The U.S. Marine Corps has punished at least eight drill instructors and some officers in response to allegations of hazing and other abuses last year at the service’s recruit training center at Parris Island, S.C., according to Marine officials and documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Investigators found numerous incidents in which recruits had been abused by the Marines training them, despite efforts by Marine Corps leaders to stamp out the problem after the death of a 20-year-old trainee, Pvt. Raheel Siddiqui, in 2016.
A Marine spokesman, Capt. Bryan McDonnell, said in a statement that the drill instructors “received appropriate administrative actions of varying degrees relative to substantiated allegations,” indicating commanders determined criminal charges were not necessary.
Several officers overseeing the drill instructors also received some form of administrative punishment, McDonnell said, without providing specifics.
The cases, which have not previously been disclosed to the public, occurred in the 4th Recruit Training Battalion, a unit in which female drill instructors train female recruits.
Documents detailing the investigations were released to The Post through the Freedom of Information Act.
Investigators examined numerous allegations against drill instructors in the battalion’s Papa Company, including one case in which a recruit’s tooth was chipped in July 2018 and another in August where another 4th Recruit Battalion drill instructor slammed a recruit’s hand with a foot locker, according to the documents.
One recruit interviewed in the case reported she and three other Marines were forced to go through a chamber that introduces recruits to CS gas twice within minutes during training, instead of once as typically required.
Another investigation was launched in February 2018 after several recruits reported anonymously that they had been roughed up, and one said a drill instructor had threatened to break her neck.
The senior off icer in charge of Parris Island, Brig. Gen. James Glynn, said in an email to The Post that the investigations help the service determine what is necessary to maintain “effectiveness and discipline” during recruit training. He also defended the behavior of the majority of the Marines under his command.