A Marine has received “an adverse administrative action and counseling” after making comments on Facebook that blamed pedophilia victims for being sexually assaulted, said Gunnery Sgt. Jason Fudge, a 2nd Marine Logistics Group spokesman.
Master Sgt. Mark McBride was assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion when 2nd MLG received a complaint alleging that he had engaged in social media misconduct, Fudge told Task & Purpose.
Fudge could not say what type of “administrative action” that Master Sgt. Mark McBride received. Nor could he say if McBride, who is on terminal leave, will be retiring or separating from the Corps in March.
It was also unclear on Monday whether McBride was already expected to retire when he engaged in a Jan. 6 Facebook discussion about musician R. Kelly, who is now in jail following a documentary that examined allegations that he raped young girls.
“There would be no such thing as statutory rape if there weren’t young girls WILLING to have sex with older Men there would only be Rape!” McBride wrote in one post.
After being criticized for his comments, McBride made a Facebook video later that day claiming that he was not blaming rape victims, but some young girls have sex with men “for some type of monetary gain.”
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service looked into the matter and determined that McBride’s comments did not warrant a criminal investigation, Fudge said.
“A separate investigation initiated by 2nd Marine Logistics Group was conducted, which concluded that McBride’s comments were inconsistent with the high standard of professional conduct expected of all Marines,” Fudge said. “This resulted in an adverse administrative action and counseling.”
Since the 2017 “Marines United” scandal, all Marines have been required to complete social media conduct training and acknowledge in a Page 11 entry that they had read and understood the Corps’ new social media policy.
“Marines represent the Marine Corps in both private and public arenas and will always be held accountable for their actions,” Fudge said. “2nd MLG will continue to enforce the standard of professional conduct and we encourage and expect our Marines to exercise their best judgment to avoid engaging in behavior which may discredit the Corps, whether in public or private settings.”