Oh, #$@&!, Not Again
Looks like we have another senior military official possibly involved in a sex-related problem.
The US Army-Japan (USAJ) commander – MG Michael T. Harrison – has been suspended from his duties by the CSA, GEN Raymond P. Odierno and Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh. Allegations have been made that MG Harrison failed to report and did not properly investigate an alleged sexual assault within his command. MG Harrison’s actions concerning the incident are now being investigated. Further details have not been released.
MG Harrison had been scheduled to leave command of USAJ next week. His next assignment was to be as Deputy Commanding General, US Army Component, US Central Command (ARCENT). That’s obviously now on hold.
If the allegations against MG Harrison are true, they’re serious enough IMO to warrant disciplinary action for dereliction of duty. If they’re unwarranted, just as obviously MG Harrison’s career should not be affected – though I’d guess it will be to some extent anyway.
There’s certainly more to follow on this one.
Category: Big Army, Military issues
Perhaps the solution is to stop the sexual assault training altogether.
I’m guessing they’re going to start putting salt peter back in the chow.
@2 LMAO! Coffee through the nose.
Rules on sexual assault.
Rule #1 – Don’t do it.
Rule #2 – If in doubt, see Rule #1.
That is all.
Is the military taking notes from the Catholic Church on how to effectively deal with sexual abuse? That didn’t end up working out too well for the last guy who ran the franchise.
@4 Doesn’t get any more complicated than that.
Salt peter is already present in your urine. It won’t make you impotent, but if you collect it and filter it and let it dry, add some sulfur and charcoal, it makes great gunpowder. Add some chemicals like copper sulfate and you can make color fireworks.
He’ll be alright, particularly since senior officers have been able to skate in the past.
MG Harrison’s career is over, regardless of his guilt or innocence. His best bet is to accept retirement and find a job with LockMart. The guillotining of his career now creates a gap that will be filled by a woman.
What are the three ways to remove a military man and ensure he is completely radioactive to the extent that no one will listen to them, or consider evidence of innocence?
1. Accuse them of a sex crime.
2. Accuse them of being insufficiently concerned with enforcing the law (not PC enough).
3. Accuse them of proselytizing Christianity.
Alinsky never had such a playground as the American military culture. Using the Alinsky tactics in the world of Ballistic Missile Defense, almost all of the mid-level leaders (LTC types) have been removed so the command structure of our #1 defense against any incoming missiles is thoroughly disrupted.
Combine that with the crap going on in the USAF missile squadrons and in the Navy’s boomers and you have to wonder. Our own culture is being used to destroy us from within. We’ve become so PC we’ve lost not only our nuclear strike capability, but also our defense capability.
How many FOGO and senior NCO have we lost to accusations of heterosexual sex in the last 4 years? The argument is already being made that only women can handle the pressure of high command, and soon the argument will be made for gays as well.
Innocent or guilty, investigations are almost a certain career killer. Even when given an all clear by the IG, there is now a black cloud hanging over your head. Yeah, good luck trying to get a nomination through the Senate for SACEUR (Gen Allen/now retired), CNO/CJCS (ADM Stavradis/now retired), or that 3rd star for MG Harrison. Now, Harrison has to worry about not losing a star or two.
#1, #4 If you actually need a shiny Powerpoint presentation to prevent you from committing a sex crime, then you’re one weak-minded SOB and/or have it in you to commit such a crime in the first place. Either way you have no business being in the military.
#11 — Nice to know you have no sense of humor and take yourself far too seriously, which you clearly demonstrated by lack of comprehension of what I posted, numbnuts.
@12 – I got your back re #11. Jeez, come to lunch, @11 dummy.
@13 – Thanks, Sarge.
EX-PH2, I wasn’t saying you were part of that population if that’s what you inferred. I was agreeing with you about how simple the “training” should be. My sense of humor is just fine; however, since this whole issue ramped up in the last few months my coworkers and I have been getting hammered by the same lame SHARP briefs that do nothing to address the core problems. That and the Army’s solution to everything is a lecture by the CO or 1SG that can’t possibly keep stupid people from doing stupid things.
Every time I have to get a safety brief before the weekend I ask myself “Is someone in this audience actually thinking ‘I was going to rape someone while drunk driving a speedboat and talking on my cell phone, but now that the 1SG told me it was dangerous I changed my mind?”
#15: It’s all good when you wear your PT belt.
@15 – I hear what you’re saying about the lectures, but I think you are missing the point, which is: The Army is not so much trying to stop you from raping the camel that jogs by your tent in the Sand Box. The Army is playing CYA so they can tell the congressmen, judges, etc. that they told you not to.
