On Dec. 16, 1998, Army Chief of Staff General Dennis Reimer and Sergeant Major of the Army Richard Kidd, signed a proclamation declaring December 16 as Army Family Team Building,
Opinions | The Army can’t repeat the mistakes of the 1990s if it wants to end sexual assault David Fitzgerald Candles and flowers decorate a makeshift memorial for U.S. Army Spec. Vanessa Guillen at Power House Gym in Houston on Aug. 14. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images) Last week, the independent review committee investigating the murder of Spec. Vanessa Guillén by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood issued its final report. The report detailed systematic leadership failures that produced a permissive environment for sexual harassment and assault at the sprawling Texas army post. It also detailed the shocking lapses on the part of the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID) that led to it taking over two months to establish what had happened to Guillén. As a result, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy fired or suspended 14 commanders, including two major generals.