WASHINGTON — The military scandal involving sharing of sexually explicit images of troops has expanded beyond the private social media site Marines United to a slew of gay pornography web pages with images of men wearing military uniforms engaged in sex acts, USA TODAY has learned.
The broadened investigation to an increasing number of websites underscores the complexity of policing social media sites where sensitive images can be uploaded in an instant for all to see. In the case of the sites with gay pornography, military investigators will be tasked with determining whether active-duty troops were involved in conduct that could bring discredit on their service, a potential violation of military law.
The Marine Corps is not the only service affected. Images of men in the uniforms of sailors, soldiers and airmen also appear on an array of Tumblr sites. Similar to the Marines United case, it is unclear whether men appearing in the images — some photographed engaging in sex — provided consent to have their images shared publicly. Victims of so-called revenge porn in the Marines United case have limited protection under military law if the photographs or videos were taken originally with their consent.
You are shitting me.
If you have somehow missed this enormous story, go over and read fellow SOFREP writer Derek Gannon’s excellent summary right here. In short, there was a group on Facebook called, “Marines United.” This group, with tens of thousands of members (including many active duty Marines,) was started for the initial purpose that many such military groups start. It’s a place where people can bond over their shared experiences of military service and esprit de corps. Great stuff. Unfortunately, some idiots over there decided that esprit de corps did not, in fact, include their fellow female Marines, whose personal photos started showing up there and being shared all over the internet. Obviously, with no consent.
Needless to say, in today’s political climate, this has caused a Category 5 Shitstorm to engulf the Corps, and is now spreading to all branches of the service. Photos of female service members not only nude, but actually having sex were being posted up for thousands of people to leer over. This investigation is now at the Congressional level, and believe me when I tell you, there is going to be some freaking heads rolling for this shit.
Unbelievably, after Derek’s article was posted, much of the commentary following on the Facebook page was blasting the journalists who exposed and spread the story of the misconduct, not the misconduct itself. Cries of, “This is just political correctness run amok!!” and, “this was only a tiny fraction of members!!” were a sort of common theme. Well, good luck with that argument when NCIS comes to have a little chat, morons:
WASHINGTON — The military scandal involving sharing of sexually explicit images of troops has expanded beyond the private social media site Marines United to a slew of gay pornography web pages with images of men wearing military uniforms engaged in sex acts, USA TODAY has learned.
The broadened investigation to an increasing number of websites underscores the complexity of policing social media sites where sensitive images can be uploaded in an instant for all to see. In the case of the sites with gay pornography, military investigators will be tasked with determining whether active-duty troops were involved in conduct that could bring discredit on their service, a potential violation of military law.
The Marine Corps is not the only service affected. Images of men in the uniforms of sailors, soldiers and airmen also appear on an array of Tumblr sites. Similar to the Marines United case, it is unclear whether men appearing in the images — some photographed engaging in sex — provided consent to have their images shared publicly. Victims of so-called revenge porn in the Marines United case have limited protection under military law if the photographs or videos were taken originally with their consent.
You are shitting me.
If you have somehow missed this enormous story, go over and read fellow SOFREP writer Derek Gannon’s excellent summary right here. In short, there was a group on Facebook called, “Marines United.” This group, with tens of thousands of members (including many active duty Marines,) was started for the initial purpose that many such military groups start. It’s a place where people can bond over their shared experiences of military service and esprit de corps. Great stuff. Unfortunately, some idiots over there decided that esprit de corps did not, in fact, include their fellow female Marines, whose personal photos started showing up there and being shared all over the internet. Obviously, with no consent.
Needless to say, in today’s political climate, this has caused a Category 5 Shitstorm to engulf the Corps, and is now spreading to all branches of the service. Photos of female service members not only nude, but actually having sex were being posted up for thousands of people to leer over. This investigation is now at the Congressional level, and believe me when I tell you, there is going to be some freaking heads rolling for this shit.
