British paratroopers are being barred from deploying to a NATO exercise in the Balkans after videos leaked online of soldiers having an orgy with a civilian woman in the barracks.
According to The Times of London, military police earlier this month began investigating paratroopers of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment. The Times reported on June 7 that video clips “were circulated on social media” of a civilian woman engaging in a consensual orgy with the paratroopers in the Melville Barracks “while dozens watched.”
The videos reportedly showed “sexual activity in different areas of the base,” according to The Times. A British Army investigation determined the woman had been brought into the barracks “as many as 31 times in five months,” according to The Times.
The decision to bar the battalion from deployment came less than a week after Gen. Sir Patrick Sanders took over as the head of the U.K. Army. On June 16, Sanders sent a letter to senior leaders, calling the paratroopers’ behavior “unacceptable, corrosive and detrimental to the army’s reputation.” While the investigation determined that “no crime had been committed,” The Times reported, Sanders said the behavior and subsequent videos could have been used to “denigrate women.”
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The soldiers were preparing to deploy to the Balkans for a 10-day military exercise with NATO allies. But Sanders said in the letter that he was “not prepared to risk the NATO mission or the reputation of the British Army by deploying 3 Para at this time.” The unit previously deployed to Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s consolidation of power last August.
Instead, leaders are considering sending another battalion to the NATO exercise in the Balkans, according to The Times. The soldiers involved in the leaked videos will also be kept from participating in another upcoming rotation for the battalion.
The recent scandal is far from the first sex-related incident for the British military. As The Times reported, a nuclear submarine’s crew allegedly had “drug-fueled parties while the submarine was docked in the U.S. to pick up nuclear warheads” in 2017. An investigation found that nine troops had cocaine in their systems while on duty and that the submarine’s captain and second-in-command allegedly had extramarital affairs on board.
More recently, soldiers from 3rd Para were accused of “unprofessional behavior” during a May exercise in North Macedonia, The Times reported.
The paratroopers barred from the deployment will “lose out on a medal and extra pay” since they are not allowed on the deployment, according to The Times. Recent events, Sanders reportedly said in his letter, indicate the soldiers of the battalion are not “demonstrating the levels of discipline and respect for others expected of one of our battalions.”
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