Naked fight film
myal
Naked fight film sparks calls for new crackdown on bullies
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
Video of violent 'initiation rite' for Royal Marines has revived the
demands for a secret hotline for victims' complaints
SECRETLY filmed video of a brutal initiation ceremony among naked Royal
Marine commandos led to calls last night for an independent system to
investigate complaints of bullying within the Armed Forces.
The shots of two naked Royal Marine commandos appearing to take part in
some form of gladiatorial fight before one is kicked unconscious by a
non-commissioned officer provoked outrage yesterday among MPs and former
military commanders.
The graphic film, which appeared to show an initiation ceremony among
recently trained recruits of 42 Commando Royal Marines is now at the
heart of a full-scale criminal inquiry by the Royal Military Police
Special Investigations Branch.
The latest evidence of alleged bullying in the Armed Forces brought
renewed demands for the introduction of an independent complaints system
in the Services. Lord Garden of Hampstead, a former assistant chief of
the defence staff and now Liberal Democrats defence spokesman in the
House of Lords, said yesterday that an independent system would allow
recruits who felt they were being bullied or harassed to complain
“without feeling they are stuck in the chain of command”.
A recommendation by the Commons Defence Committee in March for an
independent complaints commission was rejected by the Ministry of Defence.
The video nasty was taken by a marine from 42 Commando who said that he
had been present during the incident in May at the unit’s headquarters
at Bickleigh barracks, near Plymouth. The fighting duo initially wore
mats wrapped around their arms but were then ordered to use their fists.
The marine taking the pictures did not hand over the video to his
superiors but passed it to the News of the World.
One of the video pictures appears to show a marine being kicked in the
head by a non-commissioned officer dressed in a surgeon’s hospital
garment, and then falling unconscious on the ground. The whole incident
was reported to have involved a dozen marines who had just completed the
commando course, with 40 others gathered around — all naked and none
wearing the famous green beret.
Defence sources said that the marine who had been knocked out had not
been sent to hospital, nor had he made a formal complaint. It is alleged
that he told his superiors that the nude combat scene was part of a
“drunken barbecue and not an initiation ceremony”. However, the Special
Investigations Branch (SIB) is interviewing all members of 42 Commando
to try to find out whether it was a drunken party that went wrong or
whether it was a serious case of abuse connected to some form of ritual.
The defence sources said that the investigation had already discovered
that there were no officers or senior non-commissioned officers present
at the incident. The SIB team is expected to interview more senior ranks
in 42 Commando, including Lieutenant-Colonel Ged Salzano, the commanding
officer.
Whatever is discovered, the video scenes will cause significant damage
to the image of the Royal Marines in particular and to the Armed Forces
in general which in recent years have been ordered to adopt a softer
approach to training recruits. However, the Royal Marines’ 32-week
training course remains one of the toughest; 42 Commando, like the other
two commandos, 40 and 45, has participated in many of the warfighting
operations in the past 25 years.
John Burnett, a former Liberal Democrat MP who served in 42 Commando,
said that if there was evidence of abuse those responsible should be
severely punished. “There is no place for bullying in the Royal Marines.
This business of bullying is repugnant to generations of Royal Marines;
it’s a force that is dependent on mutual respect, encouragement and
teamwork,” the former MP for Torridge and West Devon said.
Initiation ceremonies are supposed to be prohibited across all three
Services. A ban was imposed many years ago after a series of revelations
highlighting dubious rituals which caused mental and physical suffering
among recruits. Nicholas Blake QC, commissioned by the MoD to review the
Deepcut cases, is due to publish his findings next month.
The scenes of naked marines apparently egging on the fight on the video
recalled other incidents in the Services where nudity played a part in
the abuse of soldiers. In January acting Lance Corporal Mark Tewnion, an
instructor at the Army Training Regiment at Pirbright barracks in
Surrey, was sent to military prison for seven months and dismissed from
the Army for forcing a naked recruit to sit on another soldier’s face.
John Reid, the Defence Secretary, admitted last week that bullying
allegations at Deepcut and elsewhere had affected recruiting.
The video scenes published in the News of the World caused amazement
among serving officers in all three Armed Forces. One Royal Navy officer
said: “Anything like this is forbidden. I can’t believe this sort of
think is still going on.”
”The MoD said no further comment could be made while the investigation
was underway
Violent Ceremonies of Rights of Passage Across the World
BRAZIL: A Brazilian army commander and 12 sergeants were arrested
earlier this month after a video showed alleged torture of five
soldiers. The men, from the infantry battalion of Curitiba, could
receive up to two years in prison. The film appeared to show soldiers
being struck, shocked and burned as part of an initiation ceremony
before promotion to sergeant
RUSSIA: Bullying in the Russian army is so common that it has a name,
“dedovshchina” or “the rule of grandfathers”. In October the Russian
Defence Ministry admitted that 750 servicemen had suffered non-combat
related deaths during the first nine months of 2005, including 13 due to
bullying and 200 suicides. Every year about 800,000 conscripts enter the
Russian military and for their first 12 months work as slaves to their
older colleagues, forced to hand over money, food and personal effects
and perform tasks day and night. Insubordination is punished by beatings
and humiliation
GERMANY: In June, 18 German soldiers were charged over the alleged abuse
of more than 160 military recruits. A captain at a barracks in the
western town of Coesfeld and 17 non-commissioned officers were accused
of mistreating 163 of their charges with electric shocks, punches and kicks
FRANCE: The French army has undertaken a campaign to stamp out degrading
initiation rites following a series of scandals in military lycées in
the 1990s. Recruits complained of being forced to perform obscene acts,
to go without sleep, to undertake humiliating chores and to carry out
exercises that left them in a state of physical exhaustion. In 1998, the
French government introduced a law making the imposition of such rites
an offence carrying a maximum six-month jail sentence
USA: Although the US military says there is “zero tolerance” for brutal
initiation rites, they are still widespread. The Pentagon was forced to
take action in the early 1990s after video footage of a Marines “blood
pinning” ceremony, which showed Marines grinding medal pins into the
chests of parachute school graduates. Soldiers have also talked of an
army tradition where someone who gains promotion is punched as they walk
between colleagues lined up in opposing rows
Jonathan
It's even more disturbing in full.