It’s deja vu all over again.
Once again, the POS and Congress are at an impasse over budget cuts. If no agreement is reached — and the deadline to reach an agreement is already past — $1.2 trillion cuts will automatically result from sequestration, half of which will come from defense spending.
Sequestration is a procedure in U.S. law which limits the size of the federal budget by setting a hard cap on the amount of government spending within broadly-defined categories.
Given that, it really doesn’t help the military that the U.S. Army spent precious taxpayer dollars on a bizarre “sex training” at the Schofield Barracks in Oahu, Hawaii, on last Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.
Chelsea Schilling reports for WND on an eyewitness’ account of the event that ostensibly was about sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) and how to avoid getting them, but instead involved male and female soldiers being offered prizes in a race to put condoms on sex toys.
The source, who asked to remain nameless due to the nature of the source’s job, said the training was attended by hundreds of soldiers and Defense Department civilians and contractors, their ages ranging from late teens to early 70s, with a median age of around 30. Half of the attendees were women. The highest-ranking officer at the event was a lieutenant colonel.
The training event began with a presentation on substance abuse and prevention of STDs. As recounted by the source:
“Once the slideshow was complete, the instructors asked for four volunteers. From those who raised their hands, they selected two male and two female soldiers. The instructors split them into two groups with a male and female in each and had them walk up on stage.
Two small tables covered with blankets had been on the stage throughout the presentation. The soldiers were told to remove the blankets from the tables. They did, exposing erect male penis devices lit-up and sitting on each table.”
What occurred next was 15 minutes of contests to place condoms on [the penis devices]. The two men went first followed by the two women. It was done a second time with goggles on to simulate performing this while intoxicated. Then a third contest was conducted to see who could perform this task the fastest.Worse yet, people in the audience were filming this event with cameras and cell phones. At the end as contest prizes were awarded, personnel would intentionally pose with their gifts in front of the display tables with the erect penises prominently displayed. The briefing went on for several more minutes while everything on the tables was left exposed in front of the audience.”
The source provided this blurry photo of the penises captured with a cell phone.
When the penises were revealed, the source said many people in the crowd became visibly uneasy: “No one laughed or made any sound. People across the auditorium became uncomfortable, especially the DoD civilian women. They expressed the most disgust for the entire event. Many soldiers and civilians commented that the training presentation was inappropriate, embarrassing and disappointing. When it kept dragging on, soldiers began looking around the auditorium to see if someone would end the training. Many of the young soldiers knew this training event was out of line, but as they looked across the auditorium at their unit leaders and commanders, no one spoke up.”
When questioned, the presenters “defended the sexual demonstration as a standard way to present the STD training and that this was an annual training requirement.”
The Army typically requires new and deploying soldiers to receive training on prevention of STDs, including photos and basic facts about symptoms. However, sex toys and condom races are not a normal part of that training.
WND contacted a spokeswoman identifying herself as “Stephanie at the public affairs office at Schofield Barracks,” asking why the soldiers’ training involved a contest to put condoms on penises. But “Stephanie” never provided a comment on the incident, only saying that “I’m going to have to track down the details and see what happened and why whatever happened happened. Let me try and track it down so I can get you an answer on that.”
This bizarre “training” using sex toys of erect penises made many in the audience, especially females, visibly uncomfortable. As such, the training can be interpreted to be sexual harassment in the workplace.
The training was also a total waste of hardworking taxpayers’ money because I seriously doubt that there is even one person in that training event who doesn’t know about condoms or how to put one on a penis.
Concerned individuals may contact the U.S. Army Pacific Inspector General at (808)438-2811 or the Department of Defense Inspector General at 1-800-424-9098 or by emailing [email protected].
~Eowyn
