Hagel: Troops' workplaces will be checked for 'degrading' images of women

[Co Th G]

https://www.militarytimes.com/article/20130507/NEWS/305070032/Hagel-Troops-workplaces-will-checked-degrading-images-women

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered a close-up and comprehensive inspection of all military offices and workplaces worldwide to root out any “materials that create a degrading or offensive work environment.”

The extraordinary searches will be similar to those the Air Force conducted last year and prompted officers to scour troops’ desks and cubicles in search of photos, calendars, magazines, screen-savers, computer files and other items that might be considered degrading toward women.

The inspections will now target soldiers, sailors and Marines. They come amid heightened concern about sexual assault in the military and a new Defense Department report that suggests more than 70 troops every day experience some type of sexual assault.

Also on Tuesday Pentagon officials were reeling from reports that the officer in charge of the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention program, Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, was arrested Sunday and charged with sexual battery after he allegedly groped a woman in a parking lot several miles from the Pentagon in Crystal City, Va.

“We need a cultural change where every service member is treated with dignity and respect,” Hagel said Tuesday in announcing a list of new initiatives to prevent sexual assault.

Hagel also unveiled the Defense Department’s annual report on sexual assault, which estimates that about 26,000 troops experienced some form of “unwanted sexual contact” during the past year. That’s roughly one in every 50 troops in the active-duty force. Those numbers are derived from anonymous surveys designed to estimate the prevalence of sexual assault in the military.

Those surveys suggest that only a fraction of troops who are the victims of sexual assault ultimately come forward to make a formal report with the intent of either filing a criminal complaint or seeking medical treatment. The number of official reports of specific military sexual assaults in 2012 was 3,374, or less than 15 percent of the total assaults that occurred based on the anonymous surveys, according to the report.

Office searches coming soon

The workplace searches will be conducted by “component heads” before July 1, and Hagel expects each service to submit a report summarizing the findings. The Air Force leadership will submit a report based on inspections it ordered in late 2012 and will not be expected to conduct a new round of searches.

The searches by the Air Force last year were sparked by an enlisted airman at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., who filed a complaint with the inspector general and senior Air Force leaders in October 2012 describing how her chain of command ignored for months her reports of sexual, violent and graphic images, songbooks and other documents on a computer server. She went public with her complaint in November.

The inspections were controversial and many airman complained that it felt like a “raid” and arbitrarily targeted materials such as fitness magazines and beer posters. Air Force officials said the prevalence of those items may be correlated to sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace.

Hagel outlined several other measures aimed at cracking down on sexual assaults. He ordered the service chiefs to develop ways to hold commanders accountable for maintaining a command climate of “dignity and respect”.

Hagel set a deadline of November for the chiefs to provide details on how that will be measured and how, if at all, that assessment might be integrated into the promotion or command-screening process.

Another initiative will require the results of all command climate surveys to be provided to commanders the next level up the chain of command. That’s an effort to give high-level commanders insight into potential problems within their subordinate commands.

Hagel said he wants these measures to “really drive the cultural change.”

The anonymous surveys of troop show that victims of sexual assault are distinctly unhappy with the way they are treated, said Army Maj. Gen. Gary Patton, the director of the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

“They perceive retaliation in the form of social retaliation, in the form of leadership retaliation,” Patton said.

Only a fraction of troops accused of sexual assault face a court martial, the report shows. Of the 1,714 troops who were specifically targeted with an allegation of sexual assault in 2012, about 302 ultimately faced a court martial and about 238 of those were convicted on at least one count, official said.

The majority of cases were resolved through other means, including the sexual assault allegations being dropped, non-judicial punishment or discharge from the military, according to the report.

[10percenttruth]

Wafer...

Edited May 8, 2013 by 10percenttruth

[afnav]

I'm not sure what has happened since I retired, but if shit is really going on, it needs to be stop or at least reduced.

However, I can see a huge number of second- and third-order effects from the course they have chosen, and a lot of unintended consequences.

[BitteEinBit]

Why only look for pictures of women? Can men not be degraded? Remember, this is the "new" military....you never know what you'll find in the workplace these days.

[snoopyeast]

I'm offended that copilots are working on their masters at work and not studying the T.O.s.

[disgruntledemployee]

I think Mr Hagel needs to ask Hollywood and the entertainment industry to stop what they are doing. He should then visit the household of each kid that might potentially enter the military and take away their mags/posters/DVDs of Transformers/Porkys I, II, & III/cable TV and the internet. That should take care of the issue.

Meanwhile, I'm offended that I they think that I can't control myself and that a picture of a bikini lady will turn me into a monster the moment I see it. I guess I can't go to the beach anymore. What's next, thought police?!

Out

[whodat]

I think Mr Hagel needs to ask Hollywood and the entertainment industry to stop what they are doing. He should then visit the household of each kid that might potentially enter the military and take away their mags/posters/DVDs of Transformers/Porkys I, II, & III/cable TV and the internet. That should take care of the issue.

