ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702030044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
AN ORDERED PROBE will determine just how widespread the problem really is.
``Disturbed and disgusted,'' new Defense Secretary William Cohen declared Friday that the military must have ``zero tolerance'' for the kind of hazing shown in videotapes of Marines beating award pins into the chests of young troops. But he also said he didn't know how widespread it might be.
Cohen, at his first Pentagon news conference since his Cabinet confirmation, said he was ordering the military service chiefs to find out how extensive the problem is.
Appearing beside him, Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was clear that ``some leaders were involved and did not take the right steps."
"That's what's particularly bothersome about this incident,'' he said.
Because hazing is not a specific violation under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Pentagon officials said they were unable to say whether the two videotaped incidents shown repeatedly on television Friday were common.
Others inside and outside the military said hazing occurs all the time, especially in elite units, and that it is accepted and condoned by the victims and by senior enlistees and officers.
``We're not naive,'' said Marine Corps Maj. Scott Campbell. ``We feel that there is still a problem, and that's why we are addressing it.''
Cohen said of the videotapes, apparently made by Marines who were involved, ``I am disturbed and disgusted by the treatment of young Marines in the hazing incidents.
``I intend to enforce a strict policy of zero tolerance of hazing, of sexual harassment and of racism,'' he said.
The incidents took place at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in 1991 and 1993.
In a separate news conference on the steps of the Pentagon, a livid Marine Gen. Charles Krulak, the Corps commandant, said 30 people were involved in the 1991 incident, the more serious of the two. Nine of them are still Marines.
``We know who they are,'' Krulak said.
While the statute of limitations has run out on court-martialing the Marines for assault or conduct unbecoming, Krulak said he could discharge them.
``To say that I'm outraged would be an understatement,'' he said.
While officially denounced, hazing incidents have been reported in service academies and elite units, particularly airborne units involving paratroopers.
The Marine Corps has opened an investigation of the two ``blood pinnings'' in which elite paratroopers had golden jump pins beaten into their chests. CNN broadcast portions of the videotapes Thursday night. NBC's ``Dateline NBC'' planned to broadcast portions Friday night.
``It's not condoned," said Army Lt. Col. William Harkey. "If we find out, it's not tolerated.'' An Air Force Academy spokesman, Neil Talbott, said he knew of no recent problems. So did Navy Capt. Tom Jurkowsky, spokesman for the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.
The Marine Corps reported that, in the past several years, 52 Marines have gone to court martial on charges that stemmed from hazing incidents, and at least 34 Marines have received non-judicial punishments such as forfeiture of pay, confinement and bad conduct discharges.
And others outside the military said serious hazing is common.
``What has been called by the Pentagon an isolated incident that's going to be stamped out is widespread, and not just among the Marines,'' said Chris Lombardi of the GI Rights Network, a coalition of peace groups that runs hot lines that service members can call to report abuse, harassment or other problems.
An Army enlistee at Fort Hood, Texas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had witnessed a practice almost identical to the ``blood pinnings'' captured on the videotape. The enlistee said he had seen the practice performed on a woman, leaving twin scars on her upper breast. He also had witnessed a form of gantlet in which a promoted enlistee walks between lines of comrades as they hit or slap the person.
Two female cadets recently dropped out of the Citadel military academy in South Carolina complaining of intense hazing.
Leona Sanders, a graduate of West Point, said in 1995 that she was injured in a hazing incident called ``brass smashing'' in which a rifle butt was used to smash the brass breastplates worn by cadets on dress uniforms.
In 1989, a group of male students at the Naval Academy chained a female classmate to a urinal and taunted her.
And last year, three Army airborne officers were disciplined for their roles in a hazing ceremony called ``prop blast'' at Fort Bragg, N.C., in which soldiers received mild electric shocks, were forced to wear lipstick and had food thrown on them.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP/CNN. A U.S. Marine grimaces in pain during a 1991by CNBhazing incident by an elite paratrooper unit. color.