THREAD (my last one for today I promise, hopefully): A lot of news today out of the Army's latest report about the investigation of Vanessa Guillén's case.
Let's review, shall we?
The Army confirmed that Guillén was being sexually harassed by a "superior noncommissioned officer in her unit."
A FORSCOM press release today said Guillén "informally reported that she was sexually harassed on two occasions, and in both instances her supervisor failed to report the harassment, and other leaders failed to take appropriate action."
The Army says they still have no evidence of Spc. Aaron Robinson — the man accused of killing Guillén — harassing her.
They did, however, find evidence that Robinson harassed another female specialist at Fort Hood between April and September 2019
In the report the Army redacted the name of the NCO who harassed Vanessa — something her family said "troubled" them, through their attorney.
"It’s heartbreaking and frustrating for all of us,” Natalie Khawam said. “So much failure, from the commanders down.”
(The Army said they would not release the names of anyone implicated in the report who is at the battalion level and below.)
Which brings us to...
As a result of the report today + the Fort Hood report last year, a total of 21 officers and NCOs are being relieved, receiving GOMORs, and/or being referred for further disciplinary action. taskandpurpose.com/news/army-fort…
Several of the people included in that group of 21 are from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Vanessa's unit.
One soldier told the investigators that the 3CR was the "most undisciplined organization I have work[ed] in in my entire career."
Another said the regiment's SHARP program was "a joke."
“[W]e have known predators still coming to work as though they’ve never done anything,” the soldier said. “The people who file reports frequently have their lives upended and destroyed due to rank differences.”
There are a lot of other details in the report, which is laid out in a kind of chronological timeline of events and provides a much clearer picture of what happened before and after Guillén went missing.
The report mentioned specifically the July 2 press conference with MG Efflandt and CID. One soldier who is unnamed said the press conference "went about as well as it could be expected which is to say it was a train wreck."
And in May, a soldier (who is unnamed) suggested Efflandt put his name on a press release coming from Fort Hood, but he argued against it, saying he didn't want "to be the face on this yet."
"I was kind of deflated to be honest with you when he said that," the soldier said.
NEW: Weeks ago, I set out to answer the question, “What’s going on at Fort Hood?”
That question evolved again and again, and has resulted in what I hope gives another window into who Vanessa Guillén was, what happened to her & what it means for the Army. taskandpurpose.com/news/inside-th…
A little about Vanessa: She had a contagious smile, everyone loved her. She was planning to go to college, maybe Texas A&M, get married, and someday become a mom.
Her sister Lupe told me: “You know how they say no one’s perfect? Vanessa, she was...the definition of perfection."
Near the end of last year, though, her family could tell something was wrong.
She had bags under her eyes, her hair looked thin, she'd lost weight. She wasn't smiling anymore. Her mom kept pushing her to tell her what was wrong, and she eventually did.
NEW: Military housing providers have been asking residents to sign NDAs in order to settle housing issues. The services are aware of it & in at least one case with the Navy, the service was the one who suggested it.
Davidson, a Marine Corps wife, has been fighting Patrician Management since 2016. She repeatedly said her home’s air ducts had mold — they repeatedly said there was not
When she was pregnant, her doctor said her white blood cell count was too high. He worried she'd lose the baby
"He asked me if I was working with chemicals. I said, 'No,'" Davidson said. "And then I pulled out my phone and said 'But look at this. Could this be it?' And I showed him a picture of the inside of our [air] ducts, and he said 'Well, absolutely.'"