So, Gay Paratroopers Huh?

7 U.S. Paratroppers Charged With Having Sex On Gay Porno Website

Canadian Press
Published: Friday, February 24, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. army has charged seven paratroopers from its elite 82nd Airborne Division with engaging in sex acts in video shown on a homosexual pornographic website, authorities said Friday.

Three of the soldiers face courts-martial on charges of sodomy, pandering and engaging in sex acts for money, said a statement released Friday by the military. Four other soldiers, whose names were not released, received non-judicial punishments.

The army has recommended all be discharged.

The charges do not mention the name of the site but the division has said previously it was investigating allegations soldiers appeared on a homosexual pornography website. A spokesman for the division said Friday the charges are a result of that investigation.

The military-themed website on which the army has said soldiers appeared does not make any direct reference to the division or Fort Bragg, a sprawling post about 110 kilometres south of Raleigh.

"As far as we're concerned, it's isolated to the unit and our investigation determined that these seven individuals were the only ones" involved, said 82nd Airborne spokesman Maj. Thomas Earnhardt.

Steve Ralls, a spokesman for a legal group that helps gays and lesbians in the military, said the charges indicate the soldiers' behaviour is "a much more serious matter than just their sexual orientation."

"I'm not going to make excuses for service members who are taking part in sexual conduct for money," said Ralls, who works for the Washington-based Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

"It would be absolutely criminal, regardless of whether they were heterosexual or gay," Ralls said.

Earnhardt said the three soldiers charged criminally under the Uniform Code of Military Justice had been appointed military lawyers but the lawyers would be unavailable for comment Friday.

The three soldiers who face courts martial are: Spc. Richard Ashley, Pte. 1st Class Wesley Mitten and Pte. Kagen Mullen. The army did not release their ages or hometowns but said all seven paratroopers were members of the 2nd Battalion of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

The non-judicial punishment received by the four other soldiers included reduction to the rank of private, 45 days of restriction to the unit area, 45 days of extra duty and forfeiture of a month's pay.

The registered owner of the website's domain name lists an address in Fayetteville, N.C., the city that adjoins Fort Bragg. A phone number listed for the registered owner was not in service Friday and e-mails to the owner have been regularly returned as undeliverable.

The 15,000 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne are among the U.S. army's elite soldiers, all having volunteered to serve in a unit that trains to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.

The military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy states "homosexual orientation alone is not a bar to service but homosexual conduct is incompatible with military service."

Service members who violate the policy are removed from the military.

© The Canadian Press 2006