Retired Fort Jackson CSM vindicated by an army review board
“The only thing that I could ascertain that it was because I was a female. I got a hard time every day."
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – A retired Fort Jackson Command Sergeant Major says she has been vindicated by an army review board.
Command Sergeant Major Teresa King says it’s been a long road since being forced out of the army more than a decade ago over, what she calls, unfounded allegations that ruined her career.
In 2009, CSM Teresa King gained national attention for becoming the first woman appointed to serve as commandant of the army’s drill sergeant school at Fort Jackson. King says it all came crashing down in 2011 when she was suspended for, according to her, unknown reasons. She says the suspension lead her to severe depression.
“There was a time where I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to keep going. I wanted to quit,” says King.
Former South Carolina Representative James Smith was one of King’s soldiers in basic training before becoming her lawyer. He says he still can’t believe the army kept her in the dark about the investigation.
“It sat with no action which was inappropriate in the army. I had been a military lawyer for a number of years and I knew right away they were not following the required guidelines,” says Attorney Smith.
King says she was later reinstated in May 2012 after a six-month investigation cleared her of the allegations but was never told what the allegations were.
She says days after her return, she was demoted which lead to her retiring. King appealed to the Army Board of Correction of Military records claiming that racism and sexism was behind a series of biased investigations and a Negative Non-Commissioned Officer Evaluation report destroyed her career.
“The only thing that I could ascertain that it was because I was a female. I got a hard time every day. I was in the job for two years. For two years, my peers did not want to work with me, I was getting disrespected in meetings, placed in the back of the room – getting yelled at and cursed out,” says King.
”Racism and sexism can be a lot more subtle and can be hidden within institutions and not always revealed but we had, what we thought, was abundant evidence,” says Attorney Smith.
Documents show based on the excess amount of evidence the board agreed the error was significant on the evaluation report and was quote ‘an injustice to the applicants success and achievement not only during the period covered, but her entire career’.
“I just graduated from Liberty University on Thursday of last week with my Masters of Art and Theological Studies. I’m so excited, I’m able to sleep now, I’m able to rest. I’m going to cry . .. I’m just thankful,” says King. “In spite of it all, I still believe that our army is the best organization in the world and I just believe we had some bad actors and those need to be rooted out.”
King is hoping her story inspires others to stand up to unfair treatment.
US Army Spokesperson Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Hewitt sent ABC Columbia News the following statement in response, “The Army Board of Corrections for Military Records reviewed her request to remove an evaluation from her personnel file and took appropriate action. This was an administrative action and we consider this matter closed. The justification to remove the evaluation was not connected to racist or sexist behavior.”
