Did what happen? Drinking and rowdy behavior? Yes, it happened.
Some immoral, international crisis? No, not even remotely.
Here's the real scoop from a retired Navy man:
Stuff like this happens when you put young men and young women in confined quarters for extended periods of time under stressfull circumstances. Obviously, these soldiers weren't on a ship with no place to get out, but they were socially isolated.
I witnessed the transition of all-male crews to mixed gender crews on combat ships. Despite the regulations and punishments for infractions of the fraternization rules, this kind of activity occurs frequently. Biology trumps DoD regs.
I can't count the number of times I had to be officially "shocked" that an 20 year old man and 20 year old woman "got it on" when they found an opportunity.
If the Nation insists on men and women serving together in combat circumstances, we're going to have to accept that episodes like this will happen from time to time.
That said, any number of folks should have stepped up and stopped the picture taking. The old adage "What goes on cruise stays on cruise" wasn't just a male-bonding thing to excuse questionable behavior, it was a way to protect the families back home from hurtful truths.
I was certainly never present during anything like this, but I made a point of leaving immediately if anyone got a camera out at a blowing-off-steam party.
It's not an international crisis, but it's bad PR. As long as they're stationed in Iraq, our soldiers are never truly off duty.