Youth Radio - Topic: navy

Chief Accused of Hazing Forced From Navy, Keeps Rank

cfoster — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:51:48 -0600

An assistant secretary of the Navy upheld the forced retirement of a senior chief accused of hazing junior sailors in a canine unit based in Bahrain.

The decision comes four years after a Navy investigation in which sailors claimed Michael Toussaint, a chief petty officer at the time, had acted as ringleader for a culture of abuse within the kennel between 2005 and 2006. Last February, Toussaint denied much of his alleged misconduct before a retirement review board that was convened months after he was censured by the Secretary of the Navy.

UPDATE: Joseph Rocha, a sailor who testified during the Navy's investigation of hazing in a Bahrain-based canine unit, writes for The Huffington Post about the news that his former chief Michael Toussaint has been forced to retire with full pay.

"Ultimately, MACS Toussaint's conduct as the Leading Chief Petty Officer assigned to the Military Working Dog Division, Naval Security Forces, Bahrain, did not meet the standards expected of senior enlisted leadership in our Navy," said Juan Garcia, assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs.

Garcia followed the paygrade recommendation of the retirement board, which said Toussaint should receive an honorable discharge and a pension at his current rank. The board members cited insufficient evidence uncovered in the Navy's hazing investigation and a 2009 tour of duty in Afghanistan during which he saved the life of a marine.

"[W]hen looking at his career in its entirety," said Garcia, "I have determined that his conduct did not rise to a level sufficient to warrant retirement in a paygrade less than E-8."

Military law experts had anticipated that Garcia would approve the review board's recommendation since the results of such hearings are rarely overturned. Still, others had hoped for a harsher punishment, as Youth Radio reported in August:

But advocates for the sailors who were abused under Toussaint's leadership said Navy officials had led them to expect a harsher judgement from the board hearing, which according to Navy guidelines determines the highest rank at which a sailor or officer has served honorably.

"I was surprised," said Aaron Tax, legal director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, "because we thought that the Navy believed this was someone who engaged in outrageous behavior." Tax said despite the board's recommendation, the Navy should lower Toussaint's pension to that of a first class petty officer, the rank he held before becoming chief of the Bahrain unit.

More background on the case from Youth Radio's prior reporting:

Last September [2009], Youth Radio uncovered a 2007 Navy investigation into claims of the unit's culture of abuse and connected it to two subsequent investigations into the suicide of a sailor implicated in the hazing scandal. While names in the copies of the Navy report were redacted, Youth Radio interviewed six sailors from the unit, all of whom named Toussaint as the ringleader of the abuse.

During the February hearing, Toussaint denied the most serious accusations against him -- that he ordered sailors to simulate sex acts during training exercises, that he threw parties with hired prostitutes, and that he condoned the humiliation of a gay sailor who was hog-tied to a chair and left in a dog kennel.

Toussant's lawyers claimed that four sailors who testified against him at the hearing were exaggerating the extent of the hazing. They accused one sailor, Joseph Christopher Rocha, of lying about Toussaint in the media to increase his own public profile as an advocate for the repeal of the U.S. Military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Rocha was discharged from the Navy under the policy after returning from Bahrain.

Youth Radio has obtained statements from each of the retirement board members -- an enlisted sailor and two Navy officers -- explaining why they sided with Toussaint.

"Senior Chief Toussaint has served honorably and was made the 'scape goat' in this case, for the benefit of one disgruntled sailor," wrote one of the board members, Lt. Cmdr. Angel Bellido.

Another board member wrote that he took into consideration the testimony of a Navy SEAL who said Toussaint saved his life last summer when he was shot during a combat mission in Afghanistan.

Toussaint included these statements in a March letter to Juan Garcia, the assistant secretary of the Navy who oversees personnel and will make the final decision on the retirement pay. "The board's unanimous decision... is a clear repudiation of the allegations," Toussaint wrote in the letter, which Youth Radio obtained through his lawyer.

Military law experts familiar with Toussaint's case said he may be the first enlisted sailor to go before a retirement grade determination board, a proceeding that exists outside the military justice system.

The Navy's top officials decided in October not to court-martial Toussaint and instead canceled his final years of service and sent him a letter of censure from the Secretary of the Navy, the harshest administrative reprimand that can be taken against a sailor. Navy secretary Ray Mabus said the decision to forgo a court martial was based on several factors, "including the time elapsed since the hazing incidents, the fact that Senior Chief Toussaint's involvement previously was reviewed by an authorized commander, and Senior Chief Toussaint's proximity to retirement eligibility."

