Military Scandals In The US: 5 Times Servicemen Brought Shame On Armed Forces

The U.S. military is considered to be an organization of high morals, strength and pride. However, several recent controversies and scandals involving the armed forces suggest a degradation of their reputation and ethics.

"The [military] system that’s evolved over the last 100 years does not test moral courage, it does not test strength of character, or the ability to tell the truth regardless of harm to one’s career. We don’t do things like that. We are looking at people who follow the process, fall in line, don’t cause waves, aren’t open to innovation, and these personality traits leave them open to scandal," Donald Vandergriff, a retired Army officer who lectures on military reform and leadership told the American Conservative.

Here is a list of some major scandals that the U.S. military were a part of:

1. The most recent scandal alleged Marine Corps military personnel and veterans of circulating nude photos of female service members and other women through a social media network. The U.S. Department of Defense has been investigating the allegations against an unknown number of Marine Corps. These photos were seen on a Facebook group named Marines United. The community included nearly 30,000 members who are mostly current U.S. Marines, Marine Corps veterans and British Royal Marines. The photos were found under a link to a shared hard drive that was posted on the Facebook group in January. Some of the photos were also followed by harassing comments, according to a War Horse report that first revealed this incident through a website.

Read : Nude Marine Photo Scandal: Despite Ongoing Investigation Photos Redistributed

2. In 2012, David H. Petraeus resigned from his post as director of CIA after he was accused of manhandling several military related confidential documets that he kept in eight of his personal notebooks and shared with Paula Broadwell, a military intelligence official, who he was romantically involved with during the tenure of his service. After the revelations, Petraeus apologized to the Senate Armed Services Committee and also pleaded guilty to the charges against him.

3. In December 2015 a U.S. Marine named Joseph Pemberton was accused and imprisoned for the murder of a Filipino transgender woman named Jennifer Laude in 2014 at a hotel room in Manila after the revelation of her sexuality. Pemberton was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison after his detention. He was also fined about 4.5 million pesos ($130,000) that he had to pay to the woman's family. Pemberton was said to have strangled Laude and pushed her head into a toilet in the hotel, USA Today reported. He was charged with homicide.

4. In 2014, the "Fat Leonard" bribery scandal shook the U.S. military when FBI investigators found that Glenn Defense owned by Leonard Francis provided top commanders in the navy with cash, luxury hotel rooms and prostitutes as bribes for confidential information and other contracts. Leonard's company was responsible for providing logistical support to U.S. warships at ports located in East Asia. Three navy officials have been charged till date for indulging in criminal conspiracy and Leonard was put in jail for fraud and bribery.

5. In 1991, an U.S. navy ship called the USS Acadia, deployed in the Persian Gulf at that time, was the first ship to have a wartime crew that included both men and women. 36 women crew members out of the total of 450 females became pregnant and had to be transferred. The Naval forces have strict rules that restrict any kind of sexual relationships between men and women on duty. Navy spokesman Lieut. Comdr. Jeff Smallwood tried to deny the scandal and said "There were no indications of improper fraternization between men and women on the ship," the New York Times reported.