Two Marines have been disciplined for posting derogatory comments on social media, marking the first time the Marine Corps has officially punished members for online misconduct following last month’s revelations that hundreds of service members shared illicit photos of their female counterparts on a Facebook group, Marine officials said Friday.

The two active-duty Marines, one a noncommissioned officer and the other a junior enlisted Marine, had made demeaning comments about one of their enlisted leaders, said a Marine official, who requested anonymity to speak about punishments that had not been made public. The Marines were reduced in rank and lost pay, the official said. The Marines belonged to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, an infantry unit stationed in California.

“The Marines and Sailors of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines do not tolerate personal attacks on their Marines, online or elsewhere,” said the unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Warren Cook, in a statement. “This kind of behavior flies in the face of our service’s core values and this organization refuses to condone it.”

The comments were part of a longer thread that disparaged a female Marine who had completed infantry training, the official said.

Read the whole story from The Washington Post.

Featured image courtesy of AP.