General Vance’s Fall From Grace

The Sexual Smear is Mightier than the Sword

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

John 8:7

***Feb 05 Update – Global News is now reporting that The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) has opened an investigation into possible improper behaviour on the part of the former CDS. There was also an important change to the narrative regarding the mystery military woman where the relationship between the two is now described as ‘intimate’. No extra information is provided that would lead us to believe the two were having sexual relations, neither person has claimed they were hooking up. Maybe Global could quit with the yellow journalism and the smearing campaign until some actual information from the investigation is made public.***

After nearly 40 years of dedicated service to Canada, General Jonathan Vance will be retiring from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) under a cloud of sexual misconduct charges. Another former high ranking sailor, Vice Admiral Mark Norman, might be feeling some schadenfreude now that his ‘buddy’ who helped toss him under MV Asterix is getting some comeuppance.

To briefly summarize the Global News article, the former Chief of Defence Staff has been accused of sending a 2012 email (three years before he became the CDS) to a female Corporal that contained the suggestion of ‘the prospect of going to a clothing optional vacation destination with her.‘ No context was provided regarding their full exchanges and the Corporal never filed an official complaint but a comment was sent to the CAF Ombudsman. The other incident was reported to Global News via a third party. Sometime in 2019, it appears that Gen Vance had been ‘sexting’ with a female subordinate whom he had previously dated back in 2001. They also seem to have privately met at least three times outside of work over the last couple of years. Gen Vance says nothing sexual happened. Global News contacted the mystery military woman who confirms these facts and wishes to remain anonymous.

The irony has not been lost on people that one of the first major actions of Gen Vance upon becoming CDS was to launch Operation HONOUR which was the CAF’s response to a damning April 2015 Deschamps Report alleging ‘endemic sexual misconduct throughout virtually all levels of the Canadian Forces.’

By the way, there is no regulation which says you cannot have consensual sex with anyone else in the CAF. There are time and place orders such as while on deployment, you should not be in each other’s direct chain of command, no professional reprisals or rewards should result from the relationship, and in the Navy you were supposed to ‘declare’ your relationship to your Chain of Command (COC). Back in the 80’s, an officer was not supposed to be hooking up with Non Commissioned Members (NCMs). Thankfully, that stupid order was rescinded.

There is a lot to unpack here, so I will start with a few of my thoughts in no particular order:

• People are disappointed that Gen Vance appears to be ‘cheating’ on his wife, Kerry Vance, despite the lack of evidence of actual sexual relations. To that I say, so what? If the guy is cheating/thinking about cheating on his wife it is literally no business of yours or anyone else’s. Of course, there are work considerations to be mindful of which if that is taken care of then there is no argument other than morals. The relationship between a husband and his wife is theirs to deal with. Maybe the wife is a total bitch. Maybe they have an open marriage. You live your life and they can live theirs.

As an aside, the hiding of information like this was used by the military to turf homosexuals and lesbians back during the Cold War. The reasoning was a Soviet agent could compromise a service member and blackmail them. So if the CAF found out about your non-heterosexual orientation they would rescind your security clearance and boot you out.

• People point to the unbalanced power structure between Gen Vance and the unnamed female subordinate saying it perpetuates the culture of military sexual misconduct. Up in the rarified air of the top ranks, you are literally only going to have lower ranks to fraternize with. In Gen Vance’s case, everyone is subordinate to the CDS. What is the solution, make every high ranking member take a vow of eternal celibacy? Maybe the CAF could hire escorts when the boys/girls feel urges so they don’t have to resort to other military members. Is there a possibility of abuse, well duh, that’s all of human history and don’t tell me it’ll be any different if it was a woman instead of a man with the upper hand. People form relationships with those they spend the most time with ie. the people at work because they share similar interests, understand what each other are going through, proximity, etc.

This goes back to the old argument of not allowing women to be part of the military. Everyone knew there was going to be ‘playing’ around when the girls and boys were away together on deployment or exercise. Heck, I had a ship ‘wife’ for a time while I was at sea. We didn’t tell our Chain of Command because we were mature enough not to let it interfere with our work and frankly, it was no one else’s business.

