Hazing charges leveled at three Air Force Academy swimmers have been dismissed, Colorado Springs newspaper The Gazette reports.
We reported on the allegations back in September. At the time, two senior swimmers faced court martial for their role in a 2017 hazing scandal. 11 swimmers were removed from the Air Force team in early 2018 in relation to a alleged hazing ritual that took place in September of 2017. The two athletes facing court martial were Lars Knutson and Michael Hannigan, charged with hazing, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Now, The Gazette reports that Garrett Glaudini had also been accused, but those allegations weren’t publicly released until this month. The new Gazette report says that the court martial charges against all three men have been dismissed, though the Air Force Academy did say that “a number of cases, including these three, remain under consideration for possible administrative action.”
An investigation into the hazing allegations did turn up a yearly initiation event, The Gazette report says. The event involved a self-described swim team fraternity. The freshmen were asked to eat as much food as they could, the report says, then blindfolded and driven into the woods to run, drink milk and eat more, with the goal of vomiting. The report says the ritual concluded with the freshmen being once again blindfolded and the upperclassmen stripping and threatening to make the freshmen perform oral sex, eventually putting their clothes back on and revealing that it was a joke.
The Gazette reports that it was this incident that caused a freshman to complain to the school about hazing.
“Although the court-martial charges have been dismissed, acts of hazing and bullying have no place in our military as they run contrary to the core concept of dignity and respect,” the school said in a press release.
This looks like a situation where the Air Force Academy likely decided that non-criminal discipline would be sufficient to address the conduct of these cadets.
The Gazette also reported that the Air Force Academy revealed that the court-martial charges were a joke.
As soldiers who represent America this is pretty pathetic.
Chris, if I read this article right, the charges were dropped. Am I missing something here that you’re seeing?
I read that the culture that spawned Tailhook hasn’t completely been washed out. I also read that the charges were dropped, not that anyone said the allegations were false.