@17, no kidding about the CYA. We had a soldier on his motorcycle get broadsided by a car that ran a red light a couple months ago and the first question that was asked was whether the soldier had done the required motorcycle rider training. It’s kinda like asking whether or not a drive-by shooting victim attended a firearms safety class.
@TMB, I’ve never known a lecture of any kind, in college or in my civilian jobs or in the Navy, that did anything except put me to sleep. That was the reason for my posting Rule #1 and Rule #2.
If the Army wants to be effective – and this applies to all info in all branches of the military — they need only adhere to these principles:
Get to the point, Edna.
Keep it simple, Stupid.
If you hear someone snoring, it ain’t because the windows are closed.
@16 That’s right, that magical PT belt will protect you. 🙂
If this General is guilty, punish him.
Though I will say the Army needs an example to show that its serious in the face of hearings and a massive PC storm.
Will the General who did not find a seat during the song please step forward.
For those discussing the efficacy of weekend safety briefings, I submit my own experience.
My CO at Drum gave te standard don’t drink and drive or I’ll have your ass speech at Friday afternoon formation. An hour after I got roped into moving a grill from his house to someone else’s house. Once we loaded it up in the truck, we all sat around and had some beers. Another time he bought us several rounds at my buddy’s wedding and we all drove off through Watertown half in the bag.
The point being, the briefings make the higher ups feel good about themselves and allow them to CYA in case someone screws up. They rarely refect reality,though.
We had a sensing session a while ago, during which one group was extremely vocal about the need to train the leaders as opposed to the Soldiers. I hear all the griping about SHARP training, and I’ll be the first to admit that the wrong audience is targeted. So long as PVT Nobody knows how to deal with sexual harassment, the difference between restricted and unrestricted reporting, and who to talk to in each case, their training is sufficient. It’s the leaders (company level and up, apparently) who need intense training in: a) the fact that their rank or position does not allow them to get away with SH/SA (see the number of recent field-grade and general officers being charged with various sex-related crimes) b) how to handle alleged cases of sexual assault and how to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace In the aforementioned sensing session, the other groups were fairly quiet. The vocal group was from a unit in which a now-fired E-8 told a young female Soldier to get the hell out of his office when she came to report a sexual assault. I guess there’s no complaints until one of your own is affected by idiotic “leaders”. Due to all the bullshit happening recently, all of the seemingly hated SHARP reps have to get recertified (read: sit through still more training due to the misconduct of others). We also have to go around and look for “inappropriate” materials in the workplace. Sixteen years ago, as a young mechanic at Great Dane Trailers, I was not permitted to display such materials (even if it were as simple as a picture of my wife in a bikini sitting at the top of my toolbox). That was an all-male grubby-ass garage, not a “professional” military workspace where males and females of all ranks work. Yet, some Soldiers (male and female) don’t understand how inappropriate some magazines, catalogs, and pictures are. Standards should be enforced by junior NCOs and Specialists, but they are not. The asshole in me was about to start enforcing the removal of offensive stickers off of… Read more »
@23 You’re absolutely right about the leader training. I’m a recently promoted Major. I was a company commander from 2009 to 2011. During that time I had the usual menu of Joe doing what soldiers sometimes do. The problem was I had to feel my way through it all for the first few months. The Army doesn’t spend a lot of time teaching its officers how to be judge, jury, and executioner. The UCMJ class is pretty much “Here’s what your authority allows you to do. Be firm. Be fair. Call the SJA if you have questions.”
I spent a lot of my off hours reading the MCM and the brigade legal handbook, but there’s so much power in the hands of a commander it’s staggering. After a year in command I had my first EO complaint (E4 against E6) and had to flip through the regs to figure out where to begin. Lucky for me the Bn EO rep pretty much stayed at my hip through the process, but I’d seen a couple of my peers blow off the whole thing because they either didn’t know what to do or didn’t care. My EO case went to a Field Grade Article 15 and the Bn Cdr was much lighter on the guy than I would have preferred. Whether or not you want to punish someone and how severe you want to be can be subject to how you woke up that morning and that has always bothered me. There’s enough examples of commanders screwing up SH/SA/EO cases through ignorance as through malice to warrant relooking at the training program.
#16-it’s obvious that this huge increase in sexual assault is due to the fact that service members are NOT wearing reflective belts 24/7.
It will now be mandatory.
Along with eye pro
sexual assault rates will drop dramatically
@25 LOL. I agree reflective belts say NO like nothing else.