Army drill sergeant boss Teresa King takes legal action to get job back, alleges racism, sexism

Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King, 48, conducts a class with soldiers during at Fort Jackson, S.C., Sept. 15, 2009. / AP Photo

(CBS/AP) COLUMBIA, S.C. - The first woman to command the Army's drill sergeant training took legal action Monday to reclaim her job, alleging she was improperly suspended last year because of sexism and racism and demanding that two of her superiors be investigated for abuse of their authority.

Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King still does not know what exactly her superiors were investigating when they suspended her Nov. 29, according to her attorney, James Smith. He said the Army has declined to say specifically what it was looking into, beyond a general statement that it involved her conduct.

Smith on Monday filed a legal complaint with the Army against two of King's superiors, and wants to have King reinstated to her position. Smith is also asking South Carolina's two senior members of Congress, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. James Clyburn, for a congressional probe of King's treatment.

Army officials said they wanted to study the complaint first before commenting.

King, who is black, made headlines in 2009 when the Army named her as the first woman to head the Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson, the Army's largest training installation.

Smith has statements from King's deputy at the school and an Army colonel who worked with King contending she is a victim of sexism and racism on the part of soldiers who resented her promotion and the national attention it drew.

"It's abundantly clear that there was nothing to warrant her removal. The Army should reinstate her and restore her honorable name," Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The attorney said King, 50, has declined to comment on the actions, saying the complaint stands on its own. But in a rebuttal to the Army, King wrote her superiors, "My instincts tell me that if I were a male, that none of this would have happened."

Smith said he believes the Army is delaying its investigation in order to force King to take retirement when she becomes eligible later this year.

Smith, who has handled military legal cases as an executive officer in the National Guard, said Army regulations require that investigations must be handled "expeditiously" and the one against King has gone on far too long.

After she took charge of the training program, reporters and TV crews descended on King, making much of her background as the daughter of a North Carolina sharecropper who dispensed stern discipline to his 12 children. She was featured on national TV, on newspaper front pages and in women's magazines, sometimes with photos of her car sporting "noslack" vanity plates.

In a 2009 "CBS Evening News" profile, King told correspondent Michelle Miller that combat veterans that she trained were successful because that's how she trained them to be.

(At left, watch the profile)

"Training is my forte," King said then. "I expect people to meet standards and exceed them."

Smith said envy and sexism were at the heart of the investigations which began against her after being named commandant at the school. He produced Army evaluations that showed that up until then, King had excellent ratings throughout her career.

Smith said the complaint is being filed against Maj. Gen. Richard Longo, who ordered King suspended, and his top enlisted aide, Command Sgt. Maj. John Calpena.

At the time of the decision, Longo was the head of the Army's basic and advanced military training at the Training and Doctrine Command, which has responsibility for the drill sergeant school. He now is serving in Afghanistan.

Emails to Longo and Calpena were not immediately answered.

Harvey Perritt III, spokesman for the Training and Doctrine Command in Fort Eustis, Va., said King's complaint had been received.

"We've got it, and we're examining it," Perritt said.

Smith said the legal action is formally called an Article 138 complaint under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, which is the law under which the military operates.

Smith, who is a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, is also a captain in the South Carolina Army National Guard. He trained under King when she was a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson.

King's deputy, Sgt. Maj. Robert Maggard, the former deputy commandant at the school, said he witnessed repeated incidents of sexism and disrespect directed against King in meetings they both attended during her tenure. Maggard said no action was taken after he told his superior, Calpena, about the treatment.

Maggard, 48, who is retiring this week from the Army, said he heard many comments that King had been the subject of "way too much media."

Maggard said that even though only one former commandant of the drill sergeant school out of about a half dozen had been deployed to a combat zone in the past, much was made of the fact that King had not been deployed in combat. Those who serve in a combat zone are allowed to put a special patch on their uniform.

"This all came down to the fact she was female, non-combat patch and possibly envy of a black female," Maggard said in an interview.

Smith also provided an affidavit from Col. John Bessler, who was King's commanding officer when she was a drill sergeant and who visited her at the drill school after she was named commandant.

Bessler said "a good-ole boy 'network of disgruntlement'" had led to what he called "a character assassination campaign" against King because "her standards are higher than theirs are."

[DSHat]

Oh and get off the racist card. You want to more CSMs that are other than white, join Combat Arms instead of a damn support job. That's where most are pulled from. Do your damn research before you immediately call someone sexist and racist. CSM didn't know what was going on half the time when I went to the school. She yelled at her Senior DSs like they were children about D & C. Got news for you CSM, you can't called Parade Rest while at At Ease!

