Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen has repeatedly said that there is no unculture in the Armed Forces. Kristoffersen believes the term stamps the entire organisation. Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen said that the matters concerning notification and personnel matters have thrown him and the Defense into a crisis. But he does not want to use the word uncultured about what has happened. Photo: Torstein Bøe / news – I would rather describe bullying and harassment as weeds that need to be weeded every single day, the chief of defense has previously written in a column in the Defense Forum. Now the chief of defense will be rebuffed. – That is absolutely what it is. It is an unculture. I’m almost a little offended and hurt that he says it isn’t, says a young woman to news. She is one of the women mentioned in a notice of sexual harassment in the Army. The notice describes sexual harassment of 11 female soldiers in their initial service. The background for the notice was the women’s experiences in the first service. The women were soldiers in the Combat Training Battalion in the Army in 2021 and 2022. The notice included examples of comments from fellow soldiers: “Can you pull up your sweater, please, I really want to see your tits” “Girls are for to be abused” “Can you open the bib so I can feel the mouse?” As news told on Saturday, the notice also contained information about three reported rapes. Two of the cases were dropped by the civil police. The third was not reported. – It seemed as if the boys were hunting. One of the women who reported a rape is aware that there is an unculture in the Armed Forces: – One thing is that some people go to great lengths with inappropriate things, but you also have the rest, who watch and let it happen. People who laugh at the comments, brush off rapes and don’t take it seriously, she says to news. The other woman who reported a rape in 2021 tells of a special atmosphere in the camp. – It almost seems as if some of the guys were hunting, she says to news. She describes both a positive and a negative “boy atmosphere”. This is how the negative was: – The boys were in a way seen as a bit cooler if they got excited. You are a bit strong, superior and masculine. Take what you want. They really showed the masculine side of themselves, she replies. The relevant battalion is based in Rusta camp at Bardufoss. At weekends it was common for the soldiers to go to the same club. She says that the girls often had to look after each other in the city. – You had to protect each other, quite simply. – This unculture that you are allowed to try as much as you want, even if you have been told no, that was special. I am not very used to that culture. The guys didn’t take a no for a no. news has been in contact with the men who were reported for rape. They do not wish to comment on the matter. Believes there is zero tolerance in the Armed Forces The Chief of Defense has declared that there is zero tolerance for bullying and sexual harassment in the Armed Forces. This is a statement that several whistleblowers have responded to. Also Silje Falmår, who appeared on news on Saturday. – Zero tolerance is not practised. They are just empty words – a wish, she says. – It starts small with rude comments from fellow soldiers, Silje Falmår tells news. Photo: Øyvind Bye Skille / news Falmår has told that she experienced bullying, harassment, unwanted sexual attention and abuse in the Armed Forces. – It is not safe for young women to enter primary care. There are some who have good experiences, but it is absolutely not a given that you will be taken care of. I didn’t feel safe, and I’m not alone in that. Bernt Heiberg at Elden Advokatfirma is Falmår’s lawyer in her ongoing notification case. – For these three women, the initial service has obviously not been safe. And we have to accept that. There is a fundamental management problem in the Armed Forces, which they have in no way done enough to tackle so far, says Heiberg to news. Lawyer Bernt Heiberg says the whistleblowers have told of a pervasive lack of culture. Photo: Torbjørn Brovold / news The armed forces say that these are isolated incidents.Lieutenant Colonel Nina-Sofie Berg is commander of the Stridstrenbataljonen. She disagrees with the women’s description of a lack of culture in the battalion. – I believe that the premise of saying that there is an unculture based on individual incidents is wrong, says Berg to news. In a well-being survey carried out in the battalion in 2021, 22 per cent of the female conscripts answered that they had been exposed to sexual harassment or other unwanted behavior by other conscripts. The number is approximately at the same level as was revealed for the Norwegian Armed Forces as a whole in the nationwide MOST survey in 2019. Nina-Sofie Berg is battalion commander in the Armed Forces Battalion. Photo: Øyvind Bye Skille / news Berg confirms that the leadership in the battalion was aware of unwanted incidents. – In 2021, we had a number of individual incidents linked to bullying and sexual harassment. Much of it was related to verbal use of words, says