A feminine Army officer was fired from command of a unit primarily based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord amid allegations of a number of sexual assaults in opposition to a number of male subordinates and a sample of sexual harassment, in accordance with a service spokesperson.
Col. Meghann Sullivan served as commander of the fifth Brigade Engineer Battalion, fifth Safety Drive Help Brigade, on the base in Washington state. She was relieved of command Oct. 13, however that is the primary time her firing has been reported.
Army.com first reported on her suspension and the following investigation into her conduct in April. That reporting was a part of the publication’s investigation into the fifth SFAB, which uncovered doubtlessly systemic points with counterproductive management and efficiency and morale struggles amongst its rank and file.
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The investigation into the fifth SFAB included reviewing an unredacted command local weather survey along with tons of of inner Army emails, voice recordings, movies and textual content messages. The brigade’s commander, Col. Jonathan Chung, was later fired and left the service.
Sullivan, who didn’t instantly return a request for remark, remains to be within the service and was reassigned to I Corps, primarily based out of the identical set up. She is seemingly not going through a court-martial, in accordance with a Army.com overview of the public-facing court docket docket. It was unclear whether or not she had employed an lawyer.
The previous commander confronted allegations of assaulting not less than two male subordinates and harassing a number of others, with a few of these incidents allegedly tied to alcohol abuse, in accordance with one supply with direct data of the scenario. A kind of cases allegedly concerned forcefully kissing one of many males, and grabbing one other under the belt with out his consent.
Male victims account for 10% of sexual assault instances within the army, in accordance with 2022 knowledge from the Division of Protection, although male reporting of sexual assault is seen by the Pentagon as underreported as a result of societal stigma. Girls make up 6% of sexual harassment offenders, which can also be probably underreported, the majority of these being junior enlisted.
Girls offenders who’re additionally senior officers are so uncommon that they don’t seem in a lot of the DoD’s reporting on offender statistics. In the meantime, senior male officers account for 8% of offenders. Nevertheless, the DoD’s knowledge paints an incomplete image of offender demographics. Some knowledge on assaults and harassments doesn’t meaningfully break down ranks or genders of offenders.
Sullivan was the primary girl to take command of an SFAB battalion.
These new models, created between 2017 and 2020, work with established international allied forces, help in coaching, and develop methods the U.S. can companion with these forces.
The distinctive models sport a brown beret and “advisor” tab. Every SFAB focuses on a selected area, with the fifth SFAB’s space of duty being the Pacific. It companions with Australia, Japan, Mongolia and different nations that could possibly be crucial in a battle with China.
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