Experts: Military has uphill battle against sexual assault, harassment and hazing

Hazing, Bullying, Mobbing, Sexual Harassment, and Sexual Assault are in a spectrum of Physical and Psychological Violence. Bullying and Mobbing is the least understood. What experience do you have with Workplace Bullying and Mobbing? Did you find a solution?

Mobbing is going on in our formations. It is hard to detect since most Military Personnel do not know how to recognize workplace bullying (psychological violence) first. Investigating Officers get it backwards, since they do not understand the Bully judo and how a Bully with sponsors all go after the same Target (mobbing) to frame. Bullies find pleasure in harming others; sometimes they are sociopaths, too.

Marine Corps Lt. Col. Kate Germano knows first hand the destruction of mobbing. Bullies with their willing sponsors are going after Commanders, and leaving a trail of destruction in their path.


"Linked to hazing is the phenomenon of workplace harassment called mobbing, where the organization or institution tolerates or even sanctions the harassment, allowing gossip or individualized bullying to build into a group dynamic, said Maureen Duffy, a family therapist and workplace consultant who has written two books on the topic.

Usually, the dynamic emerges with people ganging up on the one person who spoke out or tried to change things. If that dynamic builds in a military unit, it can be devastating because work and identity in the military are so interwoven, she said.

“The topic of mobbing and bullying is near and dear to my heart,” said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Kate Germano, who will become the chief operating officer of SWAN when she retires in July.

Germano led the Marines’ only all-female recruit training unit but was relieved under allegations of toxic leadership. She believes the service trains women to underperform, and she pushed for change. Germano said her relief was a mystery to her until she learned about mobbing. “I was actually a target of mobbing,” she said."

The word "mobbing" was used by Professor Heinz Leymann, PhD, MD sci, to describe a phenomenon he encountered while researching the social dynamics of the workplace.

"Psychological terror or mobbing in working life involves hostile and unethical communication which is directed in a systematic manner by one or more individuals, mainly toward one individual, who, due to mobbing, is pushed into a helpless and defenseless position and held there by means of continuing mobbing activities.

These actions occur on a very frequent basis (statistical definition: at least once a week) and over a long period of time (statistical definition: at least six months´ duration). Because of the high frequency and long duration of hostile behavior, this maltreatment results in considerable mental, psychosomatic and social misery. Thus, the definition does not focus too much on the activities themselves, but rather on the heavy mental strain.

In other words, the distinction between "conflict" and "mobbing", to emphasize the concept again, does not focus on what is done or how it is done, but rather on the frequency and duration of whatever is done.

The scientific definition of the term mobbing thus refers to a social interaction, through which one individual (seldom more than one) is attacked by one or more (seldom more than four) individuals on almost a daily basis and for periods of many months, forcing the person into an almost helpless position with a potentially high risk of expulsion."

Some of the worst cases of mobbing go on for much longer periods of time and can actually continue for many years causing severe, sometimes irreparable psychological, emotional and physical health damage. In the worst cases this abuse has lead to suicide (see bullycide) and even incidents of workplace violence.

Not infrequently, mobbing spelled the end of the target’s career, marriage, health, and livelihood.