Military.com reports that the first Marine has been convicted in a summary court martial for his participation in the Facebook group “Marines United” where folks shared pictures of fellow Marines in various stages of undress for community commentary;<\/p>\n
He pleaded guilty at summary court-martial June 29, according to a Marine Corps news release, and was sentenced to 10 days’ confinement, demotion by three ranks, and forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay for one month. The Corps is also moving forward with efforts to administratively separate him from the service.<\/p>\n
The Marine was not identified or described by rank or unit.<\/p>\n
Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Brian Block told Military.com that a summary court-martial is considered an administrative proceeding, unlike general and special courts-martial, and that the Marine was therefore protected from identification through the Privacy Act of 1974. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The article continues that other Marines have been dealt with outside of the court martial process;<\/p>\n
Of these persons of interest, 67 are active-duty or reserve Marines, while 22 are civilians. While NCIS continues to investigate five of the cases involving Marines, the other 62 have already been passed to relevant Marine Corps commands for punitive or legal action.<\/p>\n
In addition to the one summary court-martial, there have been two administrative separations, seven non-judicial punishments, and 22 other adverse administrative actions, according to the release.<\/p>\n
“These cases span beyond the Marines United Facebook page and include a spectrum of behavior,” Block said in the release. “While many cases involve photos, clothed or explicit, some involve verbal remarks without images.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Nothing you do on the internet is completely anonymous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"