By Debbie Gregory.
Emmy winning comedienne Sarah Silverman was not joking around when she tweeted concern for her nephew to the Marine Corps, in light of the boot-camp abuse scandal. Silverman, who has nearly 9 million Twitter followers, tweeted to the Marine Corps’ main account twice and once to another account affiliated with its Recruiting Command.
The Marine Corps responded by reassuring Silverman that the service branch is committed to her nephew’s success as a recruit at Parris Island, S.C
The scandal alleged that numerous drill instructors abused recruits at what is likely the U.S. military’s best-known boot camp.
In the most tragic incident, Marine recruit Raheel Siddiqui, 20, fell three stories to his death in March after running away from a drill instructor who had hit him. The same drill instructor has been accused of putting another recruit in an industrial-size dryer last year and turning it on multiple times.
Up to 20 Marines face either criminal or disciplinary action, and the service has removed numerous senior officials at Parris Island after investigations found that they had not done enough to stop it. More than 100 other cases of abuse and hazing in the past few years at the recruit training center also have been substantiated, according to military documents. The service has not released any information about most of those.
Silverman asked for reassurances that her nephew will be safe during recruit training.
The Corps responded with, “We appreciate and understand your concerns and thank you for sharing them directly with us. Rest assured, the recent circumstances regarding recruit training in the media are not indicative of the manner we transform young men & women into Marines. We are actively engaged in ensuring everyone with a loved one or family member working hard to earn the title Marine is assured and informed. We remain committed to your nephew’s success, and when he’s earned the title Marine he’ll be proud and so will we! See you at his graduation.”
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