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.
Gosh, that's quite a story. Must have taken you a while to type it. Too bad you couldn't use some of that time to post "salient facts" like which UCMJ articles apply. I mean, how hard could it be for a military expert who served in the military and proudly - just look at my profile! - wore our military uniform?
Hey, Doc! What happened to that extensive resume you had posted on your profile? (Or should I call it a CV?) Updating it for us? Or something else? [grin]
What's a matter Coop, ya been busted down too many times? I hope ya at least made SGT at least once. So how was being a cook? Or was it motor T? You've such a problem with authority I can't imagine you made it far.
You seem to have a problem with your temper. And I recall you mentioning how you're currently an officer (no surprise given how much importance you place on one's rank). Since you're so concerned with how our military personnel conduct themselves, I have to wonder how you feel about an officer publicly dressing down a shitbird LCPL. And insulting important contributions from our cooks and mechanics at the same time. I'd have to say there'd be some charges or official reprimand involved with that, wouldn't you?
Say, could that be why your resume/CV suddenly disappeared?!? :-D
What a little weasel you are...
I read your profile, Doc, as well as several comments of yours directly worrying about how high someone had progressed in the ranks. But I wasn't the one earlier in the thread focusing on the officers/enlisted dynamic.
OK..........I didn't put down anyone.
Sure, whatever you say.
motor T. That hit close to home, did it?
Not particularly, although I did have a HMMWV license.
C'mon Coop, let's call it quits. We just got off on the wrong foot. I'm admitting I let it get too personal on my part.
Z
Two words:
And lets not forget the main Capitol Hill rep - Patsy Schroeder.
As a former Naval Aviator: I detest Patsy Schroder.(She's not longer a senator, I can say htat right?)
She did all she could to emasculate the armed forces.
Okay, it's water under the bridge.
I took and still take great issue with people ready to ruin careers of those proudly defending our freedoms because of this silly nonsense.
Agreed. I believe the matter could have been (and indeed was for some personnel) handled with non-judicial punishment. I did not agree with folks being brought before a courts martial for what happened. Thx...
The sad fact remains-problems like this did not exist until females were let into the service. Those who think that there are not a host of problems with gender integrated units probably haven't been on deployment with one. I like to look at scantily clad women as much as the next guy, but I'd rather not sacrifice combat effectiveness so I can look at boobs.
Right on, Coop.
Jerks like Patsy Schroder try to destroy military careers ON ANY EXCUSE! What was a simple matter of a NCO yelling,"Knock it off, you knuckleheads!" Has become national news because some idiot released the pics to a newsman (probably because of some sort of feud with those pictured) AFTER the CO had already taken care of he matter, and the news blows it out of proportion becasue they really, really do not like us.
As for the worm that released the pics....kind of like Kerry turning on his shipmates after returning home from VN, isn't it?
Well, I like boobs for one thing!
I think intergration of women in the military has been ok. (Heck I ended up married to one (and no, we NEVER were in the same unit))
I think that the issue is not the gender of the troops but rather the expectaions of performance and discipline.
In many services the physical fitness of female are lower than that of males...I never figured that one out. As if Ivan (or now Hadji) would wait an extra 20 minutes to wait for the female troops to arrive before attacking our positions!
BTW, I am active duty military, on submarines, and I do not think that women should serve on subs. But that is due to the physical conditions and inherent complications which present themselves when cramming so many crew members into such a small space. I do not think for a moment that women are any less capable or dedicated, or that the professionals in the Submarine Force couldn't overcome the challenges. In the future, when subs are designed to accommodate coed crews, I expect that to be the norm and for the force as a whole to continue to thrive as it has in the past.
This is my second deployment with females (last time in the rear, this time with females attached to our Cav squadron form Charlie Med). In both cases around 90% of our problems have had to do with the females. They fight in their billets, when each one has several guys who are interested in them their heads swell and it becomes difficult to deal with them, they need all sorts of special accomodation (including something so simple as how to secure a spot for them to pee while on patrol) and so on. That is to say nothing of jealousy, attraction, sexual politics and lots of other problems which do not come immediately to mind. Some (a minority) of the females we have had are top notch-I've got one in the evac section right now who is a great medic. But even so, she has difficulty lifting litters which is a serious problem when you have to load an ambulance. The only way to address the inequality in physical standards you mentioned-which is completely true BTW-is to lower the standards for males, and that's not really a solution. There were prefectly good reasons that women were excluded from military service for hundreds of years and still are in many nations.
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.