The American Military Tortured Me

[Wyoming]

By Rolal Leahcim Nareik - June 08, 2005

We were driven onto the island in a bus late at night. They drove us all around the island before we could get off. I later learned that the reason for this tactic was to disorient us and to make escaping more difficult.

Immediately after the bus came to a stop military personnel boarded the bus and the verbal assaults which seemed to never end, commenced. We were kept awake for the rest of that night and through the next day. While we waited on line for shots and other medical procedures the verbal abuse continued. Some of us were so exhausted we fell asleep standing up.

They took the clothes off our backs and made us all wear the same clothing. Handing out the clothing was a military woman who screamed and cursed at us worse than any of the men. This was most humiliating.

Next they shaved our heads. Then they made us fill out forms in freezing cold room while they mocked us. To eat we got a sandwich which was half frozen. There were other food items included with the sandwich but the men in uniforms confiscated them.

One of the men with me was so afraid of the military men in charge that he didn’t ask to go to the bathroom and just urinated on himself. This brought the scorn of the military men and the entire group was punished for the act of the individual.

Often we were made to stand stiff and straight for what seemed like hours while the blazing sun beat down on our hairless heads. If we moved even to wipe the sweat from our eyes the military men became ferocious. Coughing and sneezing were also forbidden. We were forced to shave our beards daily. Some of us were even given the added humiliation of being required to shave twice per day.

Frequently we would be sent to a sand pit and forced to do “exercises” in it as the unclean sand got in our ears, mouths and eyes. Occasionally we would get a shower after the pit but showering only lead to more verbal abuse and degradation. Prior to showering we were stripped down completely naked in front of dozens of other men including the military men in charge of us. The showers were overcrowded and the men in charge continued to hurl insults.

We were herded around the island like cattle. At every stop we were told how worthless we were. Even during meals, the verbal abuse was constant. We were given but a few minutes to eat. The portions were tiny and barely edible.

Often meals were immediately followed by calisthenics which occasionally caused vomiting. Daily we were forced to sit in a contorted cross-legged position where much of one’s weight rests upon his feet and ankles. The pain was severe. Usually my legs went numb and I had trouble standing up when finally we were permitted to do so.

On one occasion we were all forced to jump into water above our heads, even those of us who couldn’t swim or who were deathly afraid of the water.

We were given a approximately 2 minutes every night for prayer but the yelling and cursing immediately preceded and followed prayers and we were not given any privacy to pray. Once a week we were allowed to worship with others on the island like us but we were forbidden to speak to the others present and we were verbally abused before and after. One of us was caught reading the holy book when he was not supposed to be. A military man ripped the holy book from the man’s hands and tore it to shreds.

We were also responsible for cleaning the bathroom to include the humiliating task of cleaning the pubic hairs of other men out of the toilets. Scrubbing the disgusting shower floor while on all fours made our knees ache and bruise. Some of us were required to clean up after the men in charge which was most degrading.

This abuse continued everyday for months that seemed to last as long as decades.



Anti-war zealots, so-called human rights organizations, certain politicians and members of the media would use the term “torture” to describe the events chronicled above. However, the acts of so-called “torture” occurred while I was a Marine Corps recruit on Parris Island, SC in the summer of 2000.

By merely excluding a few facts from the narrative and spelling my name backwards (my real name is Kieran Michael Lalor) a reader can be completely mislead. The events described above actually occur in boot camp, but taken out of context they appear far more extreme than they are in reality. Sleep deprivation, embarrassment, verbal abuse, and discomfort have been hallmarks of boot camp for all of the military services for decades. No one with any credibility denies that this type of tough training is an effective and necessary method of turning undisciplined young people into the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines that comprise the greatest military force in the history of mankind.

If similar tactics can be used to keep prisoners in-line or to generate innocent life saving intelligence, certainly such tactics are legitimate. To put discomfort and humiliation under the heading of torture, obscures and diminishes the horrors of actual torture like Saddam Hussein’s regime perpetrated on its own people or what the communist North Vietnamese did to American servicemen.

The Abu Ghraib prison guards need to be held accountable and punished not for embarrassing terrorists but for posing for and taking pictures while on the job when a reasonable person should know that such photo opportunities were unbecoming a soldier and that publication of the pictures would undermine our war effort.

Draping an Israeli flag over a captured terrorist and having women sit on a detainees lap has been described as torture. This is ludicrous. How as recruit I would have loved to trade arm-aching push-ups for a little flag draping. As far as having women sitting on laps; I’d like to see a survey of how many of our boys at Fort Bragg or Parris Island or Great Lakes would object to that.

