‘TOXIC’ ARMED FORCES BOSSES BY ABUSE
20s. One of her roles was as a ski instructor in an all-male infantry unit. She said: “All day they would proposition me. I ignored them when they invited me to the bar.
“I stayed in my room all week in the evenings. You could sense by going to the bar I would be putting myself in harm’s way. I made the decision to move room on the last night. I was woken up by a crashing noise. Through a glass door, I watched them kicking down my door to get me but I wasn’t there.”
Despite that experience she loved her military career, in which she received an OBE in recognition for her work as a reservist in the Intelligence Corps.
But she resigned last year after questioning why she had been passed over for a promotion.
Lt Col Allen, now a defence consultant, said: “I watched how the system wriggled and ducked and dived. I delved a little deeper and saw the depth of problems facing Forces women.
“I couldn’t continue to serve.”
She went on: “Since then I have been contacted by 198 serving and former members of the Armed Forces who have told me about what happened to them. Women have been raped, sexually assaulted, videoed in the showers with the film being passed around and shared amongst colleagues.”
Lt Col Allen said the Forces’ complaints system had been designed to fail with many women withdrawing their complaints through bullying and coercion.
The retired officer said: “What is needed is an Independent Defence Authority to hold the Ministry of Defence to account.
“The Government wouldn’t allow the levels of abuse happening to women today in any other organisation so why is it allowed to happen in the Armed Services?”
A retired female RAF Group Captain said: “When I heard that Diane was calling for an Armed Forces Metoo moment I punched my fist into the air with delight.” Col Richard Kemp, a former commander in Afghanistan, said officers who fail to deal with sexual assault should be sacked.
He said: “Sexual discrimination and, even worse, assault is as intolerable in the Armed Forces as in the rest of society.”
The Commons defence sub-committee revealed last month 4,000 female serving and former troops were victims of bullying and discrimination. Lawyer Emma Norton, founder of the Centre for Military Justice, said: “For personnel who have been sexually assaulted, it is extremely difficult to achieve justice. The victim, usually a woman, is almost always seen as the problem. Ensuring that serious sexual assaults are taken out of the military justice system would be a good start.”
The Labour Party has called for military rape and other serious offences to be tried in civilian courts. Shadow minister for veterans, Sharon Hodgson, said: “The MOD must do more to change behaviours and attitudes.”
The MOD had to set up a helpline after chief of defence staff Gen Sir Nick Carter said bullying and discrimination drives out talented women and ethnic minorities. Just last month footage emerged of a naked male RAF gunner allegedly being sexually assaulted with a 5ft mortar tube. The Support Weapons Flight unit based at RAF Honington, Suffolk, was temporarily disbanded pending an investigation. The military is also under pressure to overhaul its treatment of PTSD – which the Sunday People is campaigning for.
Yesterday the MOD said: “All sexual offences are unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the Armed Forces.
“We take each allegation very seriously, and anyone failing to meet the clear and high standards of behaviour required will be dealt with robustly.
“We are working to establish independent and transparent protocols to ensure that decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and the most appropriate route to justice for each offence is found.”
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The defence chiefs are in denial about the extent of
the problem