[DSHat]

You can play the so called fair treatment card all you want, but the fact is as a current Drill Sergeant, Women have no place training Soldiers. I haven't met a single female Drill Sergeant who can do half of what is asked of the Trainees. A 1/3 of the time they aren't even in regulation wearing too much makeup and refuse to change. The minute the are called out, someone is sexist. No, people it's the truth. Don't you dare demand a Trainee to do 5 pull-ups and yell at them when they can't if you can't do 1! CSM King was a publicity stunt that should have never happened.

[DSHat]

Oh and get off the racist card. You want to more CSMs that are other than white, join Combat Arms instead of a damn support job. That's where most are pulled from. Do your damn research before you immediately call someone sexist and racist. CSM didn't know what was going on half the time when I went to the school. She yelled at her Senior DSs like they were children about D & C. Got news for you CSM, you can't called Parade Rest while at At Ease!

[Iraqvet4life]

Women can and have been phenominal self control when training Soldiers for combat. How do I know? I was a DRILL SERGEANT!!! I have received letters from Soldiers thanking me for training them and preparing them for battle. I suggest you do a self evaluation on your views of female Drill Sergeants and women in general..

[D-Waarheid]

The US army was once a much feared and formidable force, now , thanks to modern 'wisdom' and the culture of rights, it's fast becoming a source if joke sand laughter !

[preacherbob1]

As an "Old Soldier" I must saddly agree that the once proud fighting force I was a part of is now a politically correct,feminized, joke.

[TJphoto]

What the Military did for race relations back in the 70s they cannot do for male / female relations. It is a good ole boy network, always has been. As a NCO for 8 of my nine years of service I could count on one hand the number of Officers I trusted. Good Speed CSM King.

[Mike-155]

Must be sexism and racism. If you're a black woman and you don't get what you want, or you lose what you want, that's the hand you play first.

[Iraqvet4life]

HISstory rears its ugly head. Some people have issues with racism and sexism. Some use it to their advatage. Some people are taught to be racist and sexist because HISstory always repeats itself.

[bree1345]

It is still a man's world but women are working on that. Men can't handle the ego part when a women is better at what they do then the men are and women make better trainers in some respects they have more patience and compassion and will listern before a man will.Yes I am a women and I deal with this everyday.

[karek40]

Why is it when a woman loses her job to a man it is always sexism. It is never he was better at the job. Same comment for black.

[AOCGUY]

If you had bothered to read the article you would have found that CSM King was removed frm her job. Now in the military that happens only for a few reasons; 1) she was transferred after serving her time in that position (clearly that is not the case), she was promoted out of that position (again not the case), or she was removed for cause (i.e. her C.O. lost confidence in her, etc). Now generally to make CSM one has to be pretty much at the top of their game and squared away so, although possible, it is highly unusual for a CSM to be "removed" from their position, especially female CSMs.

[dman6015]

I'm shocked - shocked! - that there would be sexism and racism in today's Army. As great as our military is in defending the country, it's still a good-old-boys club. And "Heaven" help you if you're gay or an atheist.

[lonestar9000]

This is a fact that just about everyone will dislike, but here it is: Men do not like taking orders from women. Or from other men who are smaller than themselves. It is a part of just about every man's psyche, and no amount of instruction, lectures or threats of punishment will change that. A man may accept that he has a female superior, and learn to live with it, but he will always resent it. This is true regardless of social standing, education, wealth or whatever. It is an instinct as old as humanity itself.

[AOCGUY]

She is a Command Sergeant Major, any questions?

[lonestar9000]

Yes, what do you mean "she is a Command Sergeant Major, any questions?". My point is that it doesn't matter what her rank, or how good she is at her job, even those her promoted her (if male), probably didn't want to. They promoted her because they felt they had to. This would be the same if she was in a civilian capacity. It is a part of the human male psychological makeup to resent taking orders from those they consider "inferior", male or female. I was an NCO in the Army, too. I am also rather short. I dealt with that same resentment and sullenness anytime I gave an order to anyone who was taller than me. They felt that they should not have to take orders from me because of my size.

[rainbowroosie]

How many of you have been in the Army 25+ years? Not a lot I bet. Simply stated, "good ole boys" don't get to trash black female CSMs with impunity.There are EO policies in effect that scare the hell out of everyone. There are also appeals channels and special programs that make counseling a deficient soldier a nightmare. Once a complaint is in EO channels, everyone gets investigated. Let the complaint receive due process and investigation. Why does everyone rush to judgement with no facts??? All I read in these blogs is left and right wing yahoos spouting how this event "proves" their cause is righteous...usually, both are wrong.

[AOCGUY]

Well I don't know about "scaring the hell out of everyone" but I do agree that the only correct path is to let the cmplaint receive its due process. It wouldn't be the first time a very senior individual in the military forgot to keep their (whatever) in check but this would be the first time I have seen a female leader do it.