Unbelievably, after Derek’s article was posted, much of the commentary following on the Facebook page was blasting the journalists who exposed and spread the story of the misconduct, not the misconduct itself. Cries of, “This is just political correctness run amok!!” and, “this was only a tiny fraction of members!!” were a sort of common theme. Well, good luck with that argument when NCIS comes to have a little chat, morons:
WASHINGTON — The Naval Criminal Investigative Service on Thursday had identified by name 1,200 members of the Marines United Facebook page, a number that included more than 700 active-duty Marines and 150 in the Reserve, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said…
…Speier’s office said Friday that all 1,200 were being considered possible offenders of the online abuse and were believed to have interacted with the photos or commented, based on a closed-door briefing from Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Serious question, Marines: How fucking stupid are you? This is the question I can’t even get out of my head. To be sure, posting pictures of your fellow Marines/Sailors/Airmen/Soldiers was bad enough. But what I can’t get past is how goddamned stupid one has to be in thinking they can put up a picture of them banging some female service member, USING THEIR REAL NAMES (!!!), and then think that nothing was going to happen. Dumbasses, do you realize that in most of the United States, it is a crime to disseminate personal photos of a sexual nature of someone without their consent? Do you retards realize that in some states, this rises to the level of a felony? Do you stupid goddamn dumb bastards realize that, having been convicted of one of these very serious misdemeanors/felonies, not only could you lose your job, but receive a dishonorable discharge, loss of rank, loss of VA benefits, and loss of retirement? And for what? Because you just HAD to put up a picture of some chick’s rack?
Like I said in my podcast ranting on this very topic: I understand that dudes will always be talking about the females in the office/platoon/squadron, or wherever men and women are working together. Hell, the opposite is true as well. OF COURSE females gossip about the hot male Captain with the jacked biceps, and OF COURSE the men are going to gossip about the slamming new sergeant who makes them silkies bust at the seams with her great can. That is universal, has been going on for millennia, and will always go on while there are human beings. I understand it, I’ve done it, and I’m not trying to be one of these people living in fantasy land wagging a finger and telling you to stop. But that is absolutely as far as that shit should go. To take a photo and share it on the internet? Now you’re a freaking weird, creepy perv. And even more so if the photos are of a sexual, intimate nature intended only for the private use or enjoyment or whatever between two consenting adults.
In my opinion, it is a true scumbag that would take pictures intended only for people’s private enjoyment and post them up when shit went south with that relationship/hookup. I totally get that people send each other pictures, particularly in the military. When dudes are downrange, they get a little, uh, ANXIOUS to see their loved ones and pictures and video are often exchanged. I GET IT. Hell, I’ve done it. (Received, anyway… nobody wants to see me naked.) But that is intended to be for your eyes only. And even if that relationship/hookup/dude-on-dude jack sesh comes to an end, those pictures should continue to be private.
And now we have the investigation spreading into gay porn sites. Well done, idiots. You managed to take something already hideously disgusting and actually make it even grosser. Now, these EXACT pictures I haven’t seen, because after one terrible, terrible google search for “Marine Sex,” I can pretty much imagine. Pretty sure this isn’t some dude dressing up in some half-assed “naughty soldier” costume he got off Ebay, either. The investigators obviously believe that these are real-deal uniforms, otherwise they wouldn’t have been treating this as serious as it is.
And for you guys in uniform blowing each other or whatever it is, if you knew your picture was being taken and consented to it anyway, you’re just as stupid. I don’t care how bad you want that dude to get the D, you must be one simple son of a bitch to do it while you’re in uniform. Obviously, I’m not talking about anyone that was unaware that they were being filmed. But I have a feeling, in the VAST majority of these cases, the filming part was consensual. That’s what all the kids do now these days, bang each other and snapchat that shit. What a time to be alive, huh?