Toussaint became eligible for retirement pay in January, when he completed 20 years of serving in the Navy. According to the Office of the Secretary of Defense website, his pension would amount to $2,100 a month if he retired at his current rank. If Garcia reduced Toussaint to a first class petty officer, he would receive $1,667 -- about $5,000 less a year.

Navy officials said that before his final release from the Navy, Toussaint will be transferred to the Fleet Reserve, a standard procedure for retiring personnel that lasts about a month.

Also from Youth Radio-Youth Media International:

Navy Forces Out Chief For Bahrain Hazing

Youth Radio Report Sparks Top Military Review

Navy Finds Commanders Mishandled Hazing

Service Members Support The Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell

rgee — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:46:37 -0600

The Pentagon recently released a study showing new support for getting rid of the policy, "Don't Ask Don't Tell," that currently requires gay and lesbian military service members to keep quiet about their sexuality. The study interviewed 115,000 service members.

The Pentagon summed up their findings in the answers to three questions:

- When asked whether knowing that a fellow unit member was gay or lesbian would affect their unit's ability to get their job done, 70 percent of service members said that it would have no effect or a positive effect.

- When asked if during their career, they had ever worked with someone they believed to be homosexual, 69 percent of service members said yes.

- While serving in a unit with someone they believed to be homosexual, 92 percent of service members said their ability to work together was "very good," "good," or had no positive or negative effect.

The Pentagon also stated that most of the concern about "open" service is driven by misperceptions and stereotypes about what it would mean if gay and lesbian service members were allowed to be open. In addition, they spoke to many gay service members who said they are not trying to push a social agenda or get special treatment, but would like to stop serving in silence.

Youth Radio has been following this issue for over a year. In August 2009, Youth Radio profiled Joseph Rocha, a member of the military who survived extreme harassment from his peers and superiors because of his sexuality. Watch his video below, and visit Youth Radio's hub page for its investigative series Sailors' Abuse Kept Silent in Navy Canine Unit that has won some of journalism's top honors, including an Edward R. Murrow Award.

Navy Chief Accused of Hazing Likely to Retire at Full Pay

cfoster — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:16:21 -0500

A senior chief who was censured by the Secretary of the Navy for hazing sailors under his command may retire with a full pension, Navy officials say.

Since it was announced last October, the terms of Michael Toussaint’s retirement have come under scrutiny that is unprecedented for an enlisted sailor. The senior chief petty officer, who from 2005 to 2006 led a Bahrain-based canine unit that was plagued by widespread documented abuse, denied much of his alleged misconduct in February during a retirement board hearing, a proceeding normally reserved for commissioned officers.

The case will soon go to the desk of an assistant secretary of the Navy, who faces a choice: to approve the unanimous recommendation of the three board members who said Toussaint deserves to retire with a senior chief's pension; or to take a harder line and reduce him to a lower pay grade, as government lawyers had sought to do during the hearing.

Deciding against the retirement board's recommendation would be rare.

"I've never yet seen one (a board recommendation) that was overturned by a higher authority," said Eugene Fidell, a professor at Yale University and President of the National Institute of Military Justice.

But advocates for the sailors who were abused under Toussaint’s leadership said Navy officials had led them to expect a harsher judgement from the board hearing, which according to Navy guidelines determines the highest rank at which a sailor or officer has served honorably.

"I was surprised," said Aaron Tax, legal director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, “because we thought that the Navy believed this was someone who engaged in outrageous behavior." Tax said despite the board's recommendation, the Navy should lower Toussaint's pension to that of a first class petty officer, the rank he held before becoming chief of the Bahrain unit.

Last September, Youth Radio uncovered a 2007 Navy investigation into claims of the unit’s culture of abuse and connected it to two subsequent investigations into the suicide of a sailor implicated in the hazing scandal. While names in the copies of the Navy report were redacted, Youth Radio interviewed six sailors from the unit, all of whom named Toussaint as the ringleader of the abuse.

During the February hearing, Toussaint denied the most serious accusations against him -- that he ordered sailors to simulate sex acts during training exercises, that he threw parties with hired prostitutes, and that he condoned the humiliation of a gay soldier who was hog-tied to a chair and left in a dog kennel.

