Posted on 02/24/2006 5:19:35 PM PST by Cornpone
The US Army has charged seven paratroopers from the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division with engaging in sex acts in video shown on a website.
Three of the soldiers face courts-martial on charges of sodomy, pandering and engaging in sex acts for money, according to a statement released today by the military.
Four other soldiers, whose names were not released, received non-judicial punishments.
The army has recommended that all be discharged.
The charges do not mention the name of the site, but the division has said previously it was investigating allegations that soldiers appeared on a gay pornography website.
A spokesman for the division said on Friday the charges are a result of that investigation.
The military-themed website on which the army has said soldiers appeared does not make any direct reference to the division or Fort Bragg, a sprawling post about 115 kilometres south of Raleigh, North Carolina.
"As far as we're concerned, it's isolated to the unit, and our investigation determined that these seven individuals were the only ones" involved, said 82nd Airborne spokesman Major Thomas Earnhardt.
Earnhardt said the three soldiers charged criminally under the Uniform Code of Military Justice had been appointed military lawyers, but he said the lawyers would be unavailable for comment on Friday.
The three soldiers who face courts-martial are: Specialist Richard Ashley, Private Wesley Mitten and Private Kagen Mullen.
The Army did not release their ages or hometowns, but said all seven paratroopers were members of the 2nd Battalion of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
The nonjudicial punishment received by the four other soldiers included reduction to the rank of private, 45 days of restriction to the unit area, 45 days of extra duty and forfeiture of a month's pay.
The registered owner of the website's domain name lists an address in Fayetteville, the city that adjoins Fort Bragg.
The 15,000 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne are among the Army's most elite soldiers, all having volunteered to serve in a unit that trains to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.
The military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy states that "homosexual orientation alone is not a bar to service, but homosexual conduct is incompatible with military service."
Service members who violate the policy are removed from the military.
sad.
Very sad. Frigen Clinton should be horse whipped. He allowed this crap to come to past. This is a new all volunteer military with high standards. Queers need not apply. There are to many fine young men and women ready to serve their country with honor and abide by the rules.
Do they whistle on the way down?
They were activists infiltrating the US military - prepare for the GIGANTIC lawsuit the ACLU is working on.
IMHO
Why the barf? It's true. There isn't much editorializing in the article.
Two barf bags or even three for the subject matter.
The good thing is this should be able to be used as to challenge the military's position on homosexuals. Doing porn, whether gay or straight, is enough to be discharged. They could all simply be charged with Conduct Unbecoming and thrown out of the service.
Don't ask, don't post it on a web site.
Well, that's true. I'm just used to the 'barf' tag as a signal of cruddy editorializing, like a NYT 'news' article, or a MoDo column. :-)
Haha! ;-)
Why hasn't anyone asked for pictures yet?
Because I feel a sense of shame.
>> The military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy states that "homosexual orientation alone is not a bar to service, but homosexual conduct is incompatible with military service." <<
Wow. I didn't realize the Clinton administration had made such a reasonable policy. No wonder the gays were angry.
--- Three of the soldiers face courts-martial on charges of sodomy, pandering and engaging in sex acts for money---
Don't ask don't tell comes home to roost.
We should immediately get all homos out of the military. The ones that don't get caught will keep their act to a low profile and this crap won't ever happen again.
NC ping, down Fayetteville way.
I do too. I said in an earlier post I associate (maybe wrongly) the 'barf' term as a warning of nauseating lib editorializing in a 'news' story, or a particularly bad MoDo editorial.
Conduct unbecoming (Art 134 & 133-officers & enlisted) is often too vague and imprecise to warrant ''bad paper'' ( Dishonorable discharge). Violation of a punitive article such as the post mentions is better for proof and crates better leverage for a plea.
Why hasn't anyone asked for pictures yet?
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