Youth Radio - Topic: Bahrain

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)

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.

Youth Radio Investigation Sparks Top Military Review

noah — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:05:30 -0500

UPDATE: The following story is a continuation of our feature, "Investigation: Sailors' Abuse Kept Silent in Navy Canine Unit." For those of you who are only beginning to follow the story, here's a full audio version, with transcript.

For access to all documents, posts, and images associated with this story see our Sailors' Abuse Investigation Hub.

After Youth Radio exposed a culture of hazing, including psychological and physical abuse, at a U.S. Navy canine unit in Bahrain, the nation’s top Naval officer has ordered a review of how the abuses were handled. The Chief of Naval Operations who ordered the review is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and principal Naval advisor to the President. Deadline for that review is October 6th.

Incidents of wrongdoing in the unit ranged from spraying down uniformed personnel with hoses to directing sailors to simulate sex acts on videotape. Youth Radio’s interviews reveal that the abuse was sanctioned and in some cases instigated by the unit's leadership.

Despite 93 incidents of abuse and misconduct uncovered in a 2007 Navy investigation, to date the Navy has not provided a full public accounting of disciplinary action taken against those responsible for the abuse. We do know the unit's Chief at the time, Michael Toussaint, received only a "non-punitive letter of caution". That's the military's equivalent of a slap on the wrist.

Youth Radio has interviewed six sailors from the canine unit who all tell similar stories of abuse, all of whom say Toussaint threatened to revoke their dog certification if they told anyone about the abuse. And some feared worse.

One sailor who served in the unit agreed to speak only if we didn't use her name. "It's supposed to be this tight-knit unit," she said. "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."

Youth Radio has learned from a source inside the Navy that Chief Michael Toussaint and another non-commissioned officer were recommended for courts-martial. Instead, the case was closed. Subsequently Chief Toussaint was promoted to the role of Senior Chief with the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, based in Dam Neck, Virginia, regarded as the most prestigious dog unit in the Navy.

Our investigation began with the story of Joseph Christopher Rocha, a young gay sailor who feared the consequences of coming forward at the time of his abuse. Rocha stayed silent, but when another soldier made assault charges, the Navy’s commanding officer in Bahrain launched an investigation into allegations of widespread hazing in the unit. Rocha went on record against the unit’s leadership.

“It took a lot of courage to testify against Toussaint,” says Rocha. He says he was devastated when he got a call from the prosecutor assigned to the case informing him they didn’t need his testimony. “That kind of loss of gravity, of saying, what just happened? That stuck with me.”

In addition to the abuses Rocha reported, the Navy’s investigation found evidence to support accusations of physical assault on sailors and, in two instances, prostitutes on base--one was attacked by a dog. At one point, a female sailor was ordered to participate in a videotaped training with another female sailor, who was handcuffed to a bed, and appeared naked under the sheets. They were directed to role-play as lovers.

[See a video of Joseph Christopher Rocha describing the abuse he endured.]

Youth Radio asked Yale Law Professor Eugene Fidell, President of the National Institute of Military Justice, to review the incidents listed in the investigation’s findings of fact.

"It did seem to me (from the materials that were made available) that some criminal punishment under the UCMJ (Universal Code of Military Justice) was called for," says Fidell. "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.

"I would expect everyone in pay grade petty officer and above to be held accountable," says Fidell. "These people have responsibilities, they are supposed to be leaders. We depend on them, and if they’re either engaging in this kind of conduct or tolerating it, they need to be taught a lesson."

On January 3, 2008, Vice Admiral Robert Conway, Commander of Navy installations worldwide (CNIC), issued an email (right), with the subject line, "HAZING." He tells the commanders under his authority they have "an obligation to create and maintain an environment free of hazing." Conway calls the practice "contrary to our Core values of Honor Courage and Commitment" and says that hazing "degrades and diminishes the ability of victims to function within their unit."

The impetus for this email? The investigation into the Bahrain Military Working Dogs Division. The very unit Chief Michael Toussaint led before being promoted.

Youth Radio has tried repeatedly to reach Toussaint for comment through phone calls, email, and social networking sites. Naval Special Warfare spokesperson Sonny Leggett told Youth Radio Toussaint was unavailable for comment because he is in “austere locations.” Toussaint's command confirms they forwarded our questions to him.

We’ve been told the review of the Navy investigation will go to the top command in Washington, DC, but there are no plans at this time to actually reopen the case.

Days before the Navy released its report on hazing in the unit, Toussaint’s second in command while he was in Bahrain -- Petty Officer Jennifer Valdivia -- learned she would be disciplined. She was told she would lose her position in the Military Working Dogs kennel. On January 16, 2007, Valdivia's dead body was found in her Bahrain apartment.

