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.”