The Army Disciplines Two Generals And Others Over Fort Hood Culture
By: Elle Beau
Tags: Culture, Society, Murder, Rape Culture, Army

Will this be the beginning of change or just a blip?

Vanessa Guillen from Wikipedia

Twenty-five soldiers have died at Fort Hood this year, due to suicide, homicide, or accident. Although this is down from thirty-two in 2019, this year has seen a record five homicides.

The US Army announced yesterday that it was firing Army Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt who was in charge of the base at Fort Hood at the time of the high profile disappearance and bludgeoning murder of Specialist Vanessa Guillen. Fourteen other officers and enlisted personnel were also fired or disciplined. Further investigations are on-going and may lead to additional sanctions.

An extensive independent investigation found that commanders had created an environment “permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault” as well as violence. A five-member panel spent three weeks at Fort Hood gathering information. Female soldiers told them they were afraid of retaliation for complaints and did not trust that their confidentiality would be maintained. They were worried that they would be moved to other jobs and that their careers would be derailed.

Female soldiers also complained about long delays in investigations, and many said they did not report incidents of sexual assault or harassment due to lack of confidence in the program. The family of Vanessa Guillen has reported that she had told them she had repeatedly been harassed by an unnamed sergeant at Fort Hood, and that complaints by other female soldiers made against him had been dismissed.

“Natalie Khawam, the Guillens’ attorney, said Criminal Investigation Command (CID) officers were among those fired or suspended on Tuesday. The panel found that Fort Hood was used as a training ground for new CID officers, and there was a lot of turnover and many of the officers were inexperienced and over-assigned.”

A subcommittee of the House of Representatives armed services committee is holding a hearing with testimony from the panel of investigators that examined the deaths at Fort Hood and the culture that prevailed during a spate of crimes and suicides there, as part of a congressional investigation.

The Army has also issued a new policy that changes how commanders deal with missing soldiers. The panel found there were no detailed procedures for what commanders of small units should do if a soldier is missing, but not necessarily awol, or absent without leave. Vanessa Guillen was missing for six weeks before her remains were finally found. Her assailant shot and killed himself before being taken into custody.

Gen James McConville, the chief of staff of the army, told reporters that he spoke to Guillen’s mother on Tuesday morning and told her, “We are holding leaders accountable, and we will fix this.”

But even with the seriousness of these intentions and a congressional investigation, can such a culture really be changed? The military has been trying to get rape and sexual assault under control for years, and it has had little to no impact because they don’t seem to be getting to the root of the problem.

At least 25% of women in the US military are raped — that’s 1 in 4, a significantly higher number than the already incredibly high 1 in 6 in the general population. More than 80% are sexually harassed. These are the numbers that the Pentagon self-reports, so their validity is not in question. It doesn’t matter very much what the ethos of an individual is if the culture of the group/society is dysfunctional. The US military undoubtedly has many honorable men in it, but the fact of the matter is, the overall culture of the military is about violent domination. So much so that, according to the Pentagon, 38 men are also raped every day.

Despite years of concerted efforts to get sexual assault and harassment under control in the military, the Pentagon reported that numbers actually increased by a staggering 38% between 2016 and 2018. Better education and awareness, and even increasing penalties for sexual misconduct have had no effect because the underlying issue isn’t being addressed. If you have a culture of violent domination, that is what will take place within it. The fact the most of the men who are in the military do not assault or harass makes no difference whatsoever. It demonstrably does not override the culture and the facts speak for themselves about that.

As army secretary, Ryan McCarthy has said, “without leadership, systems don’t matter”. He added that he was gravely disappointed in the leadership of Fort Hood, particularly as relates to sexual harassment and assault. Perhaps with committed new leadership, the culture will improve, but given the lack of success in the military in general with getting this sort of violent rape culture under control, I’m not holding my breath.

© Copyright, Elle Beau 2020

Elle Beau writes on Medium about sex, life, relationships, society, anthropology, spirituality, and love. If this story appears anywhere but Medium.com it has been stolen.