I’ve been more vocal than 99% of the veteran writing community in my belief that females do not belong in combat units or special operations. That has nothing to do with this clusterfuck. Combat MOS aside, female service members are a valuable resource to the United States Military, and are just as important to the mission of closing with and destroying the enemies of the United States as any man. They fly our planes, drive our boats, gather intelligence, provide support, and they make shit happen. They deserve all of the dignity and respect that every other service member receives. Yes, I realize that most of the Marines United guys weren’t directly involved in the photos, but I am reacting to the vast majority of commenters defending those who were. Listen up: If you’re one of these stupid assholes lamely trying to justify this, you really need a reality check. These are your co-workers, man. UNSAT. If you have to share pictures of hot chicks, there are about a billion pictures at your disposal that don’t involve your coworkers.
Greg Gangnuss remembers hearing a helicopter above his small office building in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Oct. 11, 2015, and thinking, “Hmmm.”
For the Air Force civilian engineer, there on a voluntary deployment as a senior environmental adviser to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the sound of helicopter traffic at the NATO headquarters for the Resolute Support Mission was routine. But he knew the position of this helicopter, almost directly over his office, was “not right.”
Seconds later, a British Puma Mk 2 with nine people aboard dropped out of the sky like a stone and crashed within 10 or 20 yards of his building.
(Air Force Times)
Gangnuss immediately sprinted out the door and into a whirlwind of dirt, debris and smoke. Just ahead, he could see the helo lying on its right side, its compartment crushed…
…For his actions, Gangnuss, a former sergeant with the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group, on Feb. 22 was awarded the Air Force Civilian Award for Valor, which honors heroism by those who risk their own safety beyond the call of duty.
He is one of only eight civilians to be so honored in the past five years, according to an Air Force spokesman.
The family of FDNY medical technician Yadira Arroyo, who was run over and killed by a man who stole her ambulance on Thursday, has spoken out about the heartbreaking loss.
Arroyo, 44, and her partner Monique Williams were rushing to an emergency involving a pregnant woman in the Bronx on Thursday night when Jose Gonzalez, 25, overpowered her, jumped into the vehicle and plowed straight into her.
Members of the public had flagged them down because a man, Gonzalez, was seen riding on the back bumper of their rig.
Arroyo leaves behind five sons ranging from age seven to 23.
Gonzalez, 25, goes by the alias ‘Breezy Blood’ and is a Bloods gang member, police sources told the Daily News.
Usually, when military personnel are brought in to rescue civilians, the parties involved never see each other again. But Master Sergeant Mike Maroney of the U.S. Air Force and LaShay Brown, the little girl he saved during Hurricane Katrina, are quite a different story.
When pararescuer (or PJ) Maroney picked up LaShay and her family from the waters of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the little girl gave her rescuer a big hug that he never forgot. The moment was captured in an award-winning photograph that circled the globe.
Maroney, who was battling PTSD at the time, carried the photo with him on difficult deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, to remind him of that special moment. Eventually, he tried to find the little girl who changed his life, even launching a #FindKatrinaGirl social media campaign. Finally, 10 years after that fateful storm, the two were reunited on the set of The Real in September 2015. Upon their reunion, Maroney told LaShay, “You rescued me more than I rescued you.”
Maroney’s encouragement has been so important to LaShay that she decided to join the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps or (JROTC), a pre-training program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces at Bay High School in Waveland, Mississippi.
This Saturday, Maroney and his family will once again visit the Browns, as LaShay, 14, is bringing her “PJ” friend to her JROTC ball.
A colonel with more than 30 years’ military experience was booted from the U.S. Air Force and sentenced to a year in prison Friday after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
Judge J. Wesley Moore deliberated for less than 2 1/2 hours Friday before sentencing Col. William R. Jones, the former Shaw Air Force Base 20th Fighter Wing vice commander, to 12 months incarceration and dismissal from the service, Fox News reported.
Investigators soon located an external hard drive owned by Jones containing more than 7,000 images and 10 videos located within a folder labeled “jail bait,” as well as a classified document of unspecified nature, Fox News reported. Additional images were also uncovered from his laptop, desktop, and iPhone, according to the network.
