Military
Marines disciplined at San Diego boot camp for abuse and racism targeting recruits, documents show
In one case, a drill instructor used a staple gun on a recruit and ordered another to eat a pine cone.



Marine recruits stand in formation during a final drill evaluation in San Diego in June. (Lance. Cpl. Jesula Jeanlouis/Marine Corps) (Lance Cpl. Jesula Jeanlouis/Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San )

By Dan Lamothe
Oct. 5, 2019 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

More than 20 Marines have been disciplined for misconduct at the service’s recruit training center in San Diego since 2017, incidents that included some physical attacks and racist and homophobic slurs, according to Marine Corps officials and documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The disclosure follows promises by senior Marine Corps leaders to combat aggressive recruit training practices that fall outside service guidelines in the wake of a scandal in which a 20-year-old Muslim man died after enduring physical and verbal abuse at the Marine Corps’ recruit training center on Parris Island, S.C.

The March 2016 death of Pvt. Raheel Siddiqui, who fell 40 feet to his death while running away from a drill instructor who had targeted him and other Muslim recruits, brought a public reckoning for the Marine Corps, which perhaps more than any other military service has celebrated the intimidating boot camp curriculum it imposes upon prospective Marines.

Since that incident, which resulted in a 10-year prison sentence for one Marine and a variety of disciplinary action for others, the Marine Corps has attempted to reset recruit training by placing more emphasis on training for drill instructors on acting professionally and preventing hazing and abuse.
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Dan Lamothe joined The Washington Post in 2014 to cover the U.S. military and the Pentagon. He has written about the Armed Forces for more than a decade, traveling extensively, embedding with each service and covering combat in Afghanistan numerous times. Follow https://twitter.com/@danlamothe