Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Army May Revise Policy Creating Double Standard Sergeants Suspended But Brass Keep Jobs Amid Sex Allegations

Associated Press

Army Secretary Togo West said Sunday the policy that left the Army’s senior non-commissioned officer on the job despite allegations of sexual misconduct will be reconsidered.

West said it was Army policy that relieved drill instructors of duty at a base in Maryland after they were accused of sexual harassment - but left on the job Army Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, now is under similar fire.

It is “a policy we do not have with respect to other commanders or leaders of the armed forces,” West said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The woman who accused him, an Army sergeant major who worked with McKinney, described the policy as “a different system of justice.”

McKinney, the Army’s top enlisted soldier, has denied sexual assault allegations by retired Sgt. Maj. Brenda Hoster, who said his actions forced her to quit after 22 years.

In a separate segment, Hoster complained about what she said was the Army’s unequal treatment of McKinney and the drill sergeants.

“I just want everything to be done fairly,” she said, noting the immediate suspensions of drill sergeants at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. “The way I see it right now, there’s different standards.