thedrifter
04-02-08, 07:53 AM
Osan airmen counseled for vulgar videos
Online clips contain offensive language and gestures
By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, April 3, 2008
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Osan authorities have counseled two members of a group of Air Force police officers who appear — in uniform and on duty — in online videos that contain obscene language and song lyrics that express hostility toward certain racial and religious groups.
Two airmen were counseled Tuesday morning at Osan, officials said, adding that authorities will contact other airmen who appear in the videos but who have moved.
The action follows a Monday inquiry into the videos by Stars and Stripes.
The airmen, current or former members of the 51st Security Forces Squadron, appear in uniform in three videos on MySpacetv.com.
A fourth video on the same site features U.S. servicemembers in civilian clothes — including at least some who were police squadron members — and contains obscene language and gestures, references to allegedly stolen goods and to prostitutes in Suwon City.
There also appears to be a hostile comment addressed to a Capt. Daniel Vorenkamp, who had been a squadron member, base officials said Tuesday.
More than a dozen servicemembers appear variously in the videos.
Squadron commander Lt. Col. Gregory Reese counseled two airmen in his office, according to Capt. John W. Ross, Osan’s 51st Fighter Wing spokesman.
They were the only two of the group still stationed at Osan, he said.
Ross said he could not divulge details of the counseling because of privacy rules.
“The behavior shown in the videos, while immature and inappropriate, does not call for any stronger action than a verbal counseling to the individuals appearing in it,” Ross said in an e-mail Tuesday.
All four videos appear to have been posted by the same person, according to information on the Web site. The three with airmen in uniform were posted Oct. 10, 2007; the fourth was posted Nov. 2, 2007.
Two of the videos were made inside a defensive fighting position.
In one of those videos, “Go DiEZel ... SpeaK on IT,” an airman raps lyrics from the song “I’m a Gangster.” The lyrics include hostile references to whites and Jews.
A third video, “Just another day at work,” shows airmen standing outdoors near two Humvees. One asks the others if they’ve seen a certain woman about whom he makes a sexual comment.
In the fourth video, “Sloopy in Suwon,” a female appears to state, “Uh, Capt. Vorenkamp, you can go kill yourself.”
The same woman is seen making an obscene gesture to the camera twice. When she puts a shirt over her head, a male companion makes a derisive reference to Arabs.
Earlier in the video, three other males talk of their activities. One refers to “hookers” and another says “up in Suwon, man, for what, forty bucks?”
Stars and Stripes became aware of the videos within days of reporting that the Army and Air Force Exchange Service at Osan took disciplinary action March 27 against a cab driver who appears in an online video making sexual comments and gestures and shouting profanity out the window while driving on base. In a second explicit-language video he joked with passengers about drug use.
Ross said Tuesday that as a result of the taxi videos, the 51st Security Forces Squadron over the weekend was “reminded that private actions aren’t always private given their position and responsibilities. Special emphasis was also given to what is posted on Internet sites."
Ellie
Online clips contain offensive language and gestures
By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, April 3, 2008
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Osan authorities have counseled two members of a group of Air Force police officers who appear — in uniform and on duty — in online videos that contain obscene language and song lyrics that express hostility toward certain racial and religious groups.
Two airmen were counseled Tuesday morning at Osan, officials said, adding that authorities will contact other airmen who appear in the videos but who have moved.
The action follows a Monday inquiry into the videos by Stars and Stripes.
The airmen, current or former members of the 51st Security Forces Squadron, appear in uniform in three videos on MySpacetv.com.
A fourth video on the same site features U.S. servicemembers in civilian clothes — including at least some who were police squadron members — and contains obscene language and gestures, references to allegedly stolen goods and to prostitutes in Suwon City.
There also appears to be a hostile comment addressed to a Capt. Daniel Vorenkamp, who had been a squadron member, base officials said Tuesday.
More than a dozen servicemembers appear variously in the videos.
Squadron commander Lt. Col. Gregory Reese counseled two airmen in his office, according to Capt. John W. Ross, Osan’s 51st Fighter Wing spokesman.
They were the only two of the group still stationed at Osan, he said.
Ross said he could not divulge details of the counseling because of privacy rules.
“The behavior shown in the videos, while immature and inappropriate, does not call for any stronger action than a verbal counseling to the individuals appearing in it,” Ross said in an e-mail Tuesday.
All four videos appear to have been posted by the same person, according to information on the Web site. The three with airmen in uniform were posted Oct. 10, 2007; the fourth was posted Nov. 2, 2007.
Two of the videos were made inside a defensive fighting position.
In one of those videos, “Go DiEZel ... SpeaK on IT,” an airman raps lyrics from the song “I’m a Gangster.” The lyrics include hostile references to whites and Jews.
A third video, “Just another day at work,” shows airmen standing outdoors near two Humvees. One asks the others if they’ve seen a certain woman about whom he makes a sexual comment.
In the fourth video, “Sloopy in Suwon,” a female appears to state, “Uh, Capt. Vorenkamp, you can go kill yourself.”
The same woman is seen making an obscene gesture to the camera twice. When she puts a shirt over her head, a male companion makes a derisive reference to Arabs.
Earlier in the video, three other males talk of their activities. One refers to “hookers” and another says “up in Suwon, man, for what, forty bucks?”
Stars and Stripes became aware of the videos within days of reporting that the Army and Air Force Exchange Service at Osan took disciplinary action March 27 against a cab driver who appears in an online video making sexual comments and gestures and shouting profanity out the window while driving on base. In a second explicit-language video he joked with passengers about drug use.
Ross said Tuesday that as a result of the taxi videos, the 51st Security Forces Squadron over the weekend was “reminded that private actions aren’t always private given their position and responsibilities. Special emphasis was also given to what is posted on Internet sites."
Ellie