Jones began downloading the images in August 2012 and continued to do so until he landed on the radar of investigators last February, according to court-martial testimony cited by Fox.
Jones had claimed during his court-martial that he had accidentally amassed the collection of child pornography while searching the internet for images and video of young adults, the Sumter Item reported Saturday. Nonetheless, he read a letter to the court during sentencing apologizing for his actions and acknowledging what he did was wrong, Fox reported.
Robert Gilbeau is in a heap of legal trouble. In June, he became the first active-duty Navy admiral in modern history to be convicted of a felony. Next month, he faces sentencing and could land in federal prison for up to five years.
Yet the disgraced 56-year-old officer can count on one thing: a military pension that pays him about $10,000 a month. He collected his first check last fall.
Gilbeau is one of seven current or former Navy officers who have pleaded guilty in an epic corruption and bribery scandal but are still eligible for generous retirement benefits, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
The Navy has yet to make a final determination on how much the other convicted officers will receive.
NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia Beach-based Navy SEAL has been charged with kidnapping and raping a fellow sailor in a hotel room near Fort Knox, Ky., according to the Navy.
Varanko is assigned to Special Reconnaissance Team Two at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach. He is charged with four counts of rape, four counts of sexual assault, and one count each of aggravated assault and battery. Varanko also is charged with making a false official statement, provoking speech and for violating a general regulation.
If convicted, Varanko could face a life sentence without parole.
The aggravated assault and battery charges say Varanko placed his hands around the woman’s neck, squeezed until she was unable to breathe, pushed the woman against a wall, pinned her against the floor, placed his knee against her back and put her in a submission hold.
Between March and May 2015, Varanko also is accused of sexually harassing the woman in Kentucky, Indiana and Virginia.
A sports presenter accidentally drew an ejaculating penis on live TV while reporting on an ice hockey match.
The pundit was analysing player moves in an NHL game for a Hungarian television channel.
He began to draw on the screen circling two players facing the goal.
But the clip went viral after his continued commentary started to form the shape of a giant penis.
He then finished it off with some finer details, leaving three fellow presenters unable to contain their giggles.
Three U.S. Army soldiers were shot and wounded Sunday when an Afghan Army soldier opened fire on them inside a base in southern Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand Province, officials told Fox News.
The attack occurred around 1:30 p.m. local time at Camp Antonik in Washer District in Helmand.
“Coalition security forces on the base killed the soldier to end the attack,” Capt. Bill Salvin, spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, told Fox News. “The U.S. soldiers are receiving medical treatment at this time and we will release more information when available.”
The severity of the soldiers wounds was not immediately clear. Salvin declined to offer more details.
NAPA, Calif. (KGO) — A naked intoxicated man in Napa who told fire personnel he was looking for a wishing well was rescued after he fell into a hollow vent shaft at a Togos.
Napa firefighters responded to a call on Soscal Avenue at 8:30.
Construction workers led firefighters to a place where they had heard a voice calling for help.
(Napa Police Department)
Firefighters opened up the shaft and found the naked man in a fetal position.
The man had gotten onto the roof overnight and opened a door panel that led to the open shaft.
As someone who’s seen what happens when the truth is distorted, I know how unfair it feels when those who’ve sacrificed the most lose their voice. At SOFREP, our veteran journalists, who once fought for freedom, now fight to bring you unfiltered, real-world intel. But without your support, we risk losing this vital source of truth. By subscribing, you’re not just leveling the playing field—you’re standing with those who’ve already given so much, ensuring they continue to serve by delivering stories that matter. Every subscription means we can hire more veterans and keep their hard-earned knowledge in the fight. Don’t let their voices be silenced. Please consider subscribing now.
One team, one fight,
Brandon Webb former Navy SEAL, Bestselling Author and Editor-in-Chief
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