I live in an army town. These blokes have a well deserved reputation for sleaziness, yet some women seem to be attracted to them, almost because of this. Education campaigns can only do so much.

I am personally involved as my wife is a serving member. Watching this very closely now because the previous scandals were treated as some sort of joke.

Modern army is completely different from the old days. Change is happening slowly, but we need to remember that it is not your typical small private firm where there are a few hundred employees, The ADF employs thousands of people and change can be slow to implement considering all the administrative work involved. Don't forget that employees not only complain about sexual discrimination and abuse, but also about many different abuse of power which are at the core of the ADF culture. The ADF policing agency has a lot on its plate.

The command needs to deal a massive blow and start by setting an example not only to the public, but to its own employees. Shake the hell out of these criminals. As far as I remember, Australia is not involved in any major conflict and we can do without these 100 or so personnel for a while. They won't be missed.

the question is where did these guys learn this behaviour from? It seems to me they have no moral base to act from and more than likely are just trying to reproduce the porn they have fed on.

Now hold on techasist.

Let’s not condemn the 100 or so personnel…. yet. Innocent until proven guilty, hey?

It could possibly be pretty benign banter between colleagues with no ill-intent, hey?

Could possibly currently be being blown out of all proportion?

Could well be.

At this stage we don’t know.

But what we do know is that there is a culture in which a whole lot of people felt comfortable in behaving in this way…. And let’s face it: emails are a permanent record of correspondence. So if people felt comfortable putting sexist comments in their emails, then they presumably felt as though it was OK within the culture of the ADF!!

So perhaps it is not these 100 or so people who need to be reprimanded, punished or dismissed, but rather the culture that needs to be changed. And that those in charge, who are overseeing the culture of the ADF, are in NO POSITION to punish anyone who has partaken in it!!

Indeed, it could well be that THEY are the most guilty people of all…. and are the ones that really need to be punished.

Or perhaps there is actually nothing significantly wrong with this culture, and it is just what you would expect from any group of men, and is just a microcosm of broader society.

Indeed, it could possibly be viewed as a positive bonding exercise, for as long as it has had no significant negative effects on any women. And has it?? If it had, we would surely have heard about it, big time!

BTW techasist, welcome to OLO.

Thanks for the welcome.

I agree that most of these guys are not guilty, but my point is that the ADF is not short of personnel and that whatever the numbers which have been found guilty have to go. No half-measures or catch-you-next-time.

I understand that not everyone is up to speed with computers and modern day methods of computer investigation, but in any ADF email, there is a big disclaimer at the bottom stating that it remains the property of the ADF. Why on earth would so-called officers, who are supposed to be smart leaders, post anything remotely NSFW on ADF internal network.

Ludwig, I think that your argument that these individuals felt this type of material was safe or accepted by the ADF is half correct. We don't know the intricacies of the scandal, but I imagine that if a junior officer was to receive such sensitive material on the ADF network from a superior officer, the said junior officer would feel that it is in fact safe to do so.

Welcome from me too, in such matters long before computers those in power act this way.
We too at such times see a generalization by some women against all men.
Sex crimes are two sides some women commit them too.
But this has dragged out for too long and just maybe with an election due, this time results will come.