Leadership Issues

The military has many missions. Their primary mission of course is to defend the U.S. and U.S. interests. Contrary to popular belief, the military does a lot more than simply fight. Some of the other missions that the military is responsible for is medical assistance in impoverished areas, humanitarian relief, and natural disaster relief. The Department of Defense, the head of the military, is America's oldest and largest government agency. The military has roots that go back to pre-Revolutionary times. Today, the Department is headed by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. He is not only in charge of the military, but a civilian force of thousands. There are over 1.4 million men and women on active duty, and 718,000 civilian personnel. Another 1.1 million serve in the National Guard and Reserve forces. The military is the nation's single largest employer.
Lately the military has come under attack. There have been numerous reports recently in the media on sexual assault incidents in the Military. In many cases, such reports were followed by questions on what actions the Department of Defense (DOD), the Administration, and Congress have taken to address the issue. Pentagon’s own reports have concluded that more than 90 percent of sex crimes in the military are committed by leaders who strike repeatedly. They are using positions of power, a weak reporting system and the culture of moving service members and officers from base to base every two or three years where they can prey on victims, over and over again without conviction (Katz, 2012)
One reason sexual assault festers in the military is its leadership structure. In the military, sexual assaults are handled within the chain of command. That means that a victim’s commanding officer has the ability to intervene at any point: to stop an investigation, reduce a sentence or even set aside a conviction. For example, a top Air Force official Lt. Gen. Susan J. Helms promotion was put on hold because a member of the...