In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Neller took ownership in fixing the underlying cultural issues he says led to the “Marines United” scandal.
“I’m not going to sit here and duck around this thing, I’m not. I’m responsible, I’m the commandant, I own this and we are going to have to you know, you’ve heard it before, but we’re going to have to change how we see ourselves and how we treat each other,” Neller said.
General Neller received particularly heated criticism from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who questioned the sincerity of Neller’s claim to lead substantive change in the Marine Corps.
“So, I — I have to say when you say to us “it’s got to be different,” that rings hollow. I don’t know what you mean when you say that. Why does it have to be different? Because you all of a sudden feel that it has to be different? Who has been held accountable?” asked Senator Gillibrand.
“Have you actually investigated and found guilty anybody? If we can’t crack Facebook, how are you, we supposed to be able to confront Russian aggression and cyber hacking throughout our military? It is a serious problem when we have members of our military denigrating female Marines who will give their life to this country in the way they have with no response.” She said.
The admission by General Neller that there is an inherent cultural problem in the Marines, and asking “What is it going to take for you to accept these Marines as Marines?” to males in the service speaks to the severity in which the leadership of the Marine Corps is taking the issue.
Given the long history of sexual harassment and sexual assault scandals in the military as a whole, as well as recent statistics showing that women in the military are more likely to be raped by their fellow service members than be killed in combat, many are naturally skeptical that Neller can suddenly right this wrong and steer the Marines towards fixing the problem.
However, as Jack Murphy pointed out recently when General Joseph Votel took responsibility for the January 2017 Yemen raid where Navy SEAL Ryan Owens was killed in action, taking ownership over adversity and failure is a critical aspect of leadership. General Neller’s career will now live or die on the basis of the Marines United scandal, and he should be at least commended for following through on the foundations of leadership that are taught to leaders across the U.S. military.
But, in this author’s opinion, actually solving the cultural problems within the military that has long plagued integrating men and women in the service will take a monumental and probably generational effort that will need to go well beyond shutting down Facebook groups.
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I don't either,T3. You know...the black soldiers were considered in similar light as far as their treatment early on. That changed when they proved that their blood ran just as red and just as deep as everyone else's. It took a lot of effort back in the 60's and 70's to re-educate the military but they did. It wasn't that the black men and women were less. It was that they were always made to feel "less", and were deliberately set up for failure. Hopefully, things will change in a much shorter time for the women. I hope that women stick it out and that the men with this gender biased attitude "man up" to their prejudice and get over it. I also hope that stronger men will beat the crap out of those that need more than gentle persuasion to adjust their attitudes. It's more than time that "boys will be boys" grow up in an environment that more than claims to make men out of boys.
Agreed. It was another opportunity to grandstand. In reading the following, article, it sounds like there are those that tried through private channels such as FB moderators and the like to shut this down and failed (they were already discharged). I feel that this has some added information on the situations of some of those unwillingly involved as well. It does also speak to the wrongness of how some of the women and those reporting the issue are treated. I hope that there is a way to protect them. To some of the other points, I do not feel 30k should be punished for the actions of a few. http://taskandpurpose.com/rise-fall-rise-marines-united/?utm_source=exclusive&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marinesunited
lol, that's quite a skill. ?
I must keep my ears closed to her. :)
There is never a time when shaming, rather than encouraging, brings about solid results. That Congress decided to shame this 4 star General during a public forum was more for their ego than to help gain results for the issue. It was a powerful statement that he claims ownership of the problem. Once that was said, they should have brought forward questions regarding assumed steps to address the issue that the Marines/military may have already initiated or are planning. Attacking a high-ranking military officer while he is "cornered" helplessly before Congress was bound to antagonize all military and their sympathetic supporters at the way he was treated. They should have asked for specifics where possible and a promise to keep them informed on the progress. That should have been the end to it rather than using it for political "bitcoin".