Toussant's lawyers claimed that four sailors who testified against him at the hearing were exaggerating the extent of the hazing. They accused one sailor, Joseph Christopher Rocha, of lying about Toussaint in the media to increase his own public profile as an advocate for the repeal of the U.S. Military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Rocha was discharged from the Navy under the policy after returning from Bahrain.

Youth Radio has obtained statements from each of the retirement board members -- an enlisted sailor and two Navy officers -- explaining why they sided with Toussaint.

"Senior Chief Toussaint has served honorably and was made the 'scape goat' in this case, for the benefit of one disgruntled sailor," wrote one of the board members, Lt. Cmdr. Angel Bellido.

Another board member wrote that he took into consideration the testimony of a Navy SEAL who said Toussaint saved his life last summer when he was shot during a combat mission in Afghanistan.

Toussaint included these statements in a March letter to Juan Garcia, the assistant secretary of the Navy who oversees personnel and will make the final decision on the retirement pay.

"The board's unanimous decision… is a clear repudiation of the allegations," Toussaint wrote in the letter, which Youth Radio obtained through his lawyer.

Military law experts familiar with Toussaint's case said he may be the first enlisted sailor to go before a retirement grade determination board, a proceeding that exists outside the military justice system.

The Navy's top officials decided in October not to court-martial Toussaint and instead canceled his final years of service and sent him a letter of censure from the Secretary of the Navy, the harshest administrative reprimand that can be taken against a sailor. Navy secretary Ray Mabus said the decision to forgo a court martial was based on several factors, "including the time elapsed since the hazing incidents, the fact that Senior Chief Toussaint's involvement previously was reviewed by an authorized commander, and Senior Chief Toussaint's proximity to retirement eligibility."

Toussaint became eligible for retirement pay in January, when he completed 20 years of serving in the Navy. According to the Office of the Secretary of Defense website, his pension would amount to $2,100 a month if he retired at his current rank. If Garcia reduced Toussaint to a first class petty officer, he would receive $1,667 -- about $5,000 less a year.

The board hearing has also in effect delayed Toussaint’s separation from the Navy beyond the time frame the Navy laid out last year. Instead of retiring in January, the original departure date given by naval officials, Toussaint has continued to work a desk job in Dam Neck, Va. and to receive a Navy paycheck.

“We call it a stash job,” his lawyer, Cmdr. Aaron Rugh, said of the current low-priority assignment. “He’s in limbo.”

A Navy spokesman said that the results of the retirement hearing are now under review by the Navy's personnel bureau and that assistant secretary Garcia would make his decision "within the next several months."

Eugene Fidell said that Garcia, a former Congressman, provides civilian oversight to retirement boards, which use military laws and culture to make their determinations.

Without that final evaluation, he said, "it's the military judging itself, it's the military judging its own."

Previously:

Abuse Probe May Have Pushed Navy Sailor To Suicide

rpereira — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:00:17 -0600

A version of this story aired on NPR's All Things Considered.

By Rachel Krantz and the Youth Radio Investigative Team

SMALL TOWN GIRL
Chris Young sits at the kitchen table in his rural Illinois farmhouse. Outside are the vast, flat fields of corn and soybean. Inside, Young is surrounded by mountains of paper, the documents detailing the investigation into his daughter’s death. On the wall above him is a photo of Jennifer Valdivia-uniformed, mid-twenties, smiling into the camera with a fringe of bangs framing her face.

Even as he looks back at the investigation into his daughter’s death two years later, it’s still hard for Young to make sense of its conclusions.

“There’s too much redacted from the investigation to make any sense of it,” Young said. “The parent of the soldier should have an un-redacted version of the investigation to make complete sense of it all.”

What Valdivia’s father can say for sure is how this story began. [A slideshow with audio of our interview with Chris Young is available here.]

In July 2004, Valdivia was assigned to the unit of Military Working Dog (MWD) handlers in Bahrain. The MWD unit inspects mail coming through the Persian Gulf, on the lookout for explosives and narcotics. The dog handlers were a small, mostly male group. But she made an impression on her chief, Michael Toussaint. “He kind of took her under his wing,” Young remembered, “enough that she got Sailor of the Year in 2005 out of it. That was a good thing.”

