Under my command, Paul Evans would have been court-martialed

by Jeanne L. Arana, LTC, USA (Ret)

I have a strong family history of military service and love of country. My grandfather, father, uncles, brothers, husband and I all served our nation with great pride and honor. In fact, my husband and I administered the enlistment oath to two of our sons—a very proud day for our family.

After 23 years of service, five on active duty, I retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, Army Nurse Corps. My last assignment in the Oregon National Guard was Commander of Charlie Med, a forward support medical company with the 41st Infantry Brigade. My responsibility was to ensure the unit was fully trained in the treatment and evacuation of injured soldiers in a combat environment.

I tell you this to emphasize my understanding of military protocol. So you can imagine how disgusted I was when I learned about the book Paul Evans admits to writing while he was on military active duty.

Major Evans’ admission of producing pornography with the men and women under his military leadership is a violation of his position of trust as an officer in the U.S. armed forces. The graphic depictions of violent sex, rape and abuse of women is just the tip of the iceberg within his book. The details are simply too graphic and grotesque to detail. I encourage you to click here to find excerpts of the book to read for yourself how outrageous these writings are. (Be warned! The content is extremely graphic.) In fact, the Oregon Anti-Crime Alliance has withdrawn their co-endorsement of Paul Evans after learning of this book and its content.

Evans’ conduct would have been punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military law that governs the actions of those serving in the Armed Forces. His inappropriate behavior with men and women over whom he exercised leadership (his words) should have prompted disciplinary action, which might have included demotion, loss of pay, less-than-honorable discharge or even confinement.

Inappropriate behavior in the military is making the news these days. According to Robert Weiss, in his article entitled, “Men in Power and Sexual Misbehavior: The Ongoing Saga”, “Of much greater concern at this point are sexual harassment and rape by fellow servicemen, as well as the abuse of pornography on military owned computers, laptops, smartphones, and other devices. Typically these issues are either ‘swept under the rug’ or handled idiosyncratically, depending on who is in command on that particular day.”

Had Paul Evans been under my command, he would have been court–martialed.

As a 23-year Veteran and retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, I believe Paul Evans is unfit to represent a constituency who deserves and expects more from an elected representative. Character and leadership matter more than ever in government, especially among our elected officials.