Plymouth, U.K.
A videotape showing drunken, naked Royal Marine recruits being forced to fight one another on their knees in the mud sparked a military police investigation in Britain this week. The tape was leaked to the press by an appalled Marine who said that one of the young men was beaten unconscious by a superior officer. Publicly, British officers have reacted with outrage. “This is nothing to do with training,” said Col. Bob Stewart, who commanded British forces in Bosnia. “Why are they naked, for goodness’ sake?” But privately, reports the London Guardian, some officers are dismissing the incident as “just a bit of fun.”
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