On paper, Valdivia was an outstanding sailor. In addition to winning the Sailor of the Year award, she got high marks on her performance evaluations and was ranked the number one first-class petty officer in Bahrain. She also seemed to enjoy her work in the kennels, and extended what is usually a one-year tour in Bahrain.

INVESTIGATION DOCUMENTATION

Youth Radio has obtained a collection of documents pertaining to Jennifer Valdivia's story. We have posted them online so that our audience can examine them on their own.

Command Investigation into the Death of Master-At-Arms First Class Jennifer Valdivia.

U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Investigation.

After the break, more on the culture of abuse.

CAUGHT IN A CULTURE OF ABUSE
In 2005, Valdivia was promoted to Leading Petty Officer, making her second in command of the unit. By that time, the culture of hazing and abuse in the unit had taken hold. Youth Radio interviewed six members of the unit who served at that time, and all said Chief Michael Toussaint set the tone, tolerating and sometimes ordering the abuse.

“This man intimidated and scared a lot of people,” said Shaun Hogan, who was a Petty Officer on the Bahrain base. “There were roughly 60 personnel aware of the situation who kept silent, whether instigators, victims, or people sitting on the sidelines.”

By several accounts, Valdivia was victimized—berated, humiliated, spit at—by Toussaint.

“He definitely bullied her quite a bit,” said Jacob Wilburn, a former unit member. “She would try to do something and he had no hesitation about yelling at her, getting in her face. He would put his finger right up on her and chew her out and cuss her out in front of everybody—which is totally inappropriate to do in front of junior enlisted people.”

But Valdivia’s role in the abuse was also complex. Once, for a so-called “training video,” another female member of the unit was ordered to act out an argument with Valdivia, who appeared naked under a sheet and handcuffed to a bunk, so the two could role-play as lovers. In an interview that was part of the unit investigation, a sailor reported confronting Valdivia after seeing the video. She said Valdivia tried laughing it off, but then said in all seriousness, “Chief was in charge...It’s his kennel. There is nothing wrong with what I did.”

When Chief Toussaint left Bahrain for a new assignment, Valdivia was put in charge of the unit, though never made Chief. Petty Officer Shaun Hogan said some of his peers resented her quick rise to kennel head, and her leadership style. "She wasn't abusive," according to Hogan, but "she carried on in the vein of 'I'm Kennel Master, you do what I say.'" According to Youth Radio’s interviews, Valdivia was given little respect in the kennel as a new leader, and a female at that.

Former unit member Jacob Wilburn remembers Valdivia’s new position of leadership being mostly ignored.

“Nobody had any respect for Valdivia,” Wilburn said. “Once Chief left, she tried to rule with an iron fist, and everybody just walked all over her, and she didn’t know what to do.”

Another member of the unit, who asked not to be named, said the position took its toll on Valdivia.

“My heart went out to her,” this woman said, “because sometimes she would be in the locker room and she’d look like she was about to be in tears or she was in tears…. You can only take so much before you say pick your battles, you gotta survive. Sadly she did not survive.”

“THEY’RE ACCUSING ME”
According to a member of the unit, in the summer of 2006, several months after Valdivia took over as Kennel Master, a female dog handler who had been assaulted by a fellow handler in the unit requested a “captain’s mast” – a meeting with Bahrain’s commanding officer. The assault had taken place while Toussaint was still chief of the unit, and he had failed to hold the accused attacker accountable.

Through the captain’s mast, the commander, whose name is redacted in the Navy’s investigations, learned about other allegations of abuse and illegal activity in the canine unit. And in September, he directed an investigation into the unit. Navy documents say that the commander assigned a Marine Corps investigator “due to his concerns about the potentially large number of command personnel involved” in the allegations.

On October 20, 2006, the investigating officer called Valdivia and her entire unit in for questioning. When Valdivia met one-on-one with the investigator, she was read her rights and treated as a suspect, according to an interview quoted in the investigation into her death. Someone present at the gathering would later testify that Valdivia “appeared to be very upset” as she walked out of the meeting.

“They’re accusing me,” Valdivia said.

The next day, however, Valdivia’s chain of command reported that she had “settled down” and no longer appeared upset. And after that, she would have “good and bad days” during the course of the investigation, but continued to perform her duties at a high level.

The hazing investigation, originally scheduled to conclude in October, received multiple extensions and was still underway in December, 2006. Valdivia’s chain of command reported that she expressed frustration over how long the investigation was taking to finish.

