The Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Creed states: "No one is more professional than I" (NCO Creed, 1974, p. 1). It is hard to fathom that on 23 August 2017, the American people opened their newspapers and read, "Fort Benning drill sergeants suspended amid sexual assault allegations" (Dickstein, 2017, p. 1). A scandal, an investigation, and another media frenzy. There is no question that the United States (U.S.) Army inherits problems from society. They appear to mitigate risk and inculcate a professional culture by embedding the values and standards on recruits at their point of entry (The Army Values, 1974). They have developed initiatives that enable regular sexual assault awareness training across their organization. They do this because they acknowledge that their people are the most valuable resource they have (Vergun, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to determine whether U.S. Army initiatives coupled with strong leadership exercised at all levels are enough to win the war on sexual assault and in doing so protect the vitality and integrity of the organization.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.