AKA William

Last month I posted a video of Joseph Christopher Rocha, a gay Navy dog-handler who left the military because of the harassment and humiliation he faced. In the video, he finally broke his silence about what happened to him.

Now, after obtaining documents under the Freedom of Information Act and conducting a series of interviews with Rocha and other servicemen, Youth Radio has uncovered the culture of abuse, sexual intimidation, and harassment that permeated the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain Military Working Dogs Division, or “The Kennel,” and led to the

A Youth Radio investigation has found that between 2004 and 2006, sailors in the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain Military Working Dogs Division, or “The Kennel,” were subjected to an atmosphere of sexual harassment, psychological humiliation, and physical assaults . . . “I was hog-tied to a chair, rolled around the base, left in a dog kennel that had feces spread in it.”

Rocha says that beginning six weeks into his deployment, he was singled out for abuse by his chief master-at-arms, Michael Toussaint, and others on the base, once Rocha made it clear he was not interested in prostitutes. “I was in a very small testosterone-driven unit of men,” Rocha says. “I think that’s what began the questioning-you know-‘Why don’t you want to have sex with her? Are you a faggot?’”

Rocha was also forced by Touissant to simulate sex with another male officer while the encounter was filmed for a “training video” that ended with the encounter being broken up by dog-handler and his dog.

But the abuse wasn’t limited to Rocha:

Allegations of abuse across the unit escalated to a point that Navy officials enlisted Marine Corps Captain Brooks Braden to carry out an independent investigation . . . [that uncovered] throwing hard balls at the groin, spraying down uniformed personnel with multiple hoses, and a dog attacking a sex worker on base to the point of hospitalization.

. . . Another incident cited in the investigation found that two female service members were ordered to simulate sex with each other on video. According to the Findings of Fact, the women were handcuffed to a bed and appeared to be naked under a sheet.

Youth Radio’s investigation included interviewing four members of “The Kennel” who served between 2004 and 2006, all say the tone of the division was set by Chief Toussaint. And “Kennel” members, some of whom were perpetrators and some victims, have expressed regret about not speaking up, even though Toussaint had threatened to revoke their handlers’ licenses–taking away their dogs and their specialty in the Navy.

Since the investigation, Chief Michael Toussaint has been promoted to Senior Chief with the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group in Dam Neck, Virginia.

The Palm Center has issued a press release regarding this.

Abused In Silence, A Gay Soldier Finally Speaks Out

Abused Navy Sailor Joseph Rocha Speaks Out On CNN, In Washington Post

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