"Marines find culture of hazing, abuse at boot camp after recruit's death"

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Twenty Marines could face administrative punishment or potentially more consequential legal proceedings, a military official told Marine Corps Times. Two investigations were launched in March after Raheel Siddiqui, 20, fell nearly 40 feet to his death from a barracks stairwell just days after arriving at Parris Island, which is located along the South Carolina coast. A third investigation, which was ongoing at the time of Siddiqui's death, looked into allegations of hazing in 2015. It was ultimately combined with the other two.

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A new policy change will prohibit any Marine from continuing to train recruits if he or she is under investigation. Perhaps more significant, though, is the end of the age-old practice of assigning drill instructors to specific billets based on their time at recruit depots. With the exception of the senior drill instructor billet, the Marine Corps is ceasing “any practice that is based on differentiating between drill instructors of differing experience levels,” officials said.

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Siddiqui, a Pakistani-American from Michigan, arrived at Parris Island on March 7. Six days later, he told his drill instructors that he wanted to kill himself but later changed his mind, according to Marine officials.

Over the next 24 hours, Siddiqui was monitored before being interviewed and examined by military medical personnel. First, he first spoke with someone from Parris Island's Recruiter Liaison Service, which falls under Marine Corps Recruiting Command. Next, he was examined by a psychologist at the facility's mental health unit, which falls under the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

After those examinations, it was recommended that Siddiqui “return to training,” the official said.

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On March 18, four days after Siddiqui returned to training, he wrote a note to his drill instructor requesting medical attention for a sore throat. After breakfast, a drill instructor summoned the recruit to the front of the squad bay. Siddiqui was forced to run to one end of the squad bay and back several times before he fell crying to the floor while clutching his throat, the Marine official said.

When he appeared unresponsive, the drill instructor "verbally ordered" Siddiqui to get back to his feet before "forcefully slapping" him in the face, the official said. The Marine Corps' Recruit Training Order prohibits drill instructors from striking recruits.

After the slap, Siddiqui got to his feet and ran the length of his third-floor squad bay to the stairwell outside and vaulted over the railing. He was pronounced dead several hours later at the Medical University of South Carolina. According to the autopsy, Siddiqui suffered "blunt-force trauma to the head, neck and torso."

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Still, hazing at boot camp has long been a concern for the Marine Corps. Decades ago, an intoxicated staff sergeant led more than 70 recruits to a swampy tidal creek around midnight aboard Parris Island. The DI jumped into the creek, ordering his recruits to follow him into deep waters. Several of the recruits couldn’t swim, though, and six young men died that night.

The Marine Corps’ order on hazing was updated in 2013 after leaders. Over the last few years, several drill instructors accused of hazing in have been sent to courts-martial.

In 2012, for instance, a drill instructor in San Diego faced a three-day trial after he was accused of mistreating recruits. Prosecutors accused the staff sergeant of forcing recruits who’d been sidelined with stress fractures to stand for long periods of time and ordering another recruit who had repeatedly vomited to pick up the mess with his bare hands and then mop the floor — all while maintaining a salute. He allegedly made another recruit drink hot water and forced one on limited duty with knee inflammation to carry 10 heavy duffel bags across the squad bay for hours after lights out.

That same year, a sergeant at Parris Island faced a court-martial after he was accused of ordering 70 recruits into the showers where he made them run in place while he allegedly thickened the air by dumping bleach down the drains. Another DI in that training battalion was accused of pouring bleach near a recruit, who ended up with skin burns on his legs and buttocks.

The drill instructor at San Diego was not punished. The drill instructor at Parris Island was forced out of the Marine Corps.

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