Meanwhile, I'm offended that I they think that I can't control myself and that a picture of a bikini lady will turn me into a monster the moment I see it. I guess I can't go to the beach anymore. What's next, thought police?!

Out

You joke about the beach part. But in all seriousiness I can see big blue issuing a ridiculous order that individuals can't travel to area's where sexuality might be exposed heavily (i,e. a party beach area, mardi gras, etc) in fear it might negatively influence individuals to commit a sexual assualt.

[C-21.Pilot]

...or give us an order preventing the viewing of the " on a hourly basis.

[DFRESH]

...or give us an order preventing the viewing of the " on a hourly basis.

BITE YOUR TONGUE!

[stract]

already discussed yesterday

[Hammer]

You joke about the beach part. But in all seriousiness I can see big blue issuing a ridiculous order that individuals can't travel to area's where sexuality might be exposed heavily (i,e. a party beach area, mardi gras, etc) in fear it might negatively influence individuals to commit a sexual assualt.

Cadiz...

[LoneStar]

Does this mean heritage nose art will be painted over?

[10percenttruth]

Does this mean heritage nose art will be painted over?

'Will be'?

Already has

[Easy]

A big crackdown on sexuality in our military culture...Next will be head coverings for all women since we men obviously can't control ourselves.

Hmm this is sounding familiar...

[Scooter14]

I'm offended that copilots are working on their masters at work and not studying the T.O.s.

Amen

[cryoglobin]

They already did this weeks ago at the direction of the CSAF, looking for anything that might be offensive at all (not just items that were sexual in nature). Somewhere out there is a comprehensive list, by MAJCOM of images or items that were removed. Some of the more humorous ones that I remember were "rubber testicles hanging from tow receiver of personal vehicle", "squadron beer mugs with anatomically correct handles in the likeness of nude women", and "plastic dog feces on a desk".

They forced our squadron to remove all public references to an objectionable call sign.

edit: Found the list https://www.foia.af.m...-130118-015.pdf

This one is another classic "Star Wars Action Figure -- Princess Leia". Had to have been an intel weenie.......

Edited May 9, 2013 by cryoglobin

[Boxhead]

I going up to the USAF Museum (cause I think that's were I belong anyway) to see if they erases/painted over the old nose art that was there. Separation/retirement can't come fast enough.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Boxhead

[Tank]

They already did this weeks ago at the direction of the CSAF, looking for anything that might be offensive at all (not just items that were sexual in nature). Somewhere out there is a comprehensive list, by MAJCOM of images or items that were removed. Some of the more humorous ones that I remember were "rubber testicles hanging from tow receiver of personal vehicle", "squadron beer mugs with anatomically correct handles in the likeness of nude women", and "plastic dog feces on a desk". They forced our squadron to remove all public references to an objectionable call sign. edit: Found the list https://www.foia.af.m...-130118-015.pdf This one is another classic "Star Wars Action Figure -- Princess Leia". Had to have been an intel weenie.......

These made me laugh:

- Crud Rules - Inappropriate lexicon past 45 degrees

- “Ken” doll dressed only in swim trunks

- topless picture of Kurt Russell

- 1 Shirtless Photo of Tom Brady

This made me pissed though:

- World War II 50th Anniversary Fine Art Collection Series Silver Wings- Historic "art" depicting WWII pilot gear

- AF 50th Anniversary Poster

Edited May 9, 2013 by Tank

[Sasquatch]

What in the world is an "inappropriate kitchen utensil"?

[Jughead]

This made me pissed though:

- World War II 50th Anniversary Fine Art Collection Series Silver Wings- Historic "art" depicting WWII pilot gear

- AF 50th Anniversary Poster

As I believe others have stated here before, I suspect items like these were sent up more to illustrate how stupid the process was than any actual thought of the "offending" items causing a hostile workplace....

[Champ Kind]

My personal favorite was a story about a dude that had a picture on his desk of him and his wife from a vacation somewhere tropical, and she was wearing environmentally-appropriate attire. It had to be removed. IT WAS A PICTURE OF HIS FUCKING WIFE!

[Rusty Pipes]

I saw people online yesterday when this came out complaining about how having NFL Cheerleaders and attractive female actresses/singers on USO tours was "alienating a substantial part of our fighting force in the AOR".

[Fuzz]

lets not kid ourselves the only marginalization that occurs is the jealousy that the chicks have when they realize all the guys lost their deployment goggles after hanging with attractive (correction smoking hot) girls.

[Rusty Pipes]

My personal favorite was a story about a dude that had a picture on his desk of him and his wife from a vacation somewhere tropical, and she was wearing environmentally-appropriate attire. It had to be removed. IT WAS A PICTURE OF HIS ######ING WIFE!

Tell me about it... my boss just made me remove all of the pictures of the wives of the other guys in my office wearing bikinis that I had on my desk! Some people are so sensitive!!! I mean seriously, it’s not like it was the naked pictures I had of them up!!!

Edited May 9, 2013 by Rusty Pipes

[Spur38]

How about all those nasty pictures on the walls of an Ops building wall: POTUS..SECDEF.. AFCOS and a bunch of other clowns?