Thank You to a service man or woman in any branch.
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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.
If these women have to live in combat conditions where they have to relieve themselves in semi-public places, I suppose it can be understood that they might regard this type of behavior as less invasive of their privacy.
"Do you think soldiers should have the right to have sex with each other? Should we abolish regulations regarding fraternization?"
I thought that was an officer/enlisted thing. In any case, yes. The women have as much right to act like fools as the men. These aren't monks. They are a rip-snorting army of gung-ho soldiers. When they are off duty, they will woop it up. That should be expected.
=== these soldiers are mostly young 18-24 and came from that kind of behavior here in the US and I am sure didn't see anything wrong with that behavior so why should it be bad there?
Hear hear!!
Now, were the US a nation where women were expected to be modest to the point of wearing burkas, well ... we'd have carte blanche for target practice on "redblooded" Americans who put up with such nonsense.
As it is, perhaps if our soldiers could move their frat-house hijinks to public streets throughout Iraq, we could accomplish the instilling of "Western Values" without so much bloodshed.
Times are changing though. I think a lot of these policy changes are driven by court judgments and congressional pressure. A court decision forced The Virgina Military Institute to take women. And wasn't the "don't ask don't tell" policy a result of a lawsuit filed by a soldier who got busted for homosexual behavior?
What will the world be like when no one judges anyone?
Nope, no problem with women in the military. Nothing to see here.
No, a sergeant is a Non Commissioned Officer. What do you think NCO stands for?
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There were a handful of homosexuals waging lawsuits at the time, but I don't think any of them were successful.
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the result of Clinton being unable to carry through a campaign promise he made to homosexuals to lift the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the Armed Services.
Senior military officials bucked strongly (if memory serves, the vast majority were about to submit resignation papers... which would have been a political disaster for Clinton), and Clinton blinked.
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the compromise, which, in fact, was very little from the previous policy. As long as nobody knew, homosexuals were allowed to serve.
I don't know what the rules are in the military regarding something like this, but if these grown-ups were off duty, who cares? Isn't it difficult enough to do their job without having to deal with a bunch of p.c. bulls**t telling them they can't have any fun? My god, our troops are in one of the most stressful environments a person can experience, and they are supposed to be asexual? Come on. You put men and women together in any circumstance, and this kind of thing is gonna happen now and then. Big deal.
I'm a military wife and I don't think that this is a big deal. The media is trying to make it one. My only suggestion to members of the military is that if you are going to throw parties like this, leave the damn cameras in the barracks or tents.
I don't think that is a valid excuse, as US soldiers they are professionals, not college kids at a party.
As we can see the majority of soldiers in that age group understand this. The free world has entrusted their security to many others from the same age group, who are performing their duties in exemplary fashion even at the cost of their own lives.
These people should have thought of the dishonor they bring to the others in their age group who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. The media and the world at large are just waiting for isolated incidents like these to discredit everyone in the American uniform.
It is bad there because all of them are under a direct order NOT to drink alcohol.
It is also bad because there are regulations prohibiting sexual relations between soldiers; regulations prohibiting adultery; and regulations prohibiting anything that harms unit morale, good order, and discipline.
Then let's bust them out of the Navy! Let them be an example for the others. It is not impossible to impose rules on soldiers.Rules like that will make conscription a neccesity, damaging the effectiveness of our combat forces.
-Eric
Perhaps Saudi Arabia or pre-liberation Afghanistan would be more to your liking then, they seem to share your ideas concerning the proper role for women.
Not Gamera! I thought he was friend to children.
You could be on to something!
"Consensual goes out the window when alcohol is involved"
You are so right, those poor male soldiers were forced to drink by the female soldiers and then practically seduced by them mud wrestling. Those women ought to be drummed out of the military for corrupting those poor male soldiers.
GIMME A FREAKIN' BREAK!
Officers can and do fraternize with enlisted. Some even take up house together. The Army (Military) frowns on it, but they can't make a law against it. That would be stupid and counter productive.
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