What is most puzzling is that so many of our elected leaders, journalists, and self-proclaimed peace activists are willing to let true torturers who rape, maim, cripple, and brutalize off the hook, by stretching the definition of torture to the point where it is meaningless while unfairly demonizing the U.S. government and the American military and shamelessly abetting our enemies.


Mr. Lalor, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, is the founder and executive director of the Eternal Vigilance Society. For more information, visit . www.eternalvigilancesociety.org


http://www.citizen-journal.net/gmhome/archives/00000175.htm

[OLE SARG]

The POW's (?????) in GitMo have got it made. All they do is sit around and dream up complaints to lodge against anybody who looks like they might be a guard or supervisor. As I was reading Big Al's post the first thing that entered my mind was this sounds like what I went through in Boot Camp - So POW'S (????) save your complaints for somebody (ALL OF OUR POLITIANS) WHO GIVES A CHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kill them all - let allah or God sort them out!!!!!!!

SEMPER FI,
OLE SARG

[CHOPPER7199]

GEE, SOUNDS LIKE BOOT CAMP GOT SOFT A LITTLE. SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE IN THE 50,S. GLAD YOU MADE THE CLUB, AS THE THOUSANDS BEFORE YOU AND AFTER YOU WILL DO THE SAME. THE TRAVEL THRU BOOT IS A LIFE CHANGING THING FOR THE BETTER OF MAN KIND. SEMPER FI

[Jarhed]

hahaha!!!

[sgt.lane]

That was cool!!!!

[ese4mc]

GOOD GOD ,WHERE IS THE ACLU WHEN YOU NEED THEM---PROBABLY DEFENDING A CHILD MOLESTER OR SOME OTHER
DEFENDANT

[Joseph P Carey]

Read this thing again. For anyone that has been to PI, what does it remind you of. Yes Sir! That is the first day at PI. Does that mean that all of us Marines, have a right to sue the government because we were tortured???

It is the bus ride into the base, and so on and so on. It is Marine Corps Boot Camp, and they call it torture!

Form initial post: "The American Military Tortured Me
By Rolal Leahcim Nareik - June 08, 2005

We were driven onto the island in a bus late at night. They drove us all around the island before we could get off. I later learned that the reason for this tactic was to disorient us and to make escaping more difficult.

Immediately after the bus came to a stop military personnel boarded the bus and the verbal assaults which seemed to never end, commenced. We were kept awake for the rest of that night and through the next day. While we waited on line for shots and other medical procedures the verbal abuse continued. Some of us were so exhausted we fell asleep standing up.

They took the clothes off our backs and made us all wear the same clothing. Handing out the clothing was a military woman who screamed and cursed at us worse than any of the men. This was most humiliating.

Next they shaved our heads. Then they made us fill out forms in freezing cold room while they mocked us. To eat we got a sandwich which was half frozen. There were other food items included with the sandwich but the men in uniforms confiscated them.

One of the men with me was so afraid of the military men in charge that he didn’t ask to go to the bathroom and just urinated on himself. This brought the scorn of the military men and the entire group was punished for the act of the individual.

Often we were made to stand stiff and straight for what seemed like hours while the blazing sun beat down on our hairless heads. If we moved even to wipe the sweat from our eyes the military men became ferocious. Coughing and sneezing were also forbidden. We were forced to shave our beards daily. Some of us were even given the added humiliation of being required to shave twice per day.

Frequently we would be sent to a sand pit and forced to do “exercises” in it as the unclean sand got in our ears, mouths and eyes. Occasionally we would get a shower after the pit but showering only lead to more verbal abuse and degradation. Prior to showering we were stripped down completely naked in front of dozens of other men including the military men in charge of us. The showers were overcrowded and the men in charge continued to hurl insults.

We were herded around the island like cattle. At every stop we were told how worthless we were. Even during meals, the verbal abuse was constant. We were given but a few minutes to eat. The portions were tiny and barely edible.

Often meals were immediately followed by calisthenics which occasionally caused vomiting. Daily we were forced to sit in a contorted cross-legged position where much of one’s weight rests upon his feet and ankles. The pain was severe. Usually my legs went numb and I had trouble standing up when finally we were permitted to do so.

On one occasion we were all forced to jump into water above our heads, even those of us who couldn’t swim or who were deathly afraid of the water.