Valdivia’s father, Chris Young, was also concerned. He said Valdivia hesitated to talk openly about the investigation, and he sensed an anxiety during their phone calls and instant message conversations.

“They were looking for a scapegoat,” said Young, “and they were trying to pin it on Jennifer.”

"I LOVE THE MILITARY"

As the investigation dragged on, Valdivia decided she wanted out. In December of 2006, she told her chain of command she planned to resign from the Navy.

"She even had a ticket booked, I had a ticket confirmation on the computer, " said Young. "She was going to be a physical trainer in Dallas. She was set up. I liked that she would be closer to home."

But Navy Spokesman Bill Fenick told Youth Radio that in January, just weeks before her planned departure, her superiors told Valdivia she couldn't leave the base because "it was important to look further into her involvement."

Valdivia's superiors also told her they were removing her from her position as Kennel Master. One superior told Valdivia not to worry because she was not the most senior person involved in the allegations.

The next day, security cameras filmed Valdivia at the Navy commissary, buying a bag of charcoal, a fire starter kit, and a grill.

In the late afternoon, Valdivia locked herself into a room that adjoined her housing unit. As the charcoal burned and filled the room with smoke, she kept a suicide journal. Her final entry reads, "I love the military, I just wish the Navy was still part of it."

It took investigators four days to find her body. In the meantime, Chris Young got a call from the base telling him his daughter was missing. Young called back again and again to find out what had happened. When he finally got through, he was referred to a casualty assistance calls officer who was on the way to Young's home.

"And he was lost," said Young. "He called me looking for directions how to get here...and then they told me that they had found her deceased."

A Navy autopsy found Valdivia died of carbon monoxide poisoning. At the end of the report on Valdivia's death, the investigator writes that her suicide was quote, "Probably a culmination of well-concealed concerns about the ongoing command investigation." The statement goes on to say, "I believe it is unlikely she would have committed suicide if she had not been under such stress."

Valdivia's father, Chris Young, says he still has questions about what led his daughter to commit suicide. He wants the Navy to reopen the investigation into her death.

After Valdivia’s death, the unit’s chief, Michael Toussaint, received a Non-Punitive Letter of Caution and was later promoted to the rank of Senior Chief.

However, in September 2009, after Youth Radio broke the story on widespread hazing in a Bahrain canine unit, the Chief of Naval Operations completed a review of how officials handled an investigation into the abuse. He found that the chief petty officer responsible for the abuse had not been adequately punished.

As a result of the top-level Navy review of misconduct in a canine unit in Bahrain, the Secretary of the Navy censured the unit’s former chief petty officer, Michael Toussaint, forcing him to retire from the Navy.

For more in the series, see Sailor's Abuse Kept Silent in Navy Canine Unit.]

Navy Abuse Scandal on KCBS

noah — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:43:07 -0500

Youth Radio reporter Rachel Krantz speaks to KCBS about yesterday's stunning turn of events in the Bahrain Navy Hazing scandal.

You can find the interview on KCBS' Interviews and Analysis page.

Previously:

Navy Forces Out Chief for Bahrain Hazing

noah — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:13:12 -0500

By Rachel Krantz and the Youth Radio Investigative Unit
This story is part of Youth Radio's investigation: Sailors' Abuse Kept Silent In Navy Canine Unit.

After Youth Radio broke the story last month on widespread hazing in a Bahrain canine unit, the Chief of Naval Operations has completed reviewing how officials handled an investigation into the abuse. He found that the chief petty officer responsible for the abuse had not been adequately punished.

As a result of the top-level Navy review of misconduct in a canine unit in Bahrain, the Secretary of the Navy has censured the unit’s former chief petty officer, Michael Toussaint, forcing him to retire from the Navy.

Previously, an investigation into the hazing at the base in Bahrain between 2004 and 2006 revealed widespread abuse of sailors and other misconduct, including gambling and soliciting prostitutes. On September 22, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead ordered Navy Installations Command (CNIC) to review what actions were taken as a result of the hazing investigation.

"After reviewing the investigation and the CNIC report, Admiral Roughead found the incidents were not in keeping with Navy values and standards and violated Navy’s long standing prohibition against hazing," said Navy spokesperson Commander Elissa Smith.

Smith said the Secretary of the Navy's letter of censure will become part of Toussaint’s permanent military record. Toussaint, now a senior chief petty officer, will be reassigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2, where he will perform administrative duties until his retirement in January.

