Today the Army announced it has fired or suspended 14 officers and enlisted soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas. Furthermore policy changes were announced in an effort to address leadership failures at the base after recurring instances of violence including murder, sexual assaults, and harassment.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy made the announcement in a news conference at The Pentagon.
Among those removed were two general officers, Army Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt and Maj. Gen. Jeffery Broadwater. A wide range of punishments could come from further investigations, from a letter of reprimand to military discharge. Base commander Army Lt. Gen. Pat White will not face any administrative action as he was deployed in Iraq for much of the year as the commander.
A Year of Violence
McCarthy took these actions after a tumultuous year at Fort Hood. 25 soldiers at the base died due to suicide, homicide, or accident this year. This includes the high profile case of Spc. Vanessa Guillen, who went missing for two months after being bludgeoned to death by Spc. Aaron Robinson.
Guillen’s family says that Robinson sexually harassed her, though the Army says there is no evidence to support the claim. Robinson committed suicide as police were attempting to take him into custody on July 1st.
Also in July, the body of Pit. Mejhor Morta was found near a reservoir by the base. The previous month another missing solider, Gregory Morales, was found about 10 miles from the lake by officials.
"A Deficient Climate"
After an independent review officials uncovered what they called “A deficient climate at Fort Hood, including ineffective implementation of the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) program that resulted in a pervasive lack of confidence, fear of retaliation, and significant underreporting of cases, particularly within the enlisted ranks.”
The Fort Hood Independent Review Committee interviewed 647 soldiers, of these 503 were women. Only 59 out of 93 total credible sexual assault accounts were reported at the base. In total 217 unreported accounts of sexual harassment were discovered. Many women said they feared retaliation or ostracism and worried that reporting these cases would derail their careers.
Policy Changes
McCarthy announced a People First Task Force to implement the recommendations of the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee. Also announced is a new policy regarding the first 48 hours in which a soldier fails to report for duty. “When one of our teammates does not report for duty, we will change their duty status to ‘absent-unknown’ and take immediate action to find them,” he said.
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