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.
Back in the '70s when I was in the Army, us guys never had sex with the WACs(fingers crossed)...all of us being from the same society as all the college guys and gals that were having sex with each other. No, we were all in church.
Gone are the good ol' days when red light districts were a major income source in towns around military bases and the GIs just got laid with whores instead of dating and often marrying their contemporaries.
These kids are doing the same thing their friends back in the US are doing right now.
Now, the older guys hanging around with the kids, and even setting up these shenanigans should be ashamed of themselves. Rather than putting their lives on the line for our freedom and pretty miserable wages, they could be in Hollywood getting this all on video and making so much money that they would NEVER run out of cocaine. And even get a good chance at having a microphone put in their face by the liberal MSM and being asked to speak on behalf of all the nice conscientious show biz types that hate what the US military is doing in Iraq.
Good point.Many 18th century soldiers went into battle drunk, to boost their nerve. Yes, its a poor idea with today's technology, but it's worth noting.Thank goodness there were no Dan Rathers, Walter Kronkites or like-minded journalists back in 1775.
We'd still be subject to the British crown, if that were the case.
-Eric
Lesbians in the Military:
Don't Ask Don't Tell!
Lol. Was sarcasm, hoss. Islamics are so homicidally repressed, there could be no display of anything like that at all.
Oh trust me I know, but if I did that, I'd be fired and be making nothing. Demotion is better than that.
Give 'em each a six pack of Milwaukee Holy water for that one.
Probably the best film ever directed by the late Stanley Kubrick.
LOL!
The mental image is quite amusing.
Especially the part where Kong chews on someone.
Would love to hear the humorous comments on that one.
Wyatt...I've active military, combat vet, and I believe that these knukleheads were wrong. Not nightly news wrong or Courtsmartial wrong, but still wrong. The senior NCO's should have broken the party up before it got out of hand. SP/MP's frequently bust up rowdy parties at the local fleshpots when they get out of hand and this one was on base!
P.S. What was your service may I ask?
???? Soldiers are expected to act like soldiers. Tough if you can't date locals. Suck it up and soldier on!
Thats TAILHOOK!!!!!!!!!
Damn!
You were saying about a soapbox? ;)
Hello. We'll agree to disagree. I'm not moralizing about someone else's moral state. And at least in the US military, judgements are made all the time, including moral judgements. Apparently, the US Army thought there was an issue here, because they disciplined several of the soldiers involved in the incident.
You are REALLY a self-centered person!
Whatever. I will note that whoever leaked those photos to the press was a coward. It could have been handled in other ways.
He was impeached ONLY because a fer brave Republicans forced the issue- The National Organization of Women gave him a pass for the allegations of RAPE because "his politics are good for women" and the main stream media was not NEARLY as outraged as they are seeming to be over this story- in fact their outrage was at the Republicans for impeacing him...
Nope, did not. But I know folks that have been out to sea and they did not do something and blame it on account of being at sea for a few months ;) And then I knew folks who were stationed at Clark AFB who told some crazy stories.
Navy, '80-'83, served on a can.
I agree that they were stupid, but don't think that court-martials are warranted. According to one of the folks on FR that I was talking to, one of the women received a bust in rank for it. I suspect that others have already been punished for it as well. It happened last October, after all. I just think that the whole thing is being blown way out of proportion.
Gotta blame that behavior on something, right? ;-)
Seem to have more clothes on than you find at most beaches today?
In reading the article, I got the distinct impression that there was NCOs present, along with soliders that were subordinate to those NCOs.
As far as fraterinzation, we had a NCO in our unit that was disciplined for that infraction. He wasn't tried before a courts martial, but there was non-judicial punishment handed out. And he was transferred out of the unit shortly after that.
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