Roughead has also ordered the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to interview commissioned officers who served in Bahrain at the time of the hazing. Previously, a navy spokesman said the investigation report had indicated that two commissioned officers might have had knowledge of the hazing events. The spokesman told Youth Radio neither officer was recommended for disciplinary action.

Joseph Christopher Rocha served in the unit and experienced some of the worst abuse at while under Toussaint’s leadership. The 23-year-old said many of his fellow sailors have mixed feelings about the results of Roughead's review.

"A lot of us are disappointed in that Toussaint won’t see his day at a military court martial," Rocha said. "But overall, I commend the CNO and the Secretary of the Navy for a wanting to look further into this, to see how widespread the corruption was."

Previously:

Sailor Abuse Investigation on KPFK

noah — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:10:41 -0500

Reporter Rachel Krantz spoke to KPFK Pacifica Radio today about her experience reporting Youth Radio's Sailor Abuse Investigation. She was interviewed by Barbara Osborn and Howard Blume for their weekly show about the media, Deadline LA.

Check below to listen to the interview and hear the inside scoop about how the Youth Radio investigation was brought to the public.

(download mp3)

Joseph Christopher Rocha in the News

rkrantz — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:09:09 -0500

UPDATE (2:55 PDT): Joseph Rocha's story aired again on Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room. The re-airing of this morning's video (see below) was accompanied by an interview with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) a formal 3-Star Navy Admiral who has made this case one of his priorities.

Navy Veteran Joseph Christopher Rocha has gotten attention from the national news media this week.

Youth Radio first broke Rocha's story back in June when he told us about the abuse he experienced during his time serving in Bahrain.

Since then, Youth Radio has broken major investigative pieces as seen on the Huffington Post and NPR telling Rocha and other unit members' stories in detail.

This weekend, we were happy to see Joseph Christopher Rocha's editorial in the Washington Post. Here's an excerpt from the powerful piece of writing:

I don't think I will ever feel as powerless as I did when I was on my knees, wearing a U.S. military uniform in the Middle East, forced by my superior to shove my head between another man's legs. But I have discovered that telling this story holds its own kind of power.

We were also excited to see a profile of Joseph and his story on CNN this morning.

That video, and more, after the jump...

Rocha is hopeful the new round of media attention will help bring justice for the sailors who experienced abuse in Bahrain, and for other gay service members still living in fear.

For years, I kept this story a secret from my loved ones, wanting simply to move on. But I believe we have a window of opportunity now in the effort to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," and this has propelled me to go public with my experience...The more I talk about what happened to me, the more I hear from others who have been in similar situations. Students in the service academies calling me, crying, asking if they should quit. World War II veterans. Enlisted soldiers serving overseas. They are hopeful that we may soon have a different kind of military, that gay and lesbian men and women can serve the country we love with job security and dignity.

Despite everything, I am hopeful, too.

Stay with Youth Radio as this story continues to develop--we'll be the first to let you know.

Navy Report Ignores Sailor's Suicide

noah — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:59:49 -0500

By Rachel Krantz and the Youth Radio Investigative Unit

This story is part of Youth Radio's ongoing investigation: Sailors' Abuse Kept Silent In Navy Canine Unit.

A Youth Radio investigation finds that the U.S. Navy’s report on hazing in its Bahrain Canine Unit omitted the suicide of the unit’s leading Petty Officer, who feared she had become the scapegoat for widespread abuse.

On January 16, 2007, Petty Officer Jennifer Valdivia was found dead in a small room at her home in Bahrain. The U.S. Navy, which maintains a major base on the island in the Persian Gulf, classified her death as a non-combat related incident. A Navy autopsy later confirmed that 27-year-old Valdivia committed suicide.

On the same day Valdivia’s body was found, the Navy released a report on widespread hazing and abuse in the canine unit where she served as Kennel Master. Though the report’s release was previously delayed multiple times, this time it was published without including the investigation into the suicide of the unit’s leading Petty Officer. And, Valdivia’s death was not mentioned in the subsequent Findings of Fact endorsed by the base command, either.

“I would have expected this to be mentioned in the endorsements… the command in Bahrain had ample time to take her death into account,” said Eugene Fidell, Yale law professor and president of National Institute of Military Justice. “Had I been the staff judge advocate I would have recommended that the command delay its endorsement on the hazing investigation until the suicide investigation was complete, and then see if further investigation into the hazing was warranted.”

