AS a freshman at UH-Manoa in the 1970s, I joined an organization that mandated a three-month initiation for prospective members. Our most useful activities were picking up litter and collecting canned goods for the needy. The yuckiest part of initiation was being made to hold live frogs and dead aku. The most painful was when each of us got swatted on the okole of our jeans with homemade paddles. Marine Corps is in a haze
about hazingThat paddling, along with unrelentless hassling, was meant to unite and forever bond the newest recruits with the seasoned veterans, who also had gone through the long-established hazing ritual.
Not anymore. These days school officials across the country, including at UH, nix any kind of initiation shenanigans - wary of the legal liability but also because it's no longer socially and morally acceptable. People shouldn't have to (and won't) take that kind of crap anymore because it's simply not dignified. In many cases, it's dangerous.
Somebody kindly pass on that message to the Marines.
On Friday night, "Dateline NBC" broadcast videotapes of the brutal initiation for an "elite" unit of Marine Corps paratroopers. Each of these service members, primarily assigned to reconnaissance and scouting duty, earns a Brotherhood of Gold Wings medal upon completion of 10 training jumps. Ironically, this coveted medal is used as an instrument of torture.
In ceremonies called "bloody pinnings," the sharp, protruding posts of the wings are pounded, pushed and twisted into the chests of new members by about 30 old-timers, who stand around laughing and drinking beer while awaiting their turn to punish.
It was gut-wrenching to watch. The young men being inducted, wearing white T-shirts stained with blood, shrieked and grimaced as the older members took their best shot. It was like witnessing a gang rape of humanity.
Some of the soldiers seemed to be really caught up in trying to maximize the torture. In one instance, two Marines held another one sideways and used his head like a battering ram. Another man clenched the pin between his teeth, rammed it into the new guy's chest with his mouth, and then pushed the inductee against the wall and up off the floor.
But the most shocking part of this exercise in mindless machismo was that, according to the investigation, a number of noncommissioned and commissioned officers took part in and/or knew about the "tradition" that was filmed back in 1991 and 1993, but which is surmised to be ongoing to this day.
IMMEDIATELY after the "Dateline" show was televised, military officials expressed their indignation and shock at the public revelation, and vowed to get to the bottom of it all. Why does the phrase "launched an investigation" sound so familiar?
Because it's inevitably uttered by some high-ranking officer after every new incident on a growing list of tawdry charges - ranging from the rape of women personnel by their male associates and superiors, to discrimination and sexual harassment in the armed forces, to the outlandish initiation taking place in the academies, including allegedly setting the clothes of female knobs on fire at The Citadel.
Not all of these charges are true, of course. There are no incriminating videotapes like in the bloody pinnings. Not yet, anyway. In the meantime, the military's top brass had better start cleaning up this macho bull, starting with the hazing. Even college kids know better.