At Parris Island in South Carolina, the Marine Corps’s oldest and most famous training center, the Third Recruit Training Battalion was called “the Thumping Third” — a nickname it earned through drill instructors’ reputation for dishing out physical abuse.
“They see it as a badge of honor, like they were the only real Marines,” said Kate Germano, a retired lieutenant colonel who oversaw training of women at Parris Island.
But in that atmosphere, a recent report from the Marine Corps found, a drill instructor under investigation for calling a Muslim recruit a “terrorist” and ordering him into a running clothes dryer where he was burned on his arm and neck, was kept in his job. The instructor later slapped, abused and harassed another Muslim recruit who jumped to his death from the barracks.
Now a widening Marine Corps inquiry into the death and other hazing at Parris Island — and of the chain of command that allowed it to happen — has identified 20 enlisted Marines and officers, including many in the Third Battalion, for potential criminal charges. The lieutenant colonel in charge of that battalion, the colonel in charge of all training at Parris Island, and his sergeant major have been relieved of their command.
According to the Marine Corps report, which was reviewed by The New York Times, in summer 2015, a drill instructor, whose name has not been released, made a Muslim recruit do push-ups in a shower, telling him it was his job to root out spies. The instructor then said that the six-foot recruit needed to “dry off” and ordered him into a clothes dryer. After running the dryer for 30 seconds, the instructor asked whom the recruit was working for, the report found. When the recruit replied “nobody,” the instructor ran the dryer again, then asked the recruit his religion. The recruit, who had started crying, replied “Islam.” The instructor ran the dryer for a longer time, then asked the recruit if he was still a Muslim. When the recruit said “yes,” the instructor ran the dryer again.
In November, after completing basic training, the recruit reported the abuse and the Marine Corps started the investigation. But commanders at Parris Island allowed the instructor to continue training recruits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/u...island-may-be-punished-in-hazing-inquiry.html
“They see it as a badge of honor, like they were the only real Marines,” said Kate Germano, a retired lieutenant colonel who oversaw training of women at Parris Island.
But in that atmosphere, a recent report from the Marine Corps found, a drill instructor under investigation for calling a Muslim recruit a “terrorist” and ordering him into a running clothes dryer where he was burned on his arm and neck, was kept in his job. The instructor later slapped, abused and harassed another Muslim recruit who jumped to his death from the barracks.
Now a widening Marine Corps inquiry into the death and other hazing at Parris Island — and of the chain of command that allowed it to happen — has identified 20 enlisted Marines and officers, including many in the Third Battalion, for potential criminal charges. The lieutenant colonel in charge of that battalion, the colonel in charge of all training at Parris Island, and his sergeant major have been relieved of their command.
According to the Marine Corps report, which was reviewed by The New York Times, in summer 2015, a drill instructor, whose name has not been released, made a Muslim recruit do push-ups in a shower, telling him it was his job to root out spies. The instructor then said that the six-foot recruit needed to “dry off” and ordered him into a clothes dryer. After running the dryer for 30 seconds, the instructor asked whom the recruit was working for, the report found. When the recruit replied “nobody,” the instructor ran the dryer again, then asked the recruit his religion. The recruit, who had started crying, replied “Islam.” The instructor ran the dryer for a longer time, then asked the recruit if he was still a Muslim. When the recruit said “yes,” the instructor ran the dryer again.
In November, after completing basic training, the recruit reported the abuse and the Marine Corps started the investigation. But commanders at Parris Island allowed the instructor to continue training recruits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/u...island-may-be-punished-in-hazing-inquiry.html
