Australian commission: Military cadets raped as initiation

[Kontinuum]

Teenage recruits were raped by staff and forced to rape each other as part of initiation practices in the Australian military going back to 1960, a public inquiry heard on Tuesday.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse is hearing evidence from men and women who say they were sexually abused when they were as young as 15, in certain divisions of the Australian defense force.
This commission is focusing on alleged abuse at the naval training center HMAS Leeuwin in Western Australia and the army apprentice school Balcombe in Victoria during the 1960s, '70s and '80s and also among cadets with the Australian defense force since 2000.

In total, 111 victims came forward to report abuse. More than a dozen of them will give evidence to the inquiry in Sydney, which continues until July 1.
"On multiple occasions, I was snatched from my bed in the middle of the night by older recruits and dragged to a sports oval," said one male witness who wasn't named.
The witness said he was forced to rape other recruits, and was raped himself by older recruits and staff.
"The environment made it useless to resist," he said. "One could stand only so much abuse before realizing that saying 'no' was pointless. After a while compliance and getting it over and done with seemed the best solution."
Many survivors say that when they reported the abuse, they were ignored, punished, or told it was "a rite of passage" in their initiation period.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/21/as...use/index.html

[Independent voter]

I don't believe this.

Maybe because guys are so reluctant to report rape but I still doubt it.

[Strangebrew]

What do you expect from a bunch of criminals stuck on an island where everything will kill you with horrible pain.

Infracted

[Kontinuum]

Sounds like the dude is exaggerating.

Last bit that I didn't copy paste:

Another witness, 65-year-old Graeme Frazer, told the inquiry that as a 16-year-old naval recruit in 1967, he remembers being "terrified" as he was dragged from the showers, beaten and sexually abused by three other recruits.
He said one of the attackers tried to force him to give oral sex, then they held him down while his genitals were covered with boot polish and scrubbed with a hard brush.
"I still feel a lot of guilt and shame about the abuse," Frazer said. "I have suffered depression."
The inquiry also will hear evidence from former and current staff members, and examine the handling of complaints and the responses to claims for compensation.
The inquiry is part of a long-running investigation into sexual abuse in the Australian military.
A spokesperson for Australia's Defense Ministry told CNN that it is "cooperating with the Royal Commission and supports its objectives to safeguard children. We recognize and commend the courage of those who will tell their own stories of personal suffering throughout the hearings. It is not appropriate for (the defense ministry) to comment in further detail on matters that are before the Royal Commission."

[Kalis]

Why do you think we sent them there in the first place?

[GennGreymane]

Why do you think we sent them there in the first place?

Using silverware in the wrong way?

[Kalis]

Using silverware in the wrong way?

It is supposed to go on the table, not in your pocket.

[GennGreymane]

It is supposed to go on the table, not in your pocket.

And they use the salad fork for reasons not salad! DISGRACEFUL!

[Independent voter]

This one ex navy guy told me about a navy tradition when you first cross the equator. They would get the fatest man on board, rub lard all over his stomach and put a red maraschino cherry in his navel, the recruits had to eat the cherry without using their hands.

All in good fun.

[Ulmita]

This one ex navy guy told me about a navy tradition when you first cross the equator. They would get the fatest man on board, rub lard all over his stomach and put a red maraschino cherry in his navel, the recruits had to eat the cherry without using their hands.

All in good fun.

This although disgusting its still a bit different than getting ganbanged.

[Kalis]

And they use the salad fork for reasons not salad! DISGRACEFUL!

A fork for salad? Strewth, men form down under don't eat rabbit food, you bloody galah.

[Sierra85]

the Australian armed forces are some of the finest men and women on the planet. some are very close friends.

i suspect this is a fairly isolated incident with some super creeps.

[Kontinuum]

This one ex navy guy told me about a navy tradition when you first cross the equator. They would get the fatest man on board, rub lard all over his stomach and put a red maraschino cherry in his navel, the recruits had to eat the cherry without using their hands.

There' also Soggy Sao
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soggy_biscuit

[Justpassing]

In the Naaavy!

[Fencers]

Sounds frightening and sad all at once. Yikes!

[ls-]

There' also Soggy Sao
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soggy_biscuit

Damn, wtf? How tf did such "game" come to be? O_o

[Deleted]

Correct me if I am wrong but this allegation seems to relate to mostly apprentice training units. Typically in many western forces these will be or have been a unit that trained only those under 18. It's a bit like staying on at school post 16 but you do it in the military and go on to a regular unit after turning 18. (The facilities will often also be those where youth cadet units will go for short residential courses during weekends or regular school holidays).

To discredit these accusations from the outset you would have to believe 2 things:

1)The military is somehow, and always has been, totally devoid of people that would prey on vulnerable youth.
2)The military has somehow been insusceptible towards abusers gravitating towards those roles where they have unsupervised access to young people in "fish out of water" living conditions.

If true these abuses won't, most probably, be about a culture that regularly behaved as such as part of any hazing. It will be about some abusers gravitating towards jobs that gave them opportunity to abuse.

[Soeroah]

Why do you think we sent them there in the first place?

To save them from all the real criminals left in the UK?

[skannerz22]

I don't believe this.

Maybe because guys are so reluctant to report rape but I still doubt it.

it still happens
except in usa army

[Sierra85]

it still happens
except in usa army

rapes nevver happen in usa army?