The marine — who cannot be named for legal reasons — told a UK military court on Monday, November 27, how he suffered post traumatic stress disorder after being told to carry out the solo sex act after failing a map reading test.
The man objected to being put through the ordeal but was told in no uncertain terms by one of two men, now on trial at Portsmouth military court, that he had to conform to the rules. Corporal Danny Foster, 30 and Corporal Philip Beer, 34, are both appearing before the court over the ill-treatment of a subordinate.
Nuclear Bases
The incidents are alleged to have happened at two Scottish nuclear naval bases, Faslane and Coulport, on the banks of the River Clyde between May and August 2014.
In another alleged incident, the two corporals are said to have forced a commando to shave all the hair off his body in what is known as "family time."
Various punishments were meted out for a variety of things, including not wiping up a coffee stain, the court heard.
"You could be punished for anything starting from just leaving a pen lid on the floor up to operational things like not turning on your radio while on patrol. A senior marine would stand at the front and would ask if there were any integrity shouts — which meant you would own up to a mistake you had made," giving his evidence, the marine said.
He continued: "Then there would be stitch ups, and marines or corporals could stitch each other up and report something someone else had done. On the first occasion, there had been a map reading test which was made too hard and so a number of people failed. We got lined up at the front of the room during family time and the corporals, who were at the back, were talking about what they would make us do."
'No Power Against It'
"They all laughed when Corporal Foster said we should w**k to gay porn," added the marine. "When family time ended everyone made their way to where we slept — on the way I told Foster I wasn't going to do it but he said to me 'you f***ing are.' The porn was military themed porn, the men had berets on and people were watching us — we were told the last person to ejaculate would get another punishment. I felt disgusted and degraded having to do it, it was massively degrading, I had no power against it, I could not say no," the man told the court.
Punishments were often decided by rolling two dice, with the numbers relating to penalties on a sheet of paper, the court heard. There was also a game of 'Deal or No Deal' which would decide what punishments their eventual forfeit would be.
The marine said: "There was a powerpoint presentation and the forfeits would be projected onto the wall and others would be holding bits of paper with numbers on.
"Foster knew I had (a punishment called) Django and would not let me swap because he knew I hated it. I had to take the punishment — there was a metal pull-up bar in the gym which you would hang from and be whipped. Corporal Foster was not there when I was whipped, I had to have another marine do it and be my witness," he add.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Under cross-examination by Gareth Evans, who represents Foster, the marine said his time with 43 Commando had led to him developing post traumatic stress disorder. Asked if he had problems with his memory, the marine said: "I have PTSD due to what happened. That does affect my memory and I try to put it out of my mind, but I do remember what happened."
Foster denies three counts of ill-treatment of a subordinate. The trial continues.
