After reading Sharon Haddock's Sept. 22 article titled "Is sexual misconduct rife in the military?" I feel I must comment.
The article reports on an address given by retired Lt. Col. Karen Johnson at a Women in Business Network conference in Provo and begins by stating Lt. Col. Johnson reported that sexual misconduct in the military is rampant. As this is not shown as a direct quote, I am left to wonder if these were Lt. Col. Johnson's own words or a conclusion drawn by Sharon Haddock. The rest of the article presents snippets of Lt. Col. Johnson's quotes and incomplete accounts of recent highly publicized cases to support the supposition of rampant misconduct among military men. It is not difficult to recognize the bias that oozes from this article. My experience is that such reporting is often based on the author's apparent naivete about the military. May I please provide a different perspective based on my own 30-year Air Force career.Like Lt. Col. Johnson, I spent my career at military bases across the world. I was an officer and pilot, and some of my assignments were to remote locations and war zones, causing extended family separations. Yes, I did see a few men fraternize the prostitutes who always gathered around the base, but I would hardly call the practice rampant. There are prostitutes in our own communities, and a small percentage of the population indulge in them, yet we would hardly say that sexual misconduct is rife along the Wasatch Front. By the same token, let us not be so quick to conclude and condemn the vast majority of military men and women who lead moral lives.
Sharon Haddock commented that Lt. Col. Johnson stated that officers - including base commanders - take off their wedding bands and live with temporary wives. During two tours in Vietnam, during which I worked and flew with hundreds of other pilots and officers, I am aware of only one similar situation. To many of us, this officer's actions were reprehensible. Likewise, it would have been unthinkable for any commander to engage in such behavior. All officers hired maids to clean their quarters and wash their clothing, but I never observed any sexual misconduct in these arrangements.
Let us also set the record straight regarding Lt. Kelly Flynn. Haddock says Flynn was court-martialed for a consensual affair. Again, Haddock is either naive or guilty of distorting fact. Lt. Flynn was never court-martialed. While Lt. Flynn did face trial by court-martial, due to her admission that she disobeyed a direct order and then lied about it, she instead opted to resign her commission and accept a general discharge. Lt. Flynn's two "consensual affairs" were incidental to the far more serious charge of disobeying a direct order. It is also hardly appropriate to compare the two Army soldiers who were found guilty of raping a 12-year-old German girl to Lt. Flynn's actions. While the rest of that story is missing from the article, their "less than honorable" discharge was almost certainly the result of a court-martial, and most likely included prison, fines and the loss of all benefits. Likewise, simple mathematics shows the sergeant convicted of 18 counts of rape received a six-year prison sentence, far more onerous than the reported four months per rape, and most likely also included fines and loss of benefits.
Sexual misconduct by both men and women occurs in all segments of our society but is hardly more prevalent or rampant within the military. Let us be cautious about misreading recent highly publicized cases and not label the millions of others who have and are honorably serving in our military based on the actions of a few.
And to those who have a personal agenda, your opinions and perceptions are welcome. But realize you do damage to your cause and credibility when you misrepresent the facts.