Berg. According to the Norwegian Armed Forces, nine conscript male soldiers in the battalion were investigated for bullying and sexual harassment. – When it comes to the specific events in 2021, I would like to emphasize that there are a small number of the conscripts who were in service at that time, who have had this type of attitude, says Berg. According to the military police’s investigation, four of the nine had committed acts that qualified for a censure. But only one in four was formally reprimanded from the Armed Forces. Berg explained that the soldiers had finished their service before the Armed Forces had concluded the cases. Lawyer Heiberg reacts strongly to this: – When these soldiers are blacked out without any consequences for them. The result is that the other soldiers in the Armed Forces think that this is a behavior that one can have, that is expected, that does not lead to reactions. It is completely unacceptable, it is a management responsibility in the Armed Forces, which goes all the way to the top, says the lawyer to news. – First-time service must be safe Chief of Army Staff Lars Lervik is responsible for what happened in the Stridstrenbataljonen in 2021. – I cannot comment on the individual case, but it is and should be safe to be in first-time service and also to work in the Armed Forces, says Lervik to news. – And so it is that these conditions reveal that it is not, and I am glad they speak up because it gives us the opportunity to improve. Several of the cases news has revealed in the past year have been from the Army. – Does the Army have a cultural problem? – I feel that the Army has a good working environment, but it is obvious that we have had conditions that have been worthy of criticism and we have to deal with that, replies Lervik. – There is unculture in several places in the defense. Defense policy spokesperson in the Labor Party, Nils Ole Foshaug, says that he gets both tired and cursed when I read the story about Silje. – Unfortunately, this is not an isolated story, and it is clear that there is a lack of culture in several places in the defence. This case shows once again that we have a long way to go, Foshaug tells news. Spokesman for defense policy in the Labor Party, Nils Ole Foshaug. Photo: Pål Hansen / news Foshaug reacts in particular to the fact that the notifications were not followed up and processed in time. – We must put an end to unculture, reports must be followed up, and the defense must become better at cracking down on unacceptable behaviour, he concludes. Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen has also commented on the matter in a Facebook post: – For several years, the Defense Force has worked against any form of bullying and harassment. Yet it still happens. The latest case from news is about sexual harassment among our conscripts in the initial service. Unacceptable, writes Kristoffersen on Facebook. Chairman of the defense commission, Knut Storberget, reacts strongly to what emerges in the case. – It is completely unacceptable that such young people should be exposed to such horror-like situations, says Storberget. Knut Storberget, chairman of the defense commission. Photo: Anders Bakkerud Larsen / news He tells news that this is a management responsibility that the defense must address immediately. – We have to have a completely different culture, both from the guys’ side, but also from the management’s side in order to increase the operational capacity of the Norwegian armed forces, says Storberget. – We are not only dependent on money, investments and weapons, but also on the personnel we have, and the people we will have in the defence, now and in the future, and then we cannot have it like that, he concludes. Thinks it shows a crisis of confidence in the armed forces Deputy head of the MDG Ingrid Liland, thinks it is outrageous that Norwegian girls and women are once again told that the armed forces are not a safe place to work. – This is a crisis of confidence for the Armed Forces. The armed forces are an important institution for society. They have to have trust. If young ladies and girls are told that this is an unsafe workplace that does not take whistleblowers seriously, then it is simply a crisis of confidence, says Liland. Deputy head of MDG Ingrid Liland. Photo: Nicklas Knudsen / Nicklas Knudsen She believes the Minister of Defense must come to the scene: It is already far too late. Every day that goes by without him clearly cleaning up is a signal that he and the Armed Forces do not take this seriously, she concludes. Leader of the Progress Party, Sylvi Listhaug, also reacts to what emerges in the case. – Why haven’t these matters been taken up with the seriousness they deserve?, asks Listhaug. – It sends a very negative signal to ladies who are in the armed forces or are considering applying for initial service, she says. Listhaug also says that she wants to follow the case further. – It must be safe for girls in the Armed Forces, she concludes.
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– As if some of the guys were hunting – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
