Former female trainee in Royal Marines says sexual assault was dismissed as ‘high jinks’ | Royal Navy

9 comments

1. I remember, I think it was on the Today programme a woman said to a senior army man that there was a culture of violence in the British army. “It’s what we do.” He responded slightly puzzled.

2. I remember, I think it was on the Today programme a woman said to a senior army man that there was a huge culture of violence in the British army. “It’s what we do.” He responded slightly puzzled.

3. Every few weeks we’ll get some scaremongering story from a high ranking officer about the need to reintroduce conscription to get military numbers back up. But maybe if the military wasn’t rife with sexual assault and bullying it would be a more attractive prospect for young people to join?

   Like there’s clearly huge issues with the internal culture of our military, and the high ranking officers simply aren’t capable of (or particularly interested in) dealing with it.

4. Given some of the high jinks that bootnecks get up to, why did she think she should be treated any differently?

   In all seriousness, this is completely unacceptable behaviour by the adults in not following it up properly. The event was ten years ago, and attitudes have shifted somewhat.

5. Anybody that actually knows people in the military know how depraved some of the shit they get up to is. Especially when ‘hazing’ the new recruits. Don’t find this surprising at all unfortunately.

6. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg of unreported sexual assault/harassment cases in the armed forces from what I’ve read in the past.

7. In the states we would take high jinks as monkey shines. Either way the higher ups have got to put an end to this behavior.

8. Purpose of the military is to fight and win wars. We should always strive to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

   With that being said, the military is at risk of becoming an HR organization.

   Instead of having a purpose of training and maintaining a military that fights and wins wars, its new purpose is to protect the staff. To protect them from potential mental health problems. Or making sure the staff reflects society. Or just overall supporting the staff in all sorts of ways. It’s a weird growth of HR as a vital growth of any organization. The growth of HR is a novel concept and it undermines the very real things that the military institution should be doing.

9. Honestly why would a woman want to join the marines in the first place?