We were given a approximately 2 minutes every night for prayer but the yelling and cursing immediately preceded and followed prayers and we were not given any privacy to pray. Once a week we were allowed to worship with others on the island like us but we were forbidden to speak to the others present and we were verbally abused before and after. One of us was caught reading the holy book when he was not supposed to be. A military man ripped the holy book from the man’s hands and tore it to shreds.

We were also responsible for cleaning the bathroom to include the humiliating task of cleaning the pubic hairs of other men out of the toilets. Scrubbing the disgusting shower floor while on all fours made our knees ache and bruise. Some of us were required to clean up after the men in charge which was most degrading.

This abuse continued everyday for months that seemed to last as long as decades..."

[CHOPPER7199]

QUESTION? HOW COME HE CALLS MILITARY MAN, INSTEAD OF THE D.I.? THEN AGAIN, A MILITARTY MAN RIPPED THE HOLY BOOK FROM A MAN,S HAND. SOUNDS FISHY TO ME, MY DAYS AS OF NOW STILL SAY D.I. OR THEN DRILL INSTRUCTOR. NEVER A MILITARY MAN, GIVE ME A BREAK. PARRIS ISLAND, YES, BEEN THERE DONE THAT AND MORE. MONTHS, HMM, MUST HAVE BEEN PUT BACK A COUPLE OF TIMES. ITS STILL 12-13 WEEKS I BELIEVE. IF I REMEMBER, IT WAS 1ST. BATT. ACROSS THE PARADE FIELD FROM 2ND. BATT. AND 3 RD. BATT. WAS DOWN THE STREET FROM 2ND. IN QUANSIT HUTS. MY 2ND. BATT. BUILDINGS HAD THE GOOD OLD WOOD BUILDINGS. OUTDOOR THEATER WAS OVER NEAR 1ST. BATT. SOUND FAMILURE TO ANY ONE?

[sgt.r.n.davis]

O'MY, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THIS JUNE 14,2005( FLAG DAY). I GRADUATED FROM PARRIS ISLAND 1971...WOW!!! WHERE DID THE TIME GO TO? 34 YEARS NOW.

[Osotogary]

It's also my sister's birthday and woe is me if I ever forget it! LOL.

sgt.r.n.davis- Thank you for your service to your Country and , certainly, have the best of birthdays.
Gary

[jirzman]

HEAR WHAT PATTON HAS TO SAY ABOUT IT .tURN UP THE SPEAKERS.


http://patriotfilesannex.org/General_Patton_Message.htm

[mikecain1]

You should have been in when the beat the hell out of you in 1971
only got beat twice but had some were beat daily

[10thzodiac]

You should have been in when the beat the hell out of you in 1971
only got beat twice but had some were beat daily

Abu Ghraib http://mindprod.com/politics/abughra...l#ABUGHRAIBPIX

[SkilletsUSMC]

QUESTION? HOW COME HE CALLS MILITARY MAN, INSTEAD OF THE D.I.? THEN AGAIN, A MILITARTY MAN RIPPED THE HOLY BOOK FROM A MAN,S HAND. SOUNDS FISHY TO ME, MY DAYS AS OF NOW STILL SAY D.I. OR THEN DRILL INSTRUCTOR. NEVER A MILITARY MAN, GIVE ME A BREAK. PARRIS ISLAND, YES, BEEN THERE DONE THAT AND MORE. MONTHS, HMM, MUST HAVE BEEN PUT BACK A COUPLE OF TIMES. ITS STILL 12-13 WEEKS I BELIEVE. IF I REMEMBER, IT WAS 1ST. BATT. ACROSS THE PARADE FIELD FROM 2ND. BATT. AND 3 RD. BATT. WAS DOWN THE STREET FROM 2ND. IN QUANSIT HUTS. MY 2ND. BATT. BUILDINGS HAD THE GOOD OLD WOOD BUILDINGS. OUTDOOR THEATER WAS OVER NEAR 1ST. BATT. SOUND FAMILURE TO ANY ONE?

He is trying to change the details so that it sounds like a concentration camp. Im sure the Marine knows that they are D.I.s

[bigdog43701]

ahh yes...parris island august 1970. 1st bn had ac brick barracks, 2d Battalion airconditioned (windex) wood barracks and 3rd bn ac brick barracks. di's hitting recruits didn't happen (at least thats what i told cid when they came around 2 days before outpost). i didn't seem to remember the di throwing a 45 pistol across the room and hitting the kid next to me in his pumpkin for falling asleep. i also remember "the sand was 18 inches deep, and the sun was scorching hot". October 17, 1970 was the day i was born. that is the day i was first called...A MARINE.