Trailblazing female Army commander fired amid sexual assault, harassment allegations

A trailblazing female Army officer was fired from commanding a battalion at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment against multiple male subordinates, an Armed Forces spokesperson said. 

Col. Meghann Sullivan was commander of the 5th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade, until she was relieved of her position on Oct. 13, but her firing was first reported by Military.com this week.

Sullivan, who was the first woman to command a Security Force Assistance Brigade battalion, is still enlisted and was reassigned to the Army's I Corps, which is also based out of Joint Base Lewis McChord.

She does not appear to be facing court-martial proceedings, according to the Army's publicly available record system. 

Sullivan was accused of sexual assault against at least two male subordinates as well as harassing several others, and situation some of the incidents were reportedly connected to alcohol abuse, according to a person directly familiar with the situation.

One of the incidents reportedly involved kissing a man without his consent and another allegedly involved grabbing a man below the belt, also without his consent.

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