Her suicide, and the circumstances leading up to it, will be the subject of our next report.

To comment on this story, please visit our Facebook Page.

For more information and resources about abuse in the military check out the following sources:

Stars and Stripes: Independent U.S. military news

National Institute of Military Justice

Federation Of American Scientists: Copy of 2005 Navy Hazing Policy [PDF]

Office of the Navy Inspector General- Definition Of Hazing

Don't Ask Don't Tell resources:

Palm Center

Servicemembers United

Knights Out

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

Investigation: Sailors' Abuse Kept Silent in Navy Canine Unit

noah — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:39:48 -0500

By Rachel Krantz

In the Persian Gulf, on the island of Bahrain, the U.S. Navy has a special division made up of bomb-sniffing dogs and the sailors who handle them. The Bahrain Military Working Dogs Division was featured in a Navy News spot highlighting the work involved in deploying these highly trained canines to sniff out narcotics and explosives coming through the Persian Gulf and into the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq.

(See a Navy video of the dogs that can detect small amounts of explosives with a sense of smell "10 times greater" than their trainers'.)

Developing trust between the dog and the handler is at the core of what makes canine detection work, as together, their job is to step into situations that can be deadly at any moment. However, that trust between the individual sailor and dog does not necessarily extend to the overall culture of the unit.

A Youth Radio investigation has found that between 2004 and 2006, sailors in the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain Military Working Dogs Division, or "The Kennel," were subjected to an atmosphere of sexual harassment, psychological humiliation, and physical assaults.

Joseph Christopher Rocha with an MWD in Bahrain.

It was inside that Bahrain kennel in July 2005 that Petty Officer Joseph Christopher Rocha, then 19 years old, says he was being terrorized by other members of his own division. "I was hog-tied to a chair, rolled around the base, left in a dog kennel that had feces spread in it."

Rocha says that beginning six weeks into his deployment, he was singled out for abuse by his chief master-at-arms, Michael Toussaint, and others on the base, once Rocha made it clear he was not interested in prostitutes. "I was in a very small testosterone-driven unit of men," Rocha says. "I think that's what began the questioning-you know-‘Why don't you want to have sex with her? Are you a faggot?’"

Youth Radio has conducted interviews and obtained documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) showing that the hog-tying episode was not the first or only case of harassment and abuse during Rocha's deployment. In another incident cited in the documents, Rocha was forced to appear in a twisted "training video." A member of the Working Dogs Division, Petty Officer Shaun Hogan, recalls the scene.

Petty Officer Shaun Hogan

"Petty Officer Rocha and another junior sailor…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 says.

Next in the simulation, Hogan says a handler and his dog barged onto the scene, and that's when "one person…would sit up, kind of wipe off their mouth, the other would get up, and they would be fixing their fly."

Rocha says Toussaint bullied him, "telling me I needed to be more believable, act more queer, have a higher pitched voice, make the sounds and gestures more realistic...I didn't think I had a choice…It made me feel that I wasn't a human being, that I was an animal, rather."

Rocha says at the time, he had no gay friends, no male lovers, and wasn’t even fully out to himself about his sexuality. "The fact that I was starting to figure out that I was a homosexual, it was the most degrading thing I've ever experienced in my life." Still, eight thousand miles away from home, he was afraid to report the constant hazing. And Rocha was not the only one.

[PAGE TWO: THE DOCUMENTATION]

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Sailors' Abuse Kept Silent in Navy Canine Unit: THE FALLOUT

noah — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:44:01 -0500

[Click here for Page Two]

As for the sailors from the Military Working Dogs unit, those Youth Radio interviewed who took the risk of participating in the investigation have seen no public accountability within their military leadership. “I would like to see the people responsible for allowing this to go unpunished be held accountable,” says Rocha, “and in doing so setting an example throughout the armed forces that the values of honor, courage and commitment and are more than just a tagline.”

An undetermined number of sailors from the unit are struggling with the after-effects of the hazing and abuse they suffered or witnessed.

Joseph Christopher Rocha (at left) has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by Veterans Affairs.

Shaun Hogan (at right) says he is haunted by personal guilt.

"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... and the reason I didn't was because I felt threatened myself. Chief Toussaint had shown he will throw people out of the kennel. The last thing he did when he left was threaten me, that if he hears anything that doesn't agree with him, he knows people, and he'll seek to have my certification to handle dogs removed."

A female member of the unit, who asked not to be named, says after her “horrible” deployment in Bahrain, she was ready to quit the military. Then she was transferred to a new base and decided to stay, determined to become a different kind of leader.

"How can we sit there and try to promote honor, courage and commitment when we have people like that in the military?” she said, “That's why I hope I can make rank and make a difference somehow, in a small way, hopefully."

