Military Misconduct

The commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific last year ordered the crew of his reconfigured Boeing 707 to fly him from his base in Hawaii to Miramar Air Naval Station, Calif., then left the plane and crew on the ground for three days while he took a three-day leave with a female Marine lieutenant colonel, according to a Defense Department inspector general's report. Richard C. Macke, who became divorced during the time he was seeing the Marine, was forced into retirement in November 1995.

Gen. Jean Boyle, Canada's military chief of staff, resigned Tuesday, the latest casualty of an armed forces scandal that has included allegations of murder, torture, assault and profiteering by Canadian soldiers on U.N. peacekeeping duty overseas. Boyle has been under relentless criticism by opposition politicians, military analysts and some of his own subordinates for an equivocating leadership style and a tendency to blame underlings for the armed forces' problems.

Steve Williams and Kym Scott love the Marine Corps. He's a gunnery sergeant with 16 years in service and has been called "a Marine's Marine." He's done sea duty, been a drill instructor and served in Saudia Arabia, Kuwait and Somalia, where he was cited for bravery under fire. She's a captain with 10 years in service. She's been highly rated by her superiors, including a good review of her leadership of a motorized transport unit during Operation Desert Storm.

The plot is fast-paced, and in the end the bad guy gets his due: The body of Marine Pfc. William Santiago is discovered--bound and gagged--in a remote part of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Two young Marines are charged with the murder. An investigation shows that the slaying was carried out under a grisly honor code sanctioned by the colonel in charge. A team of Navy lawyers exposes a massive cover-up and gets the charges against the enlisted men reduced.

Canadian Defense Minister David M. Collenette ordered Canada's elite Airborne Regiment disbanded Monday following a series of disclosures of racism and brutality. Collenette acted just hours after receiving a report by Chief of Staff Gen. John de Chastelain. The Airborne Regiment has been under fire since March, 1993, when eight members were charged in the torture death of a Somali teen-ager caught sneaking into their camp while the unit was stationed in Somalia on U.N. humanitarian duty.

The Canadian military's elite Airborne Regiment appeared headed for extinction Friday after a series of revelations--some on home video--of racism, lack of discipline and savagery in the ranks. The 600-member unit has been under scrutiny since mid-1993, when it was disclosed that soldiers assigned to the U.N. humanitarian mission to Somalia had tortured to death a Somali teen-ager who was caught sneaking into their camp and suspected of theft.

Three young men sit confined in an Okinawa jail, an ocean away from their hometowns in Texas and Georgia, possibly unaware that the brutal rape they are charged with committing against a Japanese girl has ignited a political firestorm between Japan and the United States. To the folks back home, the two Marines, Pfc. Rodrico Harp, 21, and Pfc. Kendrick M. Ledet, 20, and Navy Seaman Marcus D. Gill, 22, are well-mannered young men.

A Marine staff sergeant was ordered Monday to stand trial on charges stemming from the 2005 killing of 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha. Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich is being charged directly with the deaths of several of the Iraqis and indirectly with the other deaths for failing to supervise his Marines as their squad leader. Under a decision by Lt. Gen.

A former Marine counter-intelligence sergeant testified Tuesday that special operations Marines fired into oncoming civilian traffic in Afghanistan last March even though he saw no evidence that their convoy was fired upon. Appearing before a rare military court of inquiry, Nathaniel Travers, a former staff sergeant, said Marines in his convoy were rushing back to their base after a car bombing when Marine Humvee gunners fired into civilian vehicles on a highway in eastern Afghanistan.

An Israeli army psychiatrist was convicted of trying to sell military secrets to Iran, Russia and the Islamist group Hamas, a court official said. In a plea bargain, Maj. David Shamir, a 45-year-old reservist, told Tel Aviv District Court that he contacted "foreign agents" with the intent to pass on information about Israel's wartime evacuation and medical plans, the official said. Iran and Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip, are avowed enemies of the Jewish state.