Military Culture Still Refuses to Include Women
Military Culture Still Refuses to Include Women by Major General (USA Ret.) Robert Scales, Washington Post op-ed.
… But then came the news a few days ago that the officer in charge of preventing sexual harassment in the Air Force was charged with sexual battery. How, I wondered, can a culture that has been instrumental in advancing social change be so regressive when it comes to gender equality? Women accounted for about 2 percent of the military in 1972. Nearly 40 years later, it seems as if we are going backward.
I asked my two daughters, who are Army veterans, what they thought. Their answers were sobering. As with the military’s acceptance of African Americans and gay soldiers, the issue does not lie with observing regulations or executive orders. This is about culture. The rank and file have yet to accept women into their community. Women have fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are no longer excluded from combat zones. But the military has yet to fully accept women or their contributions…
“But so long as the culture of the rank and file rejects the presence of women as their professional partners, nothing will change.”
I suggest that part of this problem can be traced to the existence of two standards for the genders……APFT standards as well as overall physical performance expectations (changing a “two-man lift” to a “four-person lift”). Perhaps if we went to one standard, that would help reduce or eliminate this lack of acceptance.
Many senior officers have said things along the lines that “Diversity is the most important goal of the military.” It used to be killing people and breaking things of people who are our enemies. Until the enforced double standards are discarded, acceptances will never come, nor should it.
There are plenty of jobs women can do in the military, but if they are not completely accepted its because they are not combat soldiers, nor should they be. They may find themselves in a gun fight, but they didnt get there on purpose.
Bogus.
The majority of the hullabaloo about women and the service is due to how PC has infected the ranks of flag officers and has steadily made its way down.
Next time someone tells you the military is a rapefest explain to them that in the civilian community where the sexes are represented almost equally about one in five women are accosted by men. In the military, where women serve at a one to five ratio, if they were accosted as much as the civilian sector the higher density of men would assure EVERY female servicemember was raped and in the Marine Corps, TWICE each (women only make up 5% of the Corps vs. the approx 15% average in the other branches). BTW, one of three military women are actually accosted. Still unacceptable but much less than their peers given the overwhelming density of men in the service.
Even one rape is unacceptable but much of the noise is by those with an agenda or others bending over the desk to demonstrate how “diversity friendly” they are. The latest iteration of “go along, to get along and get promoted” that is part of modern officership it seems.
Want to fix the problem? Put abusers in jail (like the Air Force is doing over Lakeland) and stop allowing women to use their sex to advance and then cry “rape” when they get caught (or it’s no longer beneficial).
Examples? 82nd General’s aid has an affair for three years with the General and then claims assault coincidentally when he attacks her after she finds out he has other girlfriends.
The there’s the newly commissioned former midshipmen that corroborates a “rape” occurred during the threesome she had with her Marine Major boyfriend when she was a midshipmen and brought her drunk girlfriend along to his apartment where they played strip poker. BTW, she also had a threesome with the Major’s LT friend on a separate occasion.
Then there are the multiple incidents that involve getting drunk into oblivion and suddenly embarrassment = rape.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for punishing the males above but there’s something wrong when so many cases of sexual harassment/assault involve a level of inappropriate behavior by the woman that is never addressed. No I’m not saying she “asked for it” (as some misandrist will try to misconstrue my argument) but that men aren’t the only ones that need to raise their standards of performance and what is acceptable.
What is the obsession with diversity?
Are there objective data supporting increased organizational efficiencies trending with increased diversity?
All of the recent stories about military men assaulting or harassing women is not a military cultural problem. These men are criminals and if they were punished severely enough, the word would get out. Is the rate of harassment in the military that much higher than a similar demographic in general society? More likely the military has a better system of reporting and the ease of accusing someone facilitates both real and false claims of harassment. If the military really wanted to cut down on violations against women, put the next five flag officers convicted of adultery or harassment in Leavenworth (not the CAC 3 star billet) for a few years. That would scare some of the overinflated bad apples to act appropriately so that the rest of us can stop being bombarded with EO.
Regarding the proposal to have prosecutors make the determination on how to handle sexual assault — and/or other cases — rather than the unit leadership/commanders.
The thinking on this, in my view, is screwed up.
Commanders generally know what they need to do and do it re: matters that effect combat readiness — and related good order and discipline — within their commands. Those commanders that do not — just like with anything else that is within their responsibility — are no longer allowed the privilege of command.
Generally speaking, the leadership within a unit knows (sometimes with a little assistance from above — assistance that does not rise to the point of “unlawful command influence”) what the unit needs (inspiration, kicks in the ass; pats on the back, etc.) and acts accordingly.
The prosecutor, unlike the unit leadership, most often resides in and does her/his work at the JAG Office. She or he frequently has little or no exposure to (a) everything that is going on down at Company B, at 1st Battalion, and/or at whatever Brigade and, accordingly, has little or no idea what single thing is needed — or multiple things are needed — to keep things running smoothly, to get stuff squared away and to excel.
Prosecutors, I believe, are frequently concerned with their case loads and with winning the cases that have been assigned to them. (Herein, might we have a conflict of interest with this new proposal; in which the prosecutor may not wish to dramatically increase her or his case load and dramatically increase the number of cases she or he must win?)
Thus, the prosecutors, it would seem, unless they are:
a. Relieved of their prosecutorial responsibilities,
b. Placed in charge of the unit, and
c. Made to work down at the unit.
Do not have sufficient time and resources; sufficient incentive; sufficient knowledge, training, skills and ability; and sufficient exposure to the unit and, thus, context with which to work — so as to make decisions of such magnitude as (a) achieving and maintaining good order and discipline (of one, more, and/or many unique and particular units) and (2) achieving and maintaining combat readiness therein.
So how to fix the sexual assault problem? As with any other instance in which a leader/commander has shown that she or he is unable to do the job.
We don’t, I believe, and as with any other matter, change the entire system just because we have a leadership/command problem.
Herein, might the JAG Office provide the commanders with a complete and concise list of any and all administrative and legal measures — and develop and make available to the unit leadership a “JAG Task Force” devoted to this cause (preventing sexual assault) — both of which unit leaders/commanders might access and utilize to help them perform their jobs better and achieve the desired results? This, it would seem, is the proper role for the JAG.