How can you tell if a rotten institution really wants to change after a tragedy? Is it the admission of failure, the apology to a bereaved family, or the promise that toxic cultures are already being addressed?

If those were the signs of real change, then perhaps the family of Gunner Jaysley Beck would be able to rest assured that the Army really is going to learn the lessons it failed to before her suicide in 2021.

They’re not reassured, though, and they’re right not to be.  

An inquest this week found that the 19 year old took her own life in 2021 after a “systemic failure” by the military which may have breached her “right to life”. She had felt unable to complain about a campaign of harassment by one of her superiors after the Army had failed to investigate a sexual assault complaint she had made against another soldier. She had filed a complaint against 39-year-old Battery Sergeant Michael Webber after he “pinned her down” and allegedly tried to kiss her. 

Instead of starting an investigation, Captain James Hook, who organised the training exercise where Jaysley was allegedly assaulted, thought she might have been trying to “generate a situation” and get out of the exercise by making a complaint.

Beck was then harassed by her line manager, Bombardier Ryan Mason, who sent her more than 4,600 messages and shared a 15-page “love story” of his........

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