Instead, the Navy’s hazing and suicide investigations proceeded on parallel, never-intersecting tracks.

The hazing investigation reveals that the abuse in the Bahrain Canine Unit was extensive. And while the Navy has said multiple personnel were implicated in the misconduct, the sailors interviewed by Youth Radio say unanimously that there was one ringleader, the unit’s Chief Michael Toussaint.

Youth Radio has also obtained redacted copies of the Navy’s two investigations into Valdivia’s death -- one by the Base Commander in Bahrain and the other by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Together with interviews with her family and six sailors from Valdivia’s unit, the suicide investigations tell the story of a young woman stuck between an abusive and corrupt unit leadership and the young sailors whose lives were scarred to varying degrees by hazing. It’s the story of a scapegoat, who decided the only way out of her Navy unit was death.

“Her final act revealed her to be under stress she was not able to bear, probably a culmination of well-concealed concerns about the ongoing command investigation,” wrote the investigator at the end of his report on Valdivia’s death. “I believe it is unlikely she would have committed suicide if she had not been under such stress.”

[Page Two: "Small Town Girl"]

Comment on this story in our Facebook Discussion Forum.

Navy Sailors Say They Were Hazed, Abused

noah — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:43:14 -0500

The following is a transcript. To listen, use the audio player in this post. For access to all documents, posts, and images associated with this story see our Sailors' Abuse Investigation Hub.

Joseph Christopher Rocha enlisted in the U.S. Navy on his 18th  birthday, in 2004. He remembers being excited about his first overseas  assignment: to serve in Bahrain. He became a dog handler with one of  the Navy’s biggest kennels. But Rocha says once he got there, he  entered a culture of hazing and abuse at the hands of his fellow  service members that made him feel like the animal.  

ROCHA: I was hog-tied to a chair, rolled around the base, left in a  dog kennel that had feces spread in it.  

Rocha says six weeks into his deployment, when he made it clear he  wasn’t interested in the unit’s parties with prostitutes, the Chief,  Master-at-Arms Michael Toussaint, and others on the base, made him a  target.  

ROCHA: I was in a very small high testosterone-driven unit of men…I  think that's what began the questioning-you know-‘Why don't you want  to have sex with her? Are you a faggot?’  

Read the rest of the story after the jump...

He says the hazing escalated across the unit. Incidents ranged from spraying  down uniformed personnel with hoses, to directing sailors to simulate  sex acts on videotape. Petty Officer Shaun Hogan, who was stationed in  Bahrain with Rocha, remembers a so-called “training video” sailors  were ordered to produce.  

HOGAN: Petty Officer Rocha and another junior sailor…They were  instructed to go into a classroom by Chief Michael Toussaint, who  orchestrated the entire training. And Chief Toussaint asked them to  simulate homosexual sex on a couch.  

Hogan played a handler barging onto the scene with his dog. Rocha says  the Chief coached him on how to act in the video.  

ROCHA: …telling me I needed to be more believable, act more queer,  have a higher pitched voice, and make the sounds and gestures more  realistic...  

The hazing got worse, but Rocha was afraid reporting it could lead to  an investigation into whether or not he was gay.

Youth Radio has interviewed six sailors from the canine unit. They all tell similar stories of abuse.

One sailor who would only talk on tape if we changed her voice, remembers seeing a different sexually charged video. In it a female sailor was ordered to role-play as the lover of another female in the unit, who was handcuffed to a bed, and appeared naked under the sheets.

ANON: My thought was what are these people thinking? How is this going to be valid training for her to play—and I’m going to quote here a bitchy Lt, it was very disgraceful.

All six sailors we spoke with were afraid to report the abuse. They say that Toussaint threatened to revoke their dog  certification if they complained. And some feared  worse. They remembered his warning, “God help anyone who airs our  dirty laundry.”  

ANON: It’s supposed to be this tight knit unit, we’re  supposed to be a family. And when you get into it, the enemy’s not  outside the line, your enemy’s within…Your enemy is your chain of command.  

Finally, in 2006, one sailor broke through the silence, and reported an assault. The Navy  commissioned an independent investigation that uncovered the hazing and other abuses.  The investigation’s findings—obtained through the Freedom of  Information Act—and corroborated by Youth Radio’s interviews show the abuse was  widespread in the unit, and in some cases sanctioned and instigated by  its leadership.  

