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.  

We met Joseph Rocha at an anti-Prop 8 rally in San Francisco back in May. Little did we know at the time that his story would prove to be so compelling. This week we asked Joseph to share his story with the audience of KQED-FM, and he produced the following Perspective.

By: Joseph Christopher Rocha