Prisoner Abuse Scandel

[spazlabz]

Originally posted by Evil Chris@May 10 2004, 08:17 AM
The early 90's also brought "hazing" in the military to light, thanks to pportable handycams that never used to be so common.

Once again our Airborne guys paid the price for some seriously disturbing hazing incidents, and then a lot of USMC videos started making their way to local TV News stations.

Your right of course Chris that the 'handicam' definitely changed some perceptions about hazing in the military.
However, having acknowledged that, I will go on to say that I remember very clearly when the USMC tapes hit local stations. I was in VA Beach VA having recently been discharged from the Corps when that stuff came out and I was SHOCKED and a little bit OFFENDED.........not at the jarheads, but at the news reporters.
I can't speak for any other branch of the military, but my experiences in the USMC and hazing came down to this.
You were hazed as a way of being initiated into a separate group of the Marines. Not every shaved head bright eyed boy got to
let me repeat that
got to be hazed. It ranged from mild (pinning on ones blood stripes when you became an NCO) to mildly extreme (think jump wings/scuba mask 'pinned on' with the use of a helmet and a squad of guys doing the 'pinning') I was fortunate enough to have gone through the NCO and Jump Wings hazing. I also went through a few other things which might have made one or two people squeamish. But the end result was a very tight bond with my brothers in uniform owing to the fact that every member of the group went through the same thing.
I am sure it has softened somewhat, but I personally feel that hazing (within limits) should be encouraged


spaz