A former Marine Corps drill instructor who was accused of assaulting recruits received his sentence Friday from a military jury.
Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix was given 10 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge for rough treatment of recruits at Parris Island, South Carolina, that included ordering a Muslim recruit into an industrial dryer and turning it on, according to Military.com.
The 34-year-old Iraq War veteran also allegedly ordered other recruits to drink chocolate milk until they vomited, and punched, kicked and slapped others. He was even accused of playing a role in the suicide of one of the recruits under his command.
The eight-member military jury came to the decision on Nov. 10 after reviewing the evidence, convicting him of eight counts of failure to obey a lawful general order and three counts of maltreatment.
Prosecutor Col. Jeffrey Groharing said there was no way to justify singling out a Muslim recruit for such abuse.
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Ameer Bourmeche, the man ordered into the dryer, testified that he still has nightmares about being tossed around inside the dryer, Military.com reported.
“Think of what that recruit went through at the hands of the accused for no reason other than he was a Muslim,” Groharing said. “There’s no training value in that — that’s a hate crime.”
Another prosecutor, Lt. Col. John Norman, said Felix’s behavior was more about “breaking Marines” than “making Marines,” accoridng to The New York Times.
According to Military.com, dozens of witnesses testified during Felix’s 10-day trial, with recruits telling the jury how he choked, punched and slapped those who failed to perform to his standards and, on several occasions, made recruits choke each other.
One incident involved a Pakistani-American Muslim recruit who jumped to his death from the third floor of a squad bay on March 16, 2016.
Although Raheel Siddiqui’s death was ruled a suicide, an investigation found that Felix had forced Siddiqui to perform physical “incentive training” when he claimed he could not sound off because of a sore throat that had him coughing blood.
During the training, Siddiqui collapsed. When Felix slapped him, Siddiqui got up and ran, vaulting over a railing and to his death.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Siddiqui’s home state of Michigan, said evidence presented during the trial showed that the investigation should be revisited.
“I will continue to work with all involved to have the initial findings revisited with additional facts that have become available so we can bring some measure of peace to the Siddiqui family,” Dingell said.
Felix and his wife, Jean, testified on Friday, speaking about Felix’s love for the Marine Corps and his family and his longtime dream of becoming a drill instructor.
A dishonorable discharge is the most severe form of punitive discharge from the military and is equivalent to a felony conviction. The sentence entails the loss of all veterans’ benefits and precludes Felix from owning firearms.
Felix was transported to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for confinement.
While drill instructors should not go easy on recruits by any means, Felix methods clearly went beyond training and became a form of hazing. That’s not what our military should stand for, and it’s gratifying to see justice being served — even if it’s unfortunate that any of it ever happened.
H/T The Daily Caller
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via Conservative Tribune
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