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General in command of Utah National Guard ‘offended’ by bikini calendar shoot held at base

Posted at 9:35 PM, Oct 23, 2014
and last updated 2014-10-24 09:00:59-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- If you think the General who commands Utah's National Guard Soldiers has too many things on his plate to be bothered by a bikini calendar, think again.

"I take it very personally," said Major General Jeff Burton in his first public statements about a controversial photo shoot.

A British company called "Hot Shots" that publishes a military-themed annual calendar filmed on base at Camp Williams for it's 2015 calendar. Click here for more details and footage from the shoot.

National Guard personnel are pictured in the background of a "behind the scenes" video, and the National Guard hierarchy has said they did not authorize the risque shoot.

"I'm deeply offended and hurt," Burton said. "I denounce that calendar. It does not have anything to do with our Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, self-sacrifice, service, honor, integrity, personal courage. All those things we believe in were violated by the filming of that calendar."

Burton said the Guard is investigating and will determine punishments for the people involved.

The Utah Department of Public Safety is investigating a related photo shoot at a gun club in Tooele. They also said they had no idea the calendar was being filmed and shot with two Special Emergency Response Team, or SERT, members present.

In a new press statement, the spokesperson for the department said one of the two officers present logged himself as "on-duty" while he participated in the shoot involving bikini models firing various small weapons.