General Morrison, the chief of army, told Fairfax while he didn't keep count of his YouTube hits he had staff members who did.

"I appreciated the video would make its' way into the public domain, there is no reason it shouldn't, but I didn't expect it to be viewed more than a million times. That has taken me somewhat aback."

General Morrison made the video after revelations up to 90 people, many of them serving army personnel, had been implicated in the circulation of a string of emails targeting individual women and, in some cases, rating them sexually.

"I view the allegations in the gravest light," he said. "The images and text (of the emails) are explicit, derogatory, demeaning and repugnant."

In the video he told soldiers that if they had issues about serving with women they should get out. "They (female soldiers) are vital to us maintaining our capability now and into the future," he said. "If that does not suit you then get out. You may find another employer where your attitude and behaviour is acceptable but I doubt it."

Speaking at Duntroon where 67 officer cadets, seven of them female, graduated on Tuesday, General Morrison said a major, a warrant officer and a sergeant had already been suspended.

"The most senior rank we think is involved, and it is only an allegation at this stage, is a lieutenant colonel," he said. "There is suspension action being considered at the moment against another five (serving soldiers) of which there are also people of middle rank level. This is of great concern."

General Morrison said while he was heartened by the flood of support he had received he was not patting himself on the back.

"It's a bad time for the army and it's a bad time for defence," he said. "I've had a huge number of messages saying this is the right thing to do (but) we've got a terrible situation. There is nothing here to be celebrated; nothing to be proud of. In fact it is quite the reverse.

"What everybody wants from me is not words; they want action and they are going to get it."

General Morrison said it would not be unreasonable for Australian parents watching the latest in a string of scandals over the treatment of women in the ADF to ask "why should I entrust my daughter to the army?"

"My answer to that is that there are over 3000 or more women in the army right now who are doing an extraordinary job," he said. "For the overwhelming majority their experience has been positive, indeed life enhancing. But they need to be accorded the respect that we pay everybody."

He acknowledged that the advent of social media had brought new challenges to all levels of the ADF but said that was no excuse.

"They (Duntroon's latest graduates) do get training for it," he said. "We've placed a lot more emphasis on social media, not just here but in places like Kapooka (which handles general recruits) as well as on the responsibilities all our soldiers have.

"However they communicate a message, whether it be face-to-face or on social media, they will be held to account if it is an inappropriate one."