A number of commanders and senior enlisted advisers were fired, and a number of drill instructors have been suspended, as a result of the investigations, according to a statement by the USA marine corps.
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When Siddiuqui died, the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion at Parris Island was already at the center of three ongoing investigations – the Marine Corps’s internal inquiry, as well as probes by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery – of 15 instructors and leaders accused of hazing, physical abuse, failure of supervision and assault.
The instructor made him run from one end of the barracks to the other March 18 after Siddiqui asked to go to the infirmary for a sore throat without following proper procedure, the investigation found. A lawyer for the family, Nabih Ayad, told the Detroit Free Press in April that they found the initial report – that Siddiqui had jumped over a wall to his death after being slapped awake during daytime training – hard to believe.
“Commanders and senior enlisted advisers at the series, company, battalion and regimental level were relieved in the wake of Recruit Siddiqui’s death, and a number of drill instructors have been suspended”, the Corps statement said. Personnel being investigated “for recruit abuse, hazing, or maltreatment” will face a mandatory suspension and there will be changes to the assignment process of drill instructors and officers to the depot.
The Marines released a redacted investigative report by Maj. Gen. James Lukeman from the service’s training and education command. The Wall Street Journal reported that results of the investigation will be reviewed at a hearing – possibly in the coming weeks – to decide whether administrative or criminal proceedings will commence.
This story will be updated.
During the recruit’s almost two-hour ordeal, which included rigorous calisthenics in the shower, at least one other recruit overheard the drill instructor say: “Why are you even here?”
From the outset, family members and lawmakers raised questions about whether hazing played a role in Siddiqui’s death.
Siddiqui had arrived at the boot camp March 7; he died March 18.
Investigators believe the instructor had been drinking at the time.
The statement did not say exactly how the alleged mistreatment of recruits at Parris Island might have contributed to Siddiqui’s suicide or how many members of the military were disciplined.
At one point, the drill instructor allegedly called the recruit a ‘terrorist, ‘ according to officials.
One marine official said the likelihood that at least one of the drill instructors will be court martialed for hazing is high. Furthermore, even new drill instructors were subjected to abuse by more senior drill instructors, a practice known as “hat hazing” because of the iconic flat-brimmed hats worn by the instructors.
“When America’s men and women commit to becoming Marines, we make a promise to them”, Marine Commandant Gen.
“Today’s announcement by the Marine Corps is a first step in ensuring the family of Private Raheel Siddiqui receives the answers they deserve and that the Marine Corps is addressing the serious issues that led to this tragedy”, said U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12), who had Siddiqui as a constituent.
The Michigan congresswoman who pressed the Marine Corps to look into the March death of a recruit says she is going to visit the SC training site this weekend to review changes the service has made in light of his death.
Dingell said that, “as a young Muslim man, he truly understood the value of freedom of religion and all he wanted was to defend the ideals our nation holds dear”. ‘We pledge to train them with firmness, fairness, dignity and compassion’.
“We mourn the loss of Recruit Siddiqui”, he continued, “and we will take every step necessary to prevent tragic events like this from happening again”.
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Dingell has been in constant communication with the Marine Corps since Private Siddiqui’s death.
