Over the last couple of weeks, the media has covered the Marine Social Media scandal where some outlier Marines posted nude photos of other Marines on a closed Facebook site named “Marines United”. In defense of the Marine Corps: 220,000 out of 220,500 Marines are NOT a part of Marines United. An article in the Marine Corps Times stated that “NCIS has identified hundreds of Marines who are members of Marines United“. The posting of this material is a moral failure of those that posted it, bottom line. However, there is an underlying principle to be remembered through this recent development.
While hundreds of Marines, about 500 of the site’s 30,00 members, are on this site did not post photos, they are all identified and subject to investigation. Their crime? Asking permission to join the group and being accepted. Obviously, with 30,000 member the Facebook site is 1) not secret and 2) not selective in membership, so if you requested to join, you were probably immediately accepted. The key here is that these 500 Marines opted-in to this Facebook site and will reap some painful repercussions from it. It matters who we associate with—in person and online. There are places that you would never go to because others may see you there and think the wrong thing. The principle is the same here. If you join a group that is not something you would not want other to see, you are in the wrong place. And that could back and bite you. While there will be some free speech activist that will say that the Marine Corps cannot and should not go after these 500 who were on this site, but that is for commanders to decide. Marines and Soldiers do not have the same rights as other people, we represent more. We are being watched, we can, and should lose our job if we do not live up to the standards given to us. This includes making decisions whether or not to join an online group contrary to Marine Corps or Army Values. The lesson learned is that everything you do online is being watched and everything can be used against you. So, choose wisely.
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