At least 14 soldiers and officers were suspended or fired at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the Army announced on Tuesday.
An investigation sparked by Vanessa Guillen’s death found ‘chronic leadership failures’ that resulted in a widespread pattern of violence, including harassment, sexual assaults, and murder.
According to reports, Guillen went missing in April after telling her family that she was being sexually harassed. Her remains were found on June 30.
Guillen is one of the 31 Fort Hood soldiers to have died this year.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said in a press conference: “The investigation after Vanessa Guillen’s murder found Fort Hood has a command climate that was permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
McCarthy said the issues at the base are “directly related to leadership failures.”
The panel published the findings and recommendations that the Army is accepting to correct the command culture at Ford Hood, McCarthy shared.
“Of the 503 women we interviewed [in the investigation], we discovered 93 credible accounts of sexual assault. Of those only 59 were reported,” said Queta Rodriguez, a member of the independent review panel.
“And we also found 217 unreported accounts of sexual harassment. Of those only half were reported. What we discovered was over the course of those interviews, the lack of confidence in the system effected the reports of those incidents.”
The person in charge of the base when Guillen was murdered, Army Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, was fired from his post.
Base commander Army Lt. Gen. Pat White was in Iraq for most of the year so he will not face any administrative action.
The leaders of Guillen’s unit, Command Sgt. Maj. Bradly Kapp and Col. Ralph Overland, were fired. Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas C. Kenny and Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Broadwater were suspended.
The suspension is pending the results of an investigation of 1st Cavalry Division’s command climate and Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program.
The names of the below commanders and leaders and the battalion level who received administrative action were not released.
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Replaced!