Three Army training instructors have been suspended and are likely to face a court martial over claims of violence and abuse against young recruits.
It follows an investigation by the BBC in which an undercover reporter posed as a trainee infantryman at Catterick, North Yorkshire.
He secretly filmed recruits on the gruelling 26-week course that prepares them for frontline combat.
The findings are a blow for the Army, which has announced high-profile efforts to stamp out bullying following a string of scandals.
Insiders said the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, has ordered the Adjutant General, who is in charge of all personnel issues, to oversee an investigation into the latest claims.
Private Gavin Williams who died after a 'beasting' session in extreme heat
The BBC claims to have gathered evidence of a series of shocking abuses, including:
- An instructor choking a recruit by grabbing his neck while swearing at him [this exact thing happens in Full Metal Jacket to Private Pyle who eventually shoots himself], and punching other recruits in the ribs leaving them winded.
- Staff selling pornographic DVDs to recruits, and offering to sell electronic goods 'off the back of a lorry'. [mix of sex/violence is always used]
- An instructor urinating on a recruit's boots during a shooting range session. [degradation, another standard part of it]
Other allegations include racist remarks and incidents of kicking, punching and violent shaking of recruits - some of whom are said to have described receiving such treatment 'on an almost daily basis'. [repetition of these traumas is also necessary]
One is alleged to have received a bloody nose after being punched.
The documentary is expected to be broadcast this month, but the BBC set out its allegations in a letter to the Ministry of Defence last week. [MUCH worse things are occurring in wings of the military that we havn't even heard of]
The MoD told the Daily Mail that three Army instructors were already under investigation by the Royal Military Police - as a result of complaints received from recruits some months ago - and were suspended from their duties at Catterick earlier this year.
The Mail is withholding the names of the instructors involved to avoid prejudicing any future court martial.
One senior Army source said: 'It's hugely dispiriting for the vast majority of instructors who are very, very good and committed to turning out high-quality soldiers.
'If these accusations are proved then there will be no sympathy for the men involved. What they're accused of doing is completely unacceptable.
'The Army has tried to put its house in order, and now we're going to be hauled over the coals again.' [Sure.]
MoD officials said all the allegations are being taken extremely seriously.
But military insiders voiced concerns about the way the BBC will present its material.
One said: 'Training at Catterick is necessarily tough, because war is tough. Instructors may shout at people and jab them in the chest. That's an acceptable part of teaching discipline. [ALL Wars are creations of the elite to further their hidden agendas (which includes blood sacrifice, new world order plan etc)]
'But if you secretly film a training instructor screaming at a recruit and your mum watches it on television without appreciating the context, it may look terrible to her.'
Army chiefs are also frustrated that the BBC reporter remained silent about all the allegations during training and at his exit interview - ignoring a range of systems in place to encourage whistleblowers.
The BBC investigation was launched after the death of Private Gavin Williams, a 22-year-old soldier in the Royal Welsh Regiment.
He died of heatstroke in 2006 during a 'beasting' session in which he was subjected to intense exercise on one of the hottest days of the year as a punishment for drunken behaviour at his barracks at Tidworth, Wiltshire.
The Army has struggled to move on from accusations of bullying ever since the Deepcut scandal, in which four young trainees died from gunshot wounds at the Army training camp in Surrey.
Police found no evidence of foul play, but did uncover a widespread culture of physical and sexual bullying by training staff. [no shit... wait isn't that foul play?]
More than a dozen recruits have died in training at Catterick in recent years.
Check out BBC report and video here.
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