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THE US military is investigating a YouTube video that apparently shows a Marine throwing a puppy off a cliff.
Major Chris Perrine from the Marine Corps Base Hawaii said the man appears to be based with a unit in the islands.
Forum members and bloggers have declared war on the soldier, believed to be from the US, and have already posted links to a Bebo account, a residential address in Washington and a phone number.
With Green in jail awaiting trial, the Houston Chronicle reported in August that Army recruiters were trolling around the outskirts of a Dallas-area job fair for ex-convicts.
"We're looking for high school graduates with no more than one felony on their record," one recruiter said.
The Army has even looked behind prison bars for fill-in recruits -- in one reported case, they went to a "youth prison" in Ogden, Utah. Although Steven Price had asked to see a recruiter while still incarcerated, he was "barely 17 when he enlisted last January" and his divorced parents say "recruiters used false promises and forged documents to enlist him."
While confusion exists about whether the boy's mother actually signed a parental consent form allowing her son to enlist, his "father apparently wasn't even at the signing, but his name is on the form too."
Law enforcement officials report that the military is now "allowing more applicants with gang tattoos," the Chicago Sun-Times reports, "because they are under the gun to keep enlistment up." They also note that "gang activity maybe rising among soldiers." The paper was provided with "photos of military buildings and equipment in Iraq that were vandalized with graffiti of gangs based in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities."
Last month, the Sun-Times reported that a gang member facing federal charges of murder and robbery enlisted in the Marine Corps "while he was free on bond -- and was preparing to ship out to boot camp when Marine officials recently discovered he was under indictment." While this recruit was eventually booted from the Corps, a Milwaukee police detective and Army veteran, who serves on the federal drug and gang task force that arrested the would-be Marine, noted that other "gang-bangers are going over to Iraq and sending weapons back ... gang members are getting access to military training and weapons."
Originally posted by the titor experience
Either the army has always been a haven for very sick individuals and the internet is offering a better opportunity to expose it, or this type of thing is happening more often.
www.news.com.au
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4-7. The Misconduct Stress Behaviors of Torturing Prisoners, Using Excessive Force or Brutality, and Killing Animals
a. In some cultures or religions (such as many of the seventeenth/eighteenth century North American Indian tribes), torture has been accepted by all parties as the proper thing to do. The captive warrior who died bravely under torture was highly respected. Under the Law of Land Warfare, torture is a war crime and is forbidden but is still sometimes practiced. It may be erroneously justified as necessary to gain information to assure victory and save friendly lives or to intimidate the opposition, especially in counterinsurgency scenarios.
NOTE
If torture to gain information or to intimidate is allowed, even tacitly, it can become an all-too-easy outlet for combat stress-related tension and frustration, with steadily worsening consequences.
b. The more insidious and common form of this misconduct stress behavior is to react with excessive force or brutality to episodes of provocation. The boundary between excessive and prudent is a gray area. It is related to the magnitude of the enemy provocation and the likelihood of its continuing if not answered. Examples of overreaction include reacting to a single sniper or mortar fire from a civilian housing area with massive artillery and air attack, or going in to beat all the villagers and destroy all the houses.
c. It is difficult and frustrating for soldiers to adhere to strict rules of engagement, such as never firing into civilian areas until fired on and only returning fire with precision when the specific enemy has been located. It is especially difficult if the enemy is deliberately using such areas as sanctuaries and the civilians are tacitly or even explicitly siding with the enemy. Such self-control is, however, often essential to accomplish the national objectives in military operations other than war. To maintain fire discipline, leaders must instill and continually reinforce a sense of strong unit identity and cohesion that actively encourages and rewards correct behavior.
d. Stress-induced behaviors that impair fire discipline can also cause friendly fire casualties. In some cases, overeagerness to attack the enemy (perhaps resulting from the positive combat stress behaviors of desire for glory, medals, or promotion) may lead to tragic error. Too much arousal or anxiety may cause soldiers who are "on a hair trigger" to misidentify vehicles, to make errors in reading maps or grid coordinates, or to shoot first and ask questions later. There is a well-documented tendency for hypervigilant persons to misinterpret and even to misperceive stimuli in ways which seem to confirm their preconceived fears.
(1) Consider the pressure on the tank crew which is constantly remembering that in an engagement between two equal opponents the tank that fires second has only one chance out of five of surviving. Add to that many hours of continuous operations and rapid movement with little sleep. Now add that beyond the unit's right boundary is an unknown friendly unit. This unit may be from a different division, corps, service, or allied nation. The tank unit's leader and higher headquarters must recognize that these tank crews are at high risk of violating the TSOP and firing across the boundary into the neighboring area.
(2) In such situations, the unit leaders (even tired, anxious leaders) must perform a recurring process of risk analysis and risk management. Friendly fire casualties cannot rationally be completely prevented in modern, fast-moving battles. Commanders and leaders must implement policies and prudent precautions which will minimize friendly fire casualties while also minimizing the risk of the enemy killing our soldiers.
(3) The targeting policy which maximizes the odds of hitting the enemy first may be entirely justified at the beginning of the battle. Then, the enemy's strength is uncertain and his crews and tanks must be assumed approximately equal in quality to our own. Later in the battle, a more cautious policy may be justified. It may be clearer that most (if not all) of the enemy are undertrained, out-gunned, and badly overstressed. Our own crews, though still aggressive, are becoming fatigued as a result of the battle or because of sleep loss. Their alertness, coordination, and senses may be dull.
(4) The leaders must recognize these stress factors. They must implement precautions to ensure that there are no friendly fire casualties. They must consider modifying or changing the targeting policy if stress factors are high. They must then assure that the change, its reasons, and any related coordinating instructions are passed down the chain of command to every crew. Recent experience is that leaders will be held publicly accountable if they fail to do this and friendly deaths result. This is true even though the leaders' misconduct may be a reaction only to their own combat stress.
e. Other examples of excessive force or brutality involve the killing of animals.
(1) Soldiers may deliberately shoot domestic animal(s) of local farmers as acts of hatred or revenge. Soldiers may later claim that the animal(s)' death was an accident. Leaders should investigate and ensure appropriate actions are implemented to prevent future incidents of this nature. All soldiers must understand that the senseless killing of animals is a punishable crime under the UCMJ.
(2) Warning signs of excessive stress may be indicated when individual soldiers begin to mistreat, torture, and kill animals. These types of behaviors are warning signs to commanders and leaders that self-control among some of their soldiers is wearing thin. Unit cohesion may also suffer, since other members of the unit may feel revulsion and anger at such behaviors. Leadership must recognize such signs of stress and take actions to provide less destructive ways of relieving the tension and frustration.