Origanalist
12-29-2014, 09:29 AM
Army Thanks Soldier For Confronting Offensive Behavior Online
http://images.military.com/media/news/people/james-mcconville-thanks-solider-ts300.jpg
Lt. Gen. James C. McConville, the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel, presents 1st Sgt. Katrina Moerk with the citation for her Army Commendation Medal. (U.S. Army Photo)
DoD News, Defense Media Activity | Dec 23, 2014 | by Claudette Roulo
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and senior Army officials met with a senior non-commissioned officer Dec 15 to thank her for leading by example and defending Army values, despite facing harassment after confronting Service members who were behaving unethically online.
First Sgt. Katrina Moerk, now the first sergeant of Charlie Company, 741st Military Intelligence Battalion, was browsing a social media network's community page earlier this year, when she came upon a video that she found offensive and sexist. When she commented as much, several respondents attacked her with insults. Some of these respondents were wearing uniforms in their profile photos, the first sergeant said, so she wrote to them directly.
"I looked them up, introduced myself and explained to them why they were stupid. And I [copied] the director of the Army SHARP program to help their units improve their SHARP training, because it was obviously lacking. And it's kind of blown up from there," Moerk said.
SHARP is the acronym for the military's Sexual Harassment Assault Response and Prevention program.
Online Backlash
This wasn't the first time Moerk had experienced online harassment, she said, but it was "the first time I've put my foot down, and was very adamant about correcting what was wrong with them."
The response was "vicious," she said.
"I tried to explain why I didn't care for it," she added, "and [said], 'If you don't know who you're talking to, be careful what you say in an open public forum on the Internet,' and it just made it worse. When I started calling them by rank, they figured I was in the military and made jokes about calling people out on the Internet, or [that] pulling rank on the Internet is like calling somebody out in a bar."
Things died down online, she said, but Dr. Christine Altendorf, the SHARP director, brought Moerk's email to the attention of Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, then the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel. Shortly thereafter, the Army launched three administrative investigations, because Soldiers from three separate major commands were involved, either through producing the video or making inappropriate comments.
"Everyone was kind of pulled to the carpet and called in, and training changed," the first sergeant said.
continued...http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/23/army-thanks-soldier-for-confronting-offensive-behavior-online.html?comp=7000023467983&rank=2
http://images.military.com/media/news/people/james-mcconville-thanks-solider-ts300.jpg
Lt. Gen. James C. McConville, the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel, presents 1st Sgt. Katrina Moerk with the citation for her Army Commendation Medal. (U.S. Army Photo)
DoD News, Defense Media Activity | Dec 23, 2014 | by Claudette Roulo
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and senior Army officials met with a senior non-commissioned officer Dec 15 to thank her for leading by example and defending Army values, despite facing harassment after confronting Service members who were behaving unethically online.
First Sgt. Katrina Moerk, now the first sergeant of Charlie Company, 741st Military Intelligence Battalion, was browsing a social media network's community page earlier this year, when she came upon a video that she found offensive and sexist. When she commented as much, several respondents attacked her with insults. Some of these respondents were wearing uniforms in their profile photos, the first sergeant said, so she wrote to them directly.
"I looked them up, introduced myself and explained to them why they were stupid. And I [copied] the director of the Army SHARP program to help their units improve their SHARP training, because it was obviously lacking. And it's kind of blown up from there," Moerk said.
SHARP is the acronym for the military's Sexual Harassment Assault Response and Prevention program.
Online Backlash
This wasn't the first time Moerk had experienced online harassment, she said, but it was "the first time I've put my foot down, and was very adamant about correcting what was wrong with them."
The response was "vicious," she said.
"I tried to explain why I didn't care for it," she added, "and [said], 'If you don't know who you're talking to, be careful what you say in an open public forum on the Internet,' and it just made it worse. When I started calling them by rank, they figured I was in the military and made jokes about calling people out on the Internet, or [that] pulling rank on the Internet is like calling somebody out in a bar."
Things died down online, she said, but Dr. Christine Altendorf, the SHARP director, brought Moerk's email to the attention of Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, then the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel. Shortly thereafter, the Army launched three administrative investigations, because Soldiers from three separate major commands were involved, either through producing the video or making inappropriate comments.
"Everyone was kind of pulled to the carpet and called in, and training changed," the first sergeant said.
continued...http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/23/army-thanks-soldier-for-confronting-offensive-behavior-online.html?comp=7000023467983&rank=2