As for Rocha, after his assignment in Bahrain, he chose a path towards officer training. But the hardest moment came when he decided to walk away from that, and with it, his lifelong dream of a military career. He says there are lots of reasons behind that painful choice: the lack of public accountability for the abuse he suffered in Bahrain; the fear that the abuse at his next deployment could be as bad or worse; and the vision of a life where he'd be lying to himself everyday about his sexuality and who he is, just to keep his job.

In the end, it only took three words.

"I am homosexual."

Rocha's official statement went on:

"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. I understand this statement will be used to end my naval career."

(Read the full statement.)

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

Sailors' Abuse Kept Silent in Navy Canine Unit: THE DOCUMENTATION

noah — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:40:44 -0500

[Click here for Page One]

Allegations of abuse across the unit escalated to a point that Navy officials enlisted Marine Corps Captain Brooks Braden to carry out an independent investigation. When Youth Radio reached Braden by phone, he said he didn’t have authorization to discuss “any investigations that may or may not have occurred.” There are a variety of opinions as to what specifically triggered the investigation of the Working Dogs Division. What’s not in question are the Findings of Fact highlighted in the Navy’s report.

Youth Radio has obtained a copy of both Braden’s investigation and the Navy’s Findings of Fact, which detail what happened to Rocha, in addition to incidents involving other service members. The FOIA documents have been redacted, so names are blocked out, but the actions listed include: throwing hard balls at the groin, spraying down uniformed personnel with multiple hoses, and a dog attacking a sex worker on base to the point of hospitalization.

(See the redacted investigation report.)

Youth Radio’s investigation includes interviewing four members of the Bahrain Working Dogs Division who served between 2004 and 2006. All say the tone was set by Chief Toussaint. Some sailors participated in the culture of hazing as victims, others as perpetrators, or in some cases both. They say the hazing continued because of a series of threats that were also integral to the culture of the unit, which not only tolerated abuse, but also invited it. To prevent them from speaking out, sailors Youth Radio interviewed say Toussaint would threaten to revoke their handlers’ licenses--taking away their dogs and their specialty in the Navy.

Another incident cited in the investigation found that two female service members were ordered to simulate sex with each other on video. According to the Findings of Fact, the women were handcuffed to a bed and appeared to be naked under a sheet.

(See the redacted Findings of Fact.)

For response from the Navy, investigator Brooks Braden and Naval officials in Bahrain pointed Youth Radio to Regional Public Affairs Officer Wendy Snyder. Though stationed in Naples, Italy, Lieutenant Commander Snyder confirmed that she is the official spokesperson for the base. She said in a phone call that she did not possess records for the investigation of the Military Working Dogs unit.

"Because it's been more than two years, they are no longer available,” Snyder said. “Whether they're shredded or destroyed, I don't know."

In response to the fact that Youth Radio has obtained a copy of the official findings of the investigation, Snyder said, "I know an investigation was held in 2007 regarding several instances that took place within the Military Working Dog Division of the Naval Security Force in Bahrain. I believe there were at least 16 individuals involved in allegations."

Youth Radio asked what disciplinary actions Navy officials have taken against those responsible for the abuses against sailors at the Bahrain Working Dogs Division. "As far as I know,” Snyder said, “the investigation was completed, and the outcomes I don't know of those individuals involved." In a subsequent email, Snyder wrote that “personnel were held accountable” on the basis of the investigation, but she could not report specific disciplinary actions for the chief or his superiors.

Seeking a more specific answer, Youth Radio contacted the Navy’s Judge Advocate General, its Commander of Naval Installations and public affairs offices in Bahrain and state-side. All either weren’t available or refused to identify repercussions for those in the chain of command responsible for the Working Dogs Division abuse.

Youth Radio has obtained a copy of an email addressed to commanders distributed by Vice Admiral Bob Conway, who at the time of the investigation oversaw the management of Navy bases around the world, including Bahrain. In it, Conway states that hazing activities cited in the investigation “were encouraged, and in some cases instigated, by the senior enlisted leadership of the M.W.D. Division.” The email goes on to say the Navy “must hold those who engage in or enable hazing accountable.” While Conway continues that he might be “beating a dead horse,” he says “incidents” continue to occur, and that the Navy needs to identify those responsible “before something bad happens.” Service members who “don’t get it,” he says, “have no place in a leadership position.”

And yet, the Navy’s actions in the case of the Bahrain Working Dogs unit don’t line up with that directive. Since the investigation, Michael Toussaint, Chief over the unit during the abuse, was promoted to Senior Chief with the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group in Dam Neck, Virginia.

Youth Radio made several attempts to contact Toussaint directly and was told by Special Warfare Command spokesman Major Sonny Leggett that Toussaint is in “austere locations” and unable to be reached.

[PAGE THREE: THE FALLOUT]