ALLISON'S Story

Allison Bailey spent most of her Guard career in Medical Detachment (Med-Det). Her whole career she had served honorably in the National Guard with no issues, yet because she was female and considered attractive, she was consistently and constantly harassed by members of the Nevada Guard. Before she died, she was working with us to tell her story, and we believe it is important to share her story when it has been repeatedly suppressed by the Nevada National Guard in an attempt to cover up their unscrupulous and outright illegal behavior.

There is an unfortunate reality to being a female in the military; she was subject to repeated sexual harassment and attempted assaults from many senior members in the Guard. On several occasions when traveling to Las Vegas for drill, leaders would purposefully separate her from her boyfriend in order to attempt to get her alone in an attempt to make advances towards her (always unwanted). Allison had reported multiple senior leaders (most of them married to other people) trying to get her alone from other people and buying her copious amounts of booze in an effort to try and sleep with her. She always refused, and this did not go over well with leaders as the Nevada National Guard have an unwritten policy to protect those that are part of their "good-old-boys" club. Some of these leaders are at the O-4 and above level (Major and above).

The retaliation came swiftly, and she started receiving disciplinary action for arbitrary things that other Guard members weren't getting disciplined for, this is when her mental health started declining and she had trouble coping with it.

This all came to a head in 2020, when she was invited to a birthday party where there was lots of binge drinking, and someone against her will tried to take her around the side of the house where the party was going on and force himself on her.

This time when she reported it, the Nevada Guard decided to end her career. They botched their own investigation from the beginning (purposefully); they did not follow the Army SHARP process (like referring her to the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator or SARC), allow her to make an unrestricted report (which was her right under the Army SHARP policy), they drug their feet on the investigation, didn't refer her claim to an investigator in law enforcement, and decided that she was lying. During a 15-6, the IG claims they only have to be "51% sure" in order to process a conviction, yet as with other cases within the Guard this rule is only enforced selectively. The Inspector General's Office works for management, and is hardly impartial, earning it the name of the "Interference General), as it is an "investigation", but only what they want to look at while ignoring other facts.

Allison Bailey still fought against this and requested a court-martial (which was her right), to which the Guard just decided to not allow her to do with no other explanation other than "they didn't want to". Once again, this was a clear example of the Guard not wanting to follow their own rules.

This is when Allison reached out to us to tell her story. We helped her file an NGB complaint as well as a Congressional; the National Guard likes to place this little game where they claim because they are a state military organization they don't have to cooperate or respond to Federal Congressional Inquiries. At this point Allison's mental health really started declining, and she started battling with depression.

In a last-ditch effort she hired an attorney and met personally with Brigadier General Armstrong. She spent several days preparing evidence, but when she went into the meeting, General Armstrong said "You need to make this quick, I have another meeting in 30 minutes". She was not going to get an adequate amount of time to plead her case, when the Guard had ample time and resources to try and discipline her and ruin her career for 17 years. Her attorney made a valid argument that the evidence she provided was valid, but General Armstrong simply looked at it, shrugged and said, "You must have done something". That was it - he didn't look at her evidence, listen to her attorney, or even pretend to be impartial and act like he cared. She then was demoted twice from Sergeant-First-Class (SFC) to Sergeant (SGT). She was removed from her medical board without discussion, which was intentional as she was already trying to just leave the Guard on semi good terms.

It was at this point the Guard was going to discharge Allison with than other-than-honorable (OTH) discharge, meaning she couldn't collect her VA benefits. What's even more atrocious is that the Guard let two male Guardsmen retire with full benefits after being arrested in an FBI sex-trafficking sting for attempting to meet up with what they thought were underage prostitutes. One is currently in prison, and the Guard kept the other on the books administratively so he could enough time to get his retirement. We can't make this stuff up; somehow Allison didn't seem to get the same courtesy.

 She and her two boys would lose her health benefits, she couldn't use her GI Bill anymore, and she had to pay back in full the cost of her bachelor's degree which she had used the Guard education benefits for. She also had no health insurance for her and her two sons.

To say this was the worst was sadly not true. Retired CSM Robert Boldry and retired 1SG Stephen Lawrence illicitly obtained the results of the investigation and discharge and started going around various National Guard facilities gossiping to any who would listen about the outcome and made sure her reputation was ruined. Even though they were only temporary technicians and contractors and should not have had access to the outcome or results of this investigation, they somehow got ahold of this information; most likely because they were friendly with Generals Armstrong, Peyerl, and Berry, this confidential information was provided to them when it should not have been.

The Guard didn't care about finding the truth from the beginning. The Guard didn't care about doing what was right from the beginning. If a person would ask any female soldier in the Nevada Army or Air National Guard, they will all have a story similar to Allison's. Why go to such lengths to punish a soldier who had served honorably for 17 years? Why remove her from a the medical board process when she was already trying to leave? Why were two National Guardsmen who became sex offenders allowed to retire and not her? These are questions we most likely will never get answered.

Facing all of this was incredibly hard for Allison Bailey; she loved her country, she loved her family, and she loved her boys. The National Guard failed her, the Army failed her, and General Armstrong failed her. They had a pre-determined verdict from the beginning.

Veteran Sister's writes about her final moments - "Bailey’s young sons found her lying on the floor in terrible pain and witnessed their mother refusing to go to the hospital because she had no medical insurance or employment and feared she could not afford to incur any debt. Against her wishes, family members to her to an area hospital where she was admitted into the ICU. Bailey succumbed to her illnesses two days later and died Saturday evening, Mar. 4, 2023. "

Allison deserved better, the Guard deserves better, and women deserve better. We all can bet that women in the Guard will think twice before reporting sexual harassment and assault, as they will not want to be retaliated against the way the Guard retaliated against Allison Bailey and essentially ruined her life after 17 years of good service. If you have a daughter and she considers joining the military, encourage her to look elsewhere. Please keep Allison Bailey and her family in your prayers.