*COUGH*... *COUGH*....
I agree with what an earlier poster said...
UCMJ. Do what's necessary.
Posted on 02/06/2005 6:45:18 AM PST by presidio9
In front of a cheering male audience, two young women wearing only bras and panties throw themselves into a mud-filled plastic kiddie pool and roll around in a wild wrestling match.
At one point a man in the audience raises a water bottle and douses the entwined pair.
At another, a "referee" moves in to break up the scantily clad grapplers.
A young blond lifts her T-shirt to expose her breasts. A brunette turns her back to the camera and exposes her thong undies.
These scenes, taken from 30 photos leaked to the Daily News, could have been snapped at an out-of-control frat party.
But this happened a world away from any American college.
The photos were taken in Camp Bucca, the military prison at Umm Qasr in the hot sands of southern Iraq near the Kuwaiti border.
The women are not coeds but military policewomen who had left their uniforms in a pile not far off.
The men are soldiers, too. Most of them wore T-shirts emblazoned with Army logos, but at least one was still wearing his uniform.
Some were sergeants, including the referee, and some allegedly were drunk.
The photos were taken last Oct. 30, in the same period when enemy detainees were being transferred to Camp Bucca from Abu Ghraib, the prison made notorious by photos of Americans torturing naked Iraqis.
The Camp Bucca pictures document no such abuses.
But they do show what experts called a disconcerting lapse in discipline at a time when Army brass was touting the camp as a model of reform.
"It was basically a goodbye party for those of us who were leaving and a welcome party for those coming in," the alleged referee, Sgt. Emil Ganim of the 160th Military Police Battalion, told The News. "It was a chance for people to blow off some steam before coming home after spending a year in a combat zone."
But one participant described less-benign behavior.
Two sergeants, she said, told her "they had been lending out their room for soldiers to have sex" - a serious infraction of military regulations.
One female soldier, a prison guard with the 160th Military Police Battalion, was photographed baring her breast and showing off her thong panties.
The picture apparently was taken in the room of one of those sergeants, an investigator reported.
The witness told investigators that two high-ranking noncommissioned officers, a first sergeant and a master sergeant, were present. She "noted that these NCOs had been drinking and were noticeably drunk," the report said.
Ganim said American civilians at the camp also participated in the party, and "if anybody had liquor, it was them."
Ganim has since returned to his civilian job as a deputy sheriff in Leon County, Fla.
"It appears that this event was allegedly coordinated by NCOs [sergeants] of the 160th," according to the initial investigation.
One of the soldiers told investigators the mud-wrestling match was underway when she arrived.
"She took off her uniform and joined the other female soldiers that were wrestling," the report says. But "once soldiers started asking for the females to expose themselves [she and two of the other wrestlers] put their uniforms back on and left the area."
But at least one woman was not deterred.
Deanna Allen, a 19-year-old prison guard with the 105th MP Battalion, smiled and lifted her T-shirt. Photos show a man standing close to her and leering at her breasts while another G.I. snaps pictures.
"From what I understand they dared her to do it," said Allen's grandmother, Luci Tomlin, in Black Mountain, N.C. "It was a loose moment. She is a strong-headed young lady. Sometimes she can be a little irrational."
Allen, who is still stationed in Iraq, did not respond to E-mailed questions from The News. She was demoted in rank to private first class.
"A sex party with alcohol that is prohibited would suggest a serious breakdown of military discipline," said Washington-based lawyer Eugene Fidell, a military-justice expert. "Just how it would be handled would be determined by the commander, who has very broad discretion in situations like this.
Fidell said punishments could range from "a good chewing out to loss of rank" for enlisted personnel and "a letter or career-killing transfer" for officers who allowed it to happen.
Oh, dear friend, there is nothing new under the sun.
I'm sure your grandfather's contemporaries were "on the prowl" during their "young and foolish" years.
The diffence is that they were more discreet.
OK Coop. You frequently insult posters and go on about no one can talk, unless he's been there. So I have to ask: your service record is...?
(Throws challenge coin on table)
Thank you.
Our armed forces are the most critical and necessary part of the government. If it goes bad, we can lose our country. Military discipline is very important. A soldier needs to be thinking about being a soldier, not about how the sergeant is boning his girlfriend.
I would be willing to bet you are for gay marriage.
No, I'm not for gay marriage. How did you come to that conclusion?
Yes, quite.
Now HERE ya got a point. They gotta confiscate every camera in-theatre!
This was done by the lefty press in an effort to embarrass the war effort and the military.
As long as I'm not over there doing the fighting, I'm NOT going to put myself in the place to judge these poor men and women!
It would take a real low-life to judge them when they're doing their job under very harsh conditions and the "judges" are safe and comfy in a nice warm house sitting in front of a computer with not a care in the world.
They're of the same class, and probably better. It's just that your grandparents didn't have camcorders and an anti-military media to worry about.
LOL! Hey, you know what's funny? I thought the 160th MP BN rang a bell. MY COUSIN WAS IN THIS UNIT!
He just got back from Iraq in November. I'll have to ask him about this and tweak him a little bit.
Not in front of his wife, of course ;-)
(just kidding about that last before ya'll jump all over me. Knowing him I'm sure he did NOT participate in this).
Shades of Rodney King! Look at how the 'truth' that camera told was essentially turned into a lie. The video made the police methods of controlling him look a lot worse than it actually was.
'Every picture tells a story' and 'a picture is worth a thousand words' --- but if you show a hundred different people the same picture without any background info they will come up with different interpretations of what occurred. The media use this type of known reaction to do just that: create a false impression and cause an uproar over 'scandalous' behavior.
Here it is Sunday morning and you are berating folks who were in Combat for a year; and at a low moment of recreation; Who are you to criticize?. I do not care what the Islamokazis think or do. Why dont you take a trip to the AOR to document such poor behavior? Are you in the right forum?
But PLEASE thank your husband for his Service. He deserved a hero's welcome. I (ahem) hope he got one.
If the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was a fake story then tell me why Pfc. Lynndie England and others are currently awaiting sentencing.
When did a wrestling match become a 'sex orgy'?
See post 247. I totally agree with that.
*shrugs*
Dunno.
LOL....you are right about that....and yes, he got a hero's welcome...afterall, he is my hero!!
I didn't mean to direct you to thank him, as you no doubt already have. I've gone convoluted and don't know if that came across properly...
Beg to differ.
The demographic is college kids, and college kids aren't known for good judgement in group situations period.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.