I wanted to share my experience of being one of the instigators of the UK MOD’s ‘military #MeToo moment’. and give you a sense of the build up to the Women in Defence Inquiry, currently led by Sarah Atherton MP, and how she worked with the Secretary of State for Defence, to ensure that she could hear the voices of serving personnel as well as veterans (lifting a long-term gagging order on service personnel speaking to parliament officially).

Over 4000 service women and some families submitted stories during December 2020. A steady stream then submitted throughout January, with the review extended until February 2021. Many veterans’ charities also submitted case-stories of the thousands who came to them. One of those charities was Forward Assist.

Over 8 months, I have listened to stories of serving women being raped, drugged, assaulted, abused in training, held back in careers, ignored as veterans, given ill-fitting equipment (and the cold shoulder if they were first into a previously male-only post). This has been a tough ‘ask’ - to summarise this level of suffering, as well as recommend solutions on how to address such low standards of care in the armed forces. It is not only women who suffer – this is a story of abuse of power and includes stories of toxic women in leadership positions – and men and ethnic minorities as victims as well as perpetrators.

What did this look like in numbers?

163 individuals contacted me. Most were uniformed, but some were non-uniformed staff and family members. At least 33 were still serving (some withheld details), with a further 63 having left in the last 5 years. 3 were parents of serving women, 5 were civil servants, working in defence. 130 were from the Army; 31 were RAF and 2 were RN – this was partly because my call out for stories mentioned army only. The range of ranks was difficult to assess - issues were the same for officers and other ranks with some nuances: sexual favours for promotion or for turning a blind eye to minor indiscretions were only reported by other ranks and class discrimination for promotion and postings were more prevalent in officers.

Over 75% did make complaints and all of those felt ‘fobbed off’, either through being told they misunderstood the incident or coercion to withdraw their complaint or change details. This is ‘gas-lighting’ at a corporate level. Nearly all had been affected by gender-negative incidents during their careers, but most handled it - usually without support from leadership. Only 1 individual contacted me to say she had never experienced adverse incidents and wanted her voice to be heard that she felt there were no issues. Several senior officers did contact me and attempt to influence my future media engagements, to paint a more positive military picture (but more serving officers contacted me to say it was about time this issue was addressed).

The comments on suffering were NOT about the crime or level of poor behaviours – most women in defence are robust and accept the military environment as emotionally and physically tough. The greatest suffering came from the inability to be heard when something went wrong – nearly every one of those 163 described how witnesses had turned a blind eye, or their leaders had coerced them to withdraw a complaint – and how they were punished rather than the perpetrators – through leaking of their allegations to the wider military unit or being shunned for speaking out.

The UK MOD is the only public body allowed to investigate and adjudicate on what is a wrong and who should be held accountable. And it is clear from the common themes of these stories that the MOD is abusing this power for its own ends. That is the real ‘wrong’ – that the UK MOD treats its people as disposable when they are at their most vulnerable.

The MOD leadership & policy makers should hang their head in shame, as I have on their behalf.

At the end of this inquiry, defence ministers will also be aware of the extent and tactics of the MOD. I hope that this time, some good will come from the bravery of these women in coming forward.

Diane Allen joined the Army when she was a teenager and was one of the first women to attend Sandhurst in the 1980s. She served in the regulars, in Northern Ireland and Germany, before a switch to the reserves, finally leaving in January 2020, as a Lieutenant-Colonel. She now lives in Gloucestershire, with her partner, when they are not away adventuring.

Guest Blog by Veteran & Author Diane Allen OBE

See: https://www.forewarned.uk/