The top officer for a Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington-based rocket artillery battalion was fired in mid-October after facing a sexual harassment investigation barely four months into the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for I Corps confirmed to Army Times via email that Lt. Col. H. Bernard West, \u201cthe commander of 1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery Regiment \u2026 was relieved of command.\u201d Two soldiers with knowledge of the matter told Army Times the firing came after a sexual harassment investigation, but Lt. Col. Jennifer Bocanegra, a spokesperson for I Corps, declined to provide further details about West\u2019s relief or whether an investigation took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, <\/b>West\u2019s attorney, Jason Wareham, confirmed that an investigation substantiated the sexual harassment allegations. He insisted that \u201cthey remain just that, mere allegations\u201d that \u201cstand in stark contrast\u201d to the lieutenant colonel\u2019s service record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[Lt. Col.] West remains confident in the trust he is placing in his command to fully and fairly adjudicate the matter,\u201d Wareham said, adding that the disciplinary process remained in its \u201cearly stages\u201d for his client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
West\u2019s former battalion reports to the 17th Field Artillery Brigade, which serves as the I Corps\u2019 fires headquarters. The corps is responsible for most day-to-day Army operations throughout the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before taking the reins at 1-94 Field Artillery in June, West served as the deputy commander of the 2nd Infantry Division\u2019s 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. According to a unit Facebook post<\/a>, he served as its rear detachment commander during the brigade\u2019s fall 2022 rotational deployment to South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Army has stepped up its efforts to eradicate sexual harassment in the ranks since the upheaval sparked by Spc. Vanessa Guill\u00e9n\u2019s death at Fort Cavazos, Texas, in 2020. Recent military justice reforms have established sexual harassment as a specified offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But watchdogs have warned<\/a> that reforms<\/a> aren\u2019t yet hitting the mark, and the Pentagon\u2019s top inspector general announced in July that it is investigating the Army\u2019s systemic efforts<\/a> to stop and respond to sexual harassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n West is the nephew of Allen West, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and conservative politician <\/b>who faced criminal charges and was fired from field artillery battalion command while deployed to Iraq in 2003<\/a> after he staged a mock execution of a detainee. He was ultimately forced to retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n