The investigation found evidence to support accusations of physical  assault on sailors and in two instances, prostitutes on base. The documents also show systemic hazing through humiliation  and unnecessary labor. 

The conclusions and recommendations of the investigation are redacted  in the copy of the report we obtained. To fill in the blanks, we called the Navy’s regional spokesperson, Lt.  Commander Wendy Snyder. She said she couldn’t give details of specific disciplinary actions. And that because the investigation took place more than two years ago, the records are no longer available.  

WENDY SNYDER: Whether they're shredded or destroyed, I don't know…As  far as I know, the investigation was completed, and the outcomes I  don't know of those individuals involved. 

Since then, a Navy officer familiar with the case has told NPR the  report recommended courts martial for both Chief Toussaint and another  non-commissioned officer from the unit.  The recommendation for courts martial was never followed. Instead, the case was closed, and Toussaint received a “non-punitive letter of caution”—the  military’s equivalent of a slap on the wrist.  

What’s more, Toussaint has been promoted… to Senior Chief.  We asked Yale Law Professor Eugene Fidell, who is President of the  National Institute of Military Justice, to review the investigation’s  Findings of Fact and give his opinion on the Navy’s follow up.  

FIDELL: It did seem to me (from the materials that were made  available) that some criminal punishment under the UCMJ was called  for, it looked to me like rampant misconduct of a kind that was  utterly incompatible with military service on behalf of our country.  

Professor Fidell served as a Judge Advocate and has made a career of  reviewing military justice cases.  

FIDELL: I would expect anybody in pay grade Petty Officer and above to  be held accountable. These people have responsibilities, they are  supposed to be leaders, we depend on them, and if they’re either  engaging in this kind of misconduct or tolerating it, they need to be  taught a lesson.

Meanwhile, unit members we’ve interviewed are still struggling with  the aftermath of their experiences in Bahrain.  Shaun Hogan—the sailor who played the dog handler in the simulated sex  video—is now in the Naval reserves. He says he’s haunted by personal  guilt.  

HOGAN: I was duty-bound to protect those under my command; Petty  Officer Rocha [and] several others. I have a lot of regret for not  having spoken up at the time and intervening...  

As for Joseph Christopher Rocha, the Veterans Administration diagnosed  him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. When he heard there would not  be a court martial, he took it hard.  

ROCHA: It took a lot of courage to testify against Toussaint… And then … to be told that there was no need and there would be  no trial…    

Rocha says he was devastated. He still can’t quite describe the feeling.    

ROCHA: That kind of loss of gravity, of saying, what just happened?  That stuck with me…    

Shortly after hearing that news, Rocha made the hardest decision of  his life. He ended his military career—out of fear that he’d face more  abuse at a future deployment, and because he’d come out as gay.    Rocha’s official statement read:  

ROCHA (reading): I am homosexual. I am proud of my service and had  hoped that I'd be able to serve the navy and country for my entire  career. However…I must be honest with myself, courageous in my beliefs  and committed to my course of action.  

(On the basis of that statement) Rocha was officially discharged by the  U.S. Navy.

Toussaint’s second in command while he was in Bahrain was Petty  Officer Jennifer Valdivia. Shortly after being told she’d be removed from her position in the kennel because of the hazing investigation, she took her own life.  

As for Toussaint, Youth Radio tried repeatedly to reach him by phone, through e-mail and via social networking sites. His  command confirms they forwarded our questions to him. We wanted to know his side of the story. He has not responded.  Michael Toussaint is now Senior Chief with what’s regarded as the most  prestigious dog unit in the Navy, the Naval Special Warfare  Development Group, based in Dam Neck, Virginia.  

But this may not be the end of the story.

Since Youth Radio began reporting the story, Rear Admiral David Mercer has ordered a review of the outcomes of the investigation at the Bahrain Kennel. He’s in charge of naval installations in Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia.

A Navy spokesman issued this statement:

“The incidents that occurred within the Military Working Dog Division at Naval Support Activity Bahrain do not reflect who we are as a navy. They are considered an anomaly based on sailors who were inproperly led.”

And yesterday, we learned yet another higher level review of the investigation has been ordered, this time by the Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy’s highest ranking officer and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The deadline for that report is October sixth.

This story aired on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.