Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 29

CAN TRUST BE RESTORED?

forces but in the armed forces as a whole. Making
matters worse, in some instances those entrusted to
guard against sexual harassment and assault have
become the alleged abusers themselves.
Can this trust be restored? What does it take to
rebuild trust once it is broken or lost? Most important, what will our armed forces do to regain the
trust of the American people, service members, and
civilians in regard to preventing sexual harassment
and unwanted sexual contact in the military? This
paper will show how training and education can help
reduce these crimes and restore America’s trust in its
armed forces.

Education and Training
It is not an easy process for any institution or organization such as the military to restore a level of trust
once it has been lost. However, a good place to start is
by assuring Americans that their military is receiving
the training and education necessary to prevent such
actions. Although many variables shape an individual’s behavior within an institution, only the most
impactful variables related to education and training
aimed at stopping sexual harassment and unwanted
sexual contact will be addressed here.
Education and training challenges are especially
great for the military because it is so big. It makes
up 1 percent of the U.S. population and is the
largest employer in the United States, employing
3.2 million individuals.3 Regardless of how large
the military organization is, the problem of sexual
harassment and unwanted sexual contact needs to
be eliminated. Education and training are means to
combat this issue.

Difference Between Education and
Training
Many people assume that education and training
are the same. They are not. Training is defined as
“organized activity aimed at imparting information
and or instructions to improve a recipient’s performance or help him or her attain a required level of
knowledge or skill.”4 Another definition of training
is “the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or
practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific
useful competencies. Training has specific goals of
MILITARY REVIEW  March-April 2015

improving one’s capability, capacity, productivity,
and performance.”5
These two definitions provide us insight into how
the Department of Defense understands and mandates education or training, or education and training.
Education, on the other hand, is “the act or process
of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and
generally the preparing of oneself or others intellectually for mature life … the development of the abilities
of the mind (learning to know).”6
The distinction between training and education is
important when developing a plan to combat problems
like sexual harassment and sexual assault. Education
can be used to create awareness of a problem; training
can be used to create preventive behaviors.
The military has developed some of the most
professional, cutting edge training and education
programs available to address sexual-assault-related
issues. However, as with all programs, it is necessary
to evaluate them for their effectiveness. Since sexual assault is still happening, one might question the
effectiveness of either the content of the training
curriculum or the delivery of that curriculum.

Understanding Education
Since military leadership has determined that part
of the solution for eliminating sexual harassment is
education and training, it is necessary to understand
how they can be used as deterring tools.
A part of education is a transactional relationship.
Instruction is not just a communication of ideas or information; it also inculcates values into students. The
transaction occurs as instructors transfer knowledge
and values to students. Consequently, there are always
at least two entities in this educational relationship,
the first being the student. Although maturity, learning style, cultural background, and ability may vary
between individuals, the student is the central focus of
education.
The second component of the relationship is the
teacher or instructor. The variables associated with
teaching have dramatically changed in the last 20
years. Prior to the computer age, the look of classrooms was standardized and the model of education
relatively consistent from state to state, from school
to school, from institution to institution, and from
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