Sexual harassment comment investigation?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 20:42:45 -0500

SHARP INVESTIGATION occurred on one of my soldiers and he is not flagged. It is a bullshit investigation that comes from another NCO that accused him of sexual harassment for a verbal statement that he made to someone else in the army and never to her. How long do these investigations last? What are the chances he will get in trouble? He admitted to the statement and he made it to another soldier but never to her and she only reported because the one he made it to is her boyfriend and they are being investigated for fraternization. My soldier has never been in trouble and he is solid in performance. The investigation began end of October.
How long do these investigations take? It has been closed but it is at legal for the last three weeks? Also he was never flagged for the investigation and never given a counseling for it but it is still under investigation. Should he have a flag put in place for this?

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 6 at 2019 10:24 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 22:24:05 -0500

Why did you post the same question twice, 2 hours apart? But yes, your Soldier should have been flagged while this investigation took place.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 7 at 2019 3:28 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 03:28:07 -0500

"He admitted to the statement" Well that will make the investigation easy.
Don't make statements or consent to searches.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 7 at 2019 12:46 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 12:46:48 -0500

It sounds like you need a SHARP class if you believe it's BS for a comment to be ABOUT someone and not directly to them. Making comments behind someone's back is even worse because it robs the person of the opportunity to defend themselves..
Yes, the Soldier was required to be flagged for investigation. The flag prevents him from leaving before the investigation finishes. It's not a legal investigation, and not something that would be handled by CID so it only takes asong as it takes the investigating officer to compile everything. As for what will happen to him, it's just a comment and nothing illegal (rape, assault, etc) so it would fall on the Commanders discretion.

Response by SPC Suawanna Harrington made Dec 7 at 2019 3:53 PM

SPC Suawanna Harrington — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 15:53:10 -0500

It sounds to me as if they are doing a Third Party Sexual Harassment complaint. Just because the comment was not made specifically to a person does not mean that they cannot be offended by it and report it. I was stationed at Ft. Sill from 97-00 and was in HHB 3/18 FA. As one of the only females within the BN, I was always being asked if certain comments offended me. One of our mandatory classes were on Sexual Harassment. We were told that all someone had to do was hear a conversation between other people, and if a comment offended them, as a third party not even participating in the conversation, they could report it under the Third Party Sexual Harassment rule. I personally don't agree with it, but I have seen many females hear part of a comment between two males within earshot and holler Sexual Harassment. It is the stupidest thing that I have ever heard of but it is regulation.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2019 6:15 PM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 18:15:36 -0500

Fucked sexual harassment is a blank deal bro he could’ve said it to someone else but if she heard and is offend bam get fucked smh tell your troops to watch their mouth bro shit different these days

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2019 2:07 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 14:07:58 -0500

Well your first sentence makes it blatantly clear you didn't pay attention to ANY SHARP class you have been in.

A person doesn't have to be the intended recipient of a comment to file a sexual harassment complaint. That's called a hostile environment which is one of the categories of sexual harassment. Perhaps you should go by the Army SHARP page and refresh yourself before you start blasting things as "bullshit."

It doesn't matter why someone reported your soldier - that alleged fraternization is completely separate from your soldier's investigation. Just like if someone is underage drinking and gets sexually assaulted - they can't get prosecuted for the underage drinking until after the sexual assault investigation is done.

Just because your soldier has never been caught before doesn't mean anything. They can be great at their job but if they're making inappropriate comments to the level of a hostile environment - to anyone - that's not a good soldier.

Why wasn't he counseled? I would have at the very least counseled even my most stellar soldier if an investigation happened - and he admitted to it.

Again it doesn't matter who he intended to make the comment to. That doesn't matter. If anyone in the vicinity heard it and it made a hostile environment, that's sexual harassment.

Investigations last as long as they last. Some are shorter than others. I will give you an example of a waste of time on an investigation:

A PFC reported his SSG for sexual assault because the SSG, while they were in formation, happened on this PFC and said "Why are you looking at me like I have a dick on my forehead?" Unprofessional? Sure. Sexual assault? No. But they had to investigate. I was the BDE SARC at the time. They talked to me, EOA, Division, etc. Everyone said no that's not sexual assault. The SSG ended up getting counseled on his unprofessional behavior and then it was ruled unsubstantiated. That is a stupid reason for an investigation.

I don't know what was said nor do I care to know since it's going on. Fact is, your soldier messed up. That soldier can either learn from it and move on (as well as you) or repeat it and get in worse trouble later on.

Response by Sgt Jose Jarvis made Oct 7 at 2023 10:34 AM

Sgt Jose Jarvis — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 10:34:10 -0400

I lean on the side of just not making comments of this nature, kept me out of trouble and no one can ever testify that I ever even speak like that.

It has actually helped me once when I was accused of saying something about someone, who was upset with me for reporting their friend for a crime I saw them commit. My staff NCO went to bat for me even before I was notified. They opened an investigation that was closed almost as fast as it was opened.

I not only denied saying it, everyone they talked to said that it was not believable that I would make such a comment and made statements to the contrary of what I was accused of.