Marine drill instructor gets 10 years for abusing recruits

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Emery P. Dalesio, Associated Press
 Updated 4:08 pm, Friday, November 10, 2017

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Marine Corps drill instructor was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for choking, punching or otherwise tormenting recruits, especially three Muslims — one of whom ultimately killed himself by leaping down a stairwell.

A military jury handed out the punishment to Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix a day after convicting him of abusing more than a dozen trainees at the Marine boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina.
 
Among other things, he taunted the Muslims as "terrorists" or "ISIS" and ordered two of them to climb into an industrial clothes dryer, spinning one of them around in the scorching machine until he renounced his faith, the jury decided.

Felix, a 34-year-old Iraq veteran, was also ordered to forfeit all pay, demoted to private and given a dishonorable discharge.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Marine-drill-instructor-convicted-of-abusing-12346794.php

[jaysunb]

1. He should never have been a Di. Ever ! n/t

[RDANGELO]

2. He should have never had made E-7.

They need to investigate how a guy like this ever rose to E-7. There had to be people who wrote his fitness reports or people who supervised him who recognized his mindset.

[jaysunb]

3. +1 n/t

[Kaleva]

10. The military, at least the Navy, eval system needed improvement.

Most everybody in the middle enlisted ranks got a 3.8-4.0 evaluation which is the best one can get. One had to be a fuck up to get an average evaluation.

[broadcaster90210]

4. Hell win an election in a Red State when he gets out.

nt

[keithbvadu2]

5. He was a drunk, not a professional

[The Wizard]

6. I had a badass Drill Sergeant

Airborne Ranger, black belt in Karate, and a snarl that could wilt a homicidal maniac. He was so scary the other NCOs wouldn't joke with him. He once jumped out of the second floor barracks window to show the trainees how to get outside faster. I credit him with my survival in Vietnam.
He never pulled the kind of nonsense this asshole did. He didn't have to. He commanded our respect.

[Irish_Dem]

8. Can you imagine the kind of unit shaped by the idiot DI? Everyone turning against each other.

Everyone distracted, not trusting each other or the leadership.
I would think that is how soldiers get killed in combat.

Your DI however created soldiers who could survive and work as a unit.

Pretty funny about your DI jumping out the window.
What a badass. In a good way.

[Old Vet]

9. Shit, I never even heard of crazy stuff like this. And I knew some badass DIs....This is Criminal

[TomSlick]

7. Long years ago,

I was a trial counsel (military for prosecutor) at an Army post at which the primary mission was training - basis and AIT for enlisted soldiers and MOS training for officers.

I prosecuted a couple "trainee abuse" cases against drill sergeants. (Nothing as gross as the reported case.) The defendants knew better than to request enlisted members on the court-martial (military for jury) which was their right. They were to concerned that the enlisted members would have been fellow drill sergeants who would have nailed them to the wall.

From my experience drill sergeants take their jobs very seriously. The military takes the authority drill sergeants have over young recruits very seriously. The sentence is not surprising - serious prison time and an appropriate characterization of service - dishonorable.

[tenderfoot]

11. He looks 64 as opposed to 34...

hate seems to age people