stays in) get ahead of this with prevention strategies. I believe the trends for people to be more "loyal" to one another than to "what is right/moral" or too afraid of reporting for the very REAL fear of reprisals and being ostracized is not being fully addressed. I found that the TAC officers had a bet on who would sleep with all the female LTs first (over 20 yrs ago) and when they succeeded with one, threatened to have her failed out to keep her quiet. I heard about the situation 10 years after my basic course, when I ran into her again and she told me what happened...have things really gotten any better?

I also recognize the other side - those who would accuse for their own power and agenda. While this is often discussed informally in the hallways, why are we not making these cases more public and punishing those who falsely accuse? This diminishes the attitude toward the real problem also.

THIS MUST BE ADDRESSED BY OUR SOCIETY
By the way it is not just the military, our college campuses are training grounds for sexual predators and no one is addressing that issue. Anyone with a college age child can ask them how many times they may have witnessed or heard about roofies going down or people deliberately getting that "one person" drunk and then taking advantage of it. My daughters heard about these things happening in High School, where it is kept hush-hush to protect "that very good (name your sport here) player." A recent study said 1 of every 4 young women are being assaulted/date raped by the time they leave college. Think about that!!! A minimum (because I think not everyone is honest on a survey) of 25% of our children are being RAPED not by bad evil nasty thugs but the good clean kind people who become the citizens and leaders of our society. This behavior is perpetuated in social and entertainment media, made light of, and often covered up when discovered by peers. The result is that all of the individuals involved become victims in many ways and our country's social capital is eroded.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for us as a specific and separate community comprised of all sociocultural groups and identities to create initiatives that work and lead our fellow Americans towards a brighter future where our children and theirs will be safer and healthier.

General Shadley, hello again. I had met you while stationed at APG and you were the Chief of Ordnance. I was the Chief Instructor at the Metalworker (Welding) school.

I have to admit, I was on SDNCO at the Ordnance HQ bldg in Ordnance Circle the night before the sexual harassment announcement was made public. I'd told my wife it was so strange that you and your staff were there for at least most of the night.

After pulling the SDNCO, I wentn home and went to bed. When I woke up later that day, my wife told me what had happened. I couldn't believe it. As a former Drill Sgt, I was crushed by it. I always felt the sense of trust given to me in special duty assignments like that and never felt "entitled" to anything or anyone outside my scope of responsibility. I also had a very low threshold of understanding or compassion for those who felt entitled. My tour of duty as a Drill Sgt was several years before this event occurred, but I and all my former Drill Sgt friends were interviewed by CID regarding issues that may have happened while we were on duty.

Then, of course, the nonstop additional duties of Courtesy Patrols through the barracks and all the hangouts on post began to show actions in place to prevent additional assaults from occurring. SFC's in the 16th Ordnance Battalion were pulling this duty every 3-4 days for several months in addition to our other duty roster assignments. There were periods when we didn't see our shops for a week at a time. This obviously limited our ability to provide training and instruction, but that didn't seem to have been considered important in the aftermath of the events that occurred.

After having met you, General Shadley, and earning a lot of respect for you, I felt very bad for how this unfortunate series of events affected your career. I always believe you'd follow General Wilson's success and achieve your 3rd and 4th stars. There is no way you could have known what was going on at the unit levels. Policy's were in place supporting the regulations and the law. You definitely did NOT create a command environment supporting this type of behavior. I never thought it was fair. I know all about fair being the thing that comes to town once a year and all else is life, but in your case...the outcome was wrong.

I salute you General and wish God's richest blessings upon you and your family.