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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Navy K-9 Unit Accused of Vicious Sex Hazing

Recruits were hog-tied, forced to simulate sex in Bahrain unit

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(Newser) – A culture of vicious hazing and sexual abuse held sway at the US Navy's bomb-sniffing dog division in Bahrain for years, a Youth Radio investigation finds. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information act state that incidents included "throwing hard balls at the groin" and "a dog attacking a sex worker on base to the point of hospitalization." One recruit says he was bullied and forced to simulate gay sex after refusing to visit prostitutes with the other men.

Two female service members were handcuffed and ordered to simulate sex, records show. "Personnel were held accountable" for the abuses but no records are available, according to a military spokeswoman. One female member of the unit says she nearly left the military after her "horrible" deployment in Bahrain but decided to stay in the service to effect change. "How can we sit there and try to promote honor, courage and commitment when we have people like that in the military?” she asked. “That's why I hope I can make rank and make a difference somehow, in a small way, hopefully."

A service member wearing bite protection trains a Navy dog in Bahrain.
A service member wearing bite protection trains a Navy dog in Bahrain.   (Department of Defense)
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I was hog-tied to a chair, rolled around the base, left in a dog kennel that had feces spread in it. - Petty Officer Joseph Christopher Rocha

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15 comments
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riffran
Sep 4, 09 5:10 AM CDT
WTF?....good greif Reply
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+4
IN RESPONSE:
Deebles
Sep 4, 09 5:45 AM CDT
Double WTF. Don't even start bringing the dogs into this bullshit.
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-1
polstroad
Sep 4, 09 5:36 AM CDT
Isn't it time to simplyu accept the fact that American military, hormonally driven, are not a bit betyter or more moral or decent than young men of many other nations instead of thinking that somehow we occupy a moral high ground and that we simpoy do not do such things? Too many incidents reveal that in fact we wallow in this crap. Reply
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+5
IN RESPONSE:
Deebles
Sep 4, 09 5:50 AM CDT
Wallow? Wallow? More like harbinger of doom. My father sent a picture home to his wife and daughter after the Tet Offensive with a few ears around his fucking neck. I'd never even heard him say shit when he smashed his thumb under a hammer. War? Just rip peoples souls out of their finger tips--it's easier.
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+4
IN RESPONSE:
Sayyiduna
Sep 4, 09 10:37 AM CDT
It's not really about "moral high ground." I think it's a lot more complex than that but it's a cultural feature of that particular system. The military, after all, is not so different than the college fraternities or the binge drinking groups. You'd be surprised how terrible people can be when put in a group that expects and protects this form of behavior. Unfortunately, this is a feature of many different fields/communities. For example, physicians are known to make some incredibly insensitive and downright awful jokes about patients and while this is a coping mechanism it's still only allowable within the confines of the micro-community around them.
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