From BBC Website . Video
can be seen on the website.
Film leads to Army bullying probe
Secret
filming
The Army has begun an
investigation into the training of young recruits after the BBC
obtained video footage.
Amateur film by a soldier at the Army's School of Infantry in
Catterick last year appears to show a soldier putting his boot on a
recruit's neck.
Anti-bullying campaigner Lynn Farr said the "fine line" between
discipline and abuse is "crossed over far too much".
Last month the MoD accepted there had to be a complete change of
culture in the training of recruits.
It followed a House of Commons committee report which criticised
the MoD for failing in its "duty of care" towards young
soldiers.
Wondering
One British Army soldier garrisoned at Catterick said he has been
persistently bullied in his unit and is now absent without
leave.
"It scares me now, the thought of going back there. Imagine going
to work every day and wondering if you are going to be hit in the
face, in the chest," he said.
BBC defence correspondent Paul Wood said the Army certainly has a
duty of care to ensure its recruits are not bullied, but it also
has another duty of care "to ensure they know the job of an
infantryman" and how to survive in combat.
"But they are aren't supposed to be humiliated," he said.
Our correspondent added that some of these pictures "are
uncomfortably similar to images of prisoner abuse in Iraq".
Campaigners are calling for a new complaints procedure, outside the
chain of command in the Army.
Mrs Farr has campaigned to stop abuse in the forces since her
18-year-old son Daniel died in Catterick in 1997.
She said soldiers are frequently seeking help from her.
However, Hughie Monro, the Commandant of the Army School of
Infantry, told the BBC the Army had "turned a corner".
"We really are going forwards in a proper and positive way. I am
very proud of what goes on here.
"I think there's a lot still to be done and I am certainly not
saying to you we've got this right yet. There's a long way to go
but we are going in the right direction."
Hmm...reminds me of the SAF case, except in this case, the
treatment seems worse.
