Thread by @DanLamothe

NEW TODAY: The @usmc has quietly disciplined numerous Marines at its San Diego boot camp since 2017 for misconduct, including abuse and racism targeting recruits, according to docs obtained through FOIA.

More to come here. 1/

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

@USMC In one case, the investigating officer recommended a court-martial for a DI whose abuse included using a staple gun on one recruit and ordering another to eat a pine cone. One of the staples punctured the recruit’s body armor, leaving prick wounds.

A look at the docs: 2/

@USMC No court-martial was held, however. Discipline was handled administratively, a move that keeps it out of court and the public eye until now. 3/

@USMC Overall, more than 700 pages were released to me for @washingtonpost. They date back to 2017. 4/

@USMC @washingtonpost Why then? The request followed a previous round of FOIA submissions I filed after the disturbing 2016 abuse scandal at Parris Island, S.C., in which Muslim recruits were put in an industrial-size clothes dryer and called terrorists. 5/

washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoin…

@USMC @washingtonpost That scandal erupted after one recruit, Pvt. Raheel Siddiqui, fell to his death while running from the Marine who had tormented him. Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix was convicted of maltreatment and other charges and sentenced to 10 years in the brig. 6/

washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoin…

@USMC @washingtonpost In San Diego, abuse sometimes included the use of homophobic and racist slurs -- and questions in which a Marine teaching weapons familiarity asked someone who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent if they were a "terrorist" and someone else if they were a "wetback." 7/

@USMC @washingtonpost Reporting out the Parris Island cases made it clear that abuse scandals erupt at the service’s boot camps once every generation or so. There were big ones in the 1950s (Ribbon Creek) and 1970s, in particular. Some history here. 8/

washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoin…

@USMC @washingtonpost Back to modern times: Amid the churn of the Parris Island cases, I filed FOIA requests tailored to seek documents about all *substantiated* cases of hazing or abuse at the recruit depots. That made it manageable for FOIA staff, but also hopefully comprehensive. 9/

@USMC @washingtonpost That previous set of FOIA responses made it clear that a lot went unknown by the American public, including that one recruit needed skin grafts after suffering bleach burns at Parris Island several years ago. More in this previous story here. 10/

washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoin…

@USMC @washingtonpost Last year, I put in a new round of FOIA requests, asking for information about recent cases. In May, that yielded this story about Parris Island, making it clear there are still challenges on both coasts. 11/

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

@USMC @washingtonpost The Marine Corps accurately points out that a very small percentage of Marine drill instructors are involved in cases like these. Fact check: True. I’ve met a number who took the job very seriously, and am friends with a few. 12/

@USMC @washingtonpost That said, there are still problems. This exercise in journalism is an attempt at a fuller accounting of what actually *does* happen at Marine Corps boot camp, often considered the military’s most difficult.

No exaggerating, but with sunlight on what has been obscured. 13/13