More than 18,000 members of the armed forces say they have been bullied, harassed or discriminated against at work, appalling MoD figures show.
Over 2,000 of those were women who said they had been sexually harassed, says a 2022 Ministry of Defence survey – 14% of all serving females.
Worryingly, 90% of the 18,000 traumatised victims never made an official complaint, as they believed nothing would be done or it would harm their career.
Meanwhile, nearly 1,900 members of the Army, Navy and RAF rang two helplines set up by bosses in the wake of a various abuse scandals.
More than 740 struggling personnel called the Defence anti-bullying hotline – equivalent to one every three days since it went live in 2020.
An additional 1,134 troops called the Army’s Speak Out service. A disproportionate number of those seeking help were female, figures obtained from parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests show.
Women make up 11% of the forces but up to 40% of those phoning to report bullying or sexual harassment were women.
A serving Royal Navy officer, one of about 12 women on board a ship, said sexual harassment and intimidation were daily events and she had been bullied from day one.
She said: “Some of the male officers were running a sweepstake to see who would be the first to sleep with a female sailor. I found a packet of condoms on my pillow. A married officer told me he did it for a laugh.
“During a cocktail party, another quite senior officer who was drunk pressed himself against me and said he wanted to have sex. This wasn’t just happening to me – this was routine for every female on my ship.”
When the officer complained, she said her captain told her her career would not be “enhanced” if she formally complained and: “It’s banter, deal with it.”
She took it no further because she had no faith in the system.
Ex-RAF Wing Commander Graham House, left, said he was forced out of the RAF after refusing to cover up the sexual assault of a 13-year-old female cadet by her instructor in 2011.
Graham, then station commander of RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall, got civilian police involved, and the female RAF sergeant was found guilty and jailed.
The ex-Nimrod pilot, who runs the support group Justice4Troops, claims RAF bosses cared more about the force’s reputation than the girl’s welfare. He said his career stalled after he complained.
Graham added: “I was good at my job and my career was going well but after the case was over I was told that I was being moved.”
He became suicidal after being medically discharged in 2015.
An MoD spokeswoman said: “We do not tolerate any form of bullying, harassment or discrimination and anyone who falls short of our high standards of behaviour is dealt with appropriately.”
