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THE US DEFENSE Department is investigating reports some Marines shared naked photographs of female Marines, veterans and other women on a secret Facebook page, some of which were taken without their knowledge.
The photographs were shared on the Facebook page Marines United, which had a membership of active-duty and retired male Marines, Navy Corpsman and British Royal Marines.
Along with identified female military members were photographs of unidentifiable women in various stages of undress, and included obscene comments about some of the women, officials have said.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is now investigating. The photographs have been taken down, officials said.
Marine Corps commandant General Robert B Neller yesterday refused to comment directly about the ongoing investigation. “For anyone to target one of our Marines, online or otherwise, in an inappropriate manner, is distasteful and shows an absence of respect,” Neller said in a statement.
It was not immediately known how many active-duty Marines and other service members were involved or are under investigation. A Marine Corps official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss personnel matters by name, said at least one government contractor had been removed from his job after he posted a link to the photographs.
In response to the report, Sergeant Major Ronald L Green, the top enlisted man in the Marine Corps, said: “These negative behaviours are absolutely contrary to what we represent.”
The investigation was first reported by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The activity was revealed by The War Horse, a non-profit news organisation run by Marine veteran Thomas Brennan.
“We are thankful that Thomas Brennan, a Marine veteran, notified the Marine Corps and NCIS about what he witnessed on the Marines United page,” Marine Corps spokesman Captain Ryan E Alvis said.
It allowed us to take immediate action to have the explicit photos taken down and to prepare to support potential victims.
The CIR report said more than two dozen active-duty women, officers and enlisted, were identified by their rank, full name and location in the photographs on the Facebook page. Other photographs of active duty and veteran women were also posted and linked through a Google Drive link.
The social media accounts behind the sharing have been deleted by Facebook and Google at the Marine Corps’ request.
‘Entirely unacceptable’
An internal Marine Corps document obtained by the Associated Press says a former Marine maintained the Google Drive and that it had a following of 30,000. The NCIS investigation is “in support of two individuals affected by postings”, according to the document.
A Marine proven to have posted an explicit photo of another person could potentially be charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the internal document asserted. A Marine who directly participates in, encourages or condones such actions could also be subjected to criminal proceedings or averse administrative actions, according to the document.
“The Marine Corps is deeply concerned about allegations regarding the derogatory online comments and sharing of salacious photographs in a closed website,” Alvis said. “This behaviour destroys morale, erodes trust, and degrades the individual.”
Representative Mac Thornberry, a Republican from Texas, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said such revelations are troubling and he expects a full investigation by the Marine Corps.
“Degrading behaviour of this kind is entirely unacceptable. They and the nation deserve better,” Thornberry said.
Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called the online behaviour “degrading, dangerous and completely unacceptable”.
“The military men and women who proudly volunteer to serve their country should not have to deal with this kind of reprehensible conduct,” Smith said.
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Same thing happened here with the UCD 200 a year back. 200 male agricultural students at UCD were sharing photos of female students. The local Uni rag ran with the story, ad then the mainstream media ran with it and all of them were utterly convinced it was 100% true despite not a shred of evidence at the time, nor any evidence after an investigation.
Everyone jumped on the outrage bandwagon only to find the article was a total fabrication in the first place. Not one of those on the bandwagon had the decency to come froward afterward an retract their baseless articles or accept the reality that it was a made up story.
So I’ll wait for firm evidence thank you very much.
@Mr Snuffleupagus:nowhere do you use the word allegedly so I ‘ll reserve judgement too.
Where can I find these photos??
Marines united
I wouldn’t get too excited Gerry. If they were female Marines I’d say they’d be fairly rough looking.
Fairly rough?theyd have serious bodies with very little fat
You must like the bigger ladies do?
Just when you think Alan/neenee can’t get any more disgusting
@Alan b. No I’d only be attracted to women that would have at least one or two feminine features anyway. You must live your romantic life by the old saying “you don’t look at the mantelpiece while poking the fire”
@Gerry McCarthy: Yes. I too would like to express my outrage!!
Women never look at men in uniform. No of course not.
@Kieran Jones: Yep. They don’t fart and there shit smells like roses.
We do try so hard to be civilized but that basic animal geno lurking all the time and thrust me women can be just as animalistic it’s all about procreation
Why won’t they call what we all know it is? Gender based sexual crime. Sad :(
Secret group????? Idiots should take note what two people know is no longer a secret
@Eye_c_u: It never was.
have your say