Humans are humans. Put men and women together, add stress, add some alcohol, they have sex. To deny that is to deny human nature. To deny this does not happen frequently in the military is straight ignorance.

For the true victims of sexual harassment and misconduct, yes, that is intolerable and justice should be swift and harsh. This type of misconduct has happened in the past and will happen in the future. For example, down in the Chiefs and POs Mess on the ships, the women had to put up with a lot of grabby hands. ‘Oh, Jim just gets a little too touchy, feely when he’s been drinking‘. Thankfully, the dinosaurs are dying out and the worst of the abuse seems to be passing. But when you have humans working together, there will be all forms of mistreatment that will never be totally eliminated especially so in a military environment merely due to the nature of the work.

• Oh, the damning email with the inappropriate sexual remark, well that’s straight out sexual assault! As for inappropriate emails, dig deep enough and everyone has done or said something risqué at some point. If you haven’t, what’s wrong with you? You know who is the worst for black humour and sexual joking? Female nurses. Hang out with them but not if you’re a shrinking violet and have tender ears. I do not see interminable witch hunts admonishing the nursing profession for their inappropriate sexual innuendos.

When the Op HONOUR edicts, power points, and Town Halls started rolling out many of the victims were things like the removal of girlie calendars in the workshops, the curtailing of off-colour jokes, and even the painting over of decades old artwork on ship bulkheads. Sure, it was good to clean up the pig sty atmosphere of too many men gathered together. In some of the larger messes onboard ship, the rumour was porn was playing on the TV 24/7. But when you sweep through with a dragnet of ‘sexual’ correctness, you destroy esprit de corps and everything becomes sterile.

The self righteous had better be careful playing this card too often. Women fought for decades for inclusion and equality in the CAF. But when they get treated like one of the ‘guys’ who knows what stray email or remark will pop up years later to be used as a bludgeon. If it was a problem, deal with it at the time, not multi-years later as a smear tactic. It does not help the image of women in the CAF. What man will ever trust to be alone with a woman for fear of some later accusation?

It is sad when people are so quick to judge and smear others with these moralistic witch hunts. They remind me of the reports of the never-ending Stalin era denunciations where everyone was looking over their shoulder and they lived in fear of the midnight knock on the door. No one is safe when such minor indiscretions can be trotted out to destroy someone’s career and reputation.

Frankly, I do not feel a military member should be so dehumanized as to be absolutely squeaky clean. They will be totally devoid of mercy, understanding, and general humanity. Believe me, I came across a few high ranking RCN pricks who perfectly fit this description and you do not want to be serving under them.

At the end the day, who is going to be hurt or helped by this third party’s vendetta? I am sure Kerry Vance is thrilled to have all this out in the public square with all the associated tongue wagging. The mystery military woman will be dragged into this and face unwanted humiliation and attention. The Corporal never made a formal complaint regarding a off-hand email remark from nearly a decade ago, so what justice will be served here? Military women, in general, lose because this just reinforces the general notion of women’s vindictiveness over minor actions. Last but not least, a decorated, honourable soldier gets to have his name raked through the mud after finishing four decades of faithful service to Canada.

Who gets to profit from these sorry revelations? The disgruntled third party gets to say ‘Ah-ha, got the bastard!‘ The tabloids who pose as our mainstream media get to run salacious stories and garner more clickbait hits. The sanctimonious get to cluck, shake their heads, and wag their fingers.

In my humble opinion, it is disgusting, improper, and unprofessional of Global News to have reported this story in the first place. Gen Vance is no longer the CDS and is retiring soon. Nothing criminal or even untoward happened. This is yellow journalism that used to be reserved for rags like the National Enquirer. This was a hit job, plain, and simple. Do some actual reporting Global and dig up the real reasons and motivations behind these revelations. While you are at it, maybe you could report on Justin and Sophie’s rocky relationship which seems to be the Hill’s worst kept secret but verboten territory.

Gen Vance’s former military enemies from Afghanistan must be laughing their heads off to hear he has been taken down because of a woman. The sexual smear is indeed mightier than the sword.

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