The story is frightening with irresponsibility.
It is told by La Provence two years after the events which occurred on the air base 126 of Solenzara in Corsica.
That day a young pilot, who had just been assigned there, suffered his "
hazing
".
With a balaclava on his head, he is tied to a target at the Mirage “Diane” training range: a large red cross attached to a pole several meters high.
For several minutes, the planes follow one another and fire live ammunition at another target more than 500 meters away.
He only hears the crash of explosions.
Other fictitious shots are fired in its direction, tells the regional daily.
The pilot will come out of this episode traumatized, he said, the culmination of a series of bullying.
The hazing perpetrators filmed everything.
“This investigation led the command to initiate the disciplinary process against those responsible identified.
Firm sanctions were then pronounced.
Air Force spokesperson
Failing to have obtained a change of assignment, the pilot ended up telling everything. He lodged a complaint for "
aggravated willful violence
" and "
deliberate endangerment of others
". Within the army, it is assured that the perpetrators were not aware of the "
stupidity
" of their acts but that they had not endangered their comrade, who was far from the impact of the shots.
The Air Force reacted anyway. “
Recently informed of an event dating from March 2019, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Space launched a command investigation to shed light on the facts brought to his attention
», Commented on Friday Colonel Spet, spokesman for the air force. “
This investigation led the command to initiate the disciplinary process against those responsible identified. Firm sanctions were then pronounced. The Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force would like to remind you that the Air and Space Force condemns any activity likely to harm the physical integrity. as psychological, from his personal and to the
image of the institution, ”he added.
A case that is not isolated
If the military authorities unambiguously denounce this type of behavior, the stories of out-of-bounds hazing or moral harassment are unfortunately not isolated.
Last February, a preliminary investigation was opened after the complaint of five soldiers within the base 133 of Nancy-Ochey.
In their complaints, the victims had mentioned multiple bullying, unjustified reproaches, insults, deprivation of missions, denigration, ostracism.
Their defender had denounced "
the institutionalized side of harassment practices
".
Of the five complainants, two left the army.
The other three are "
on sick leave or placarded
", according to their lawyer quoted by AFP.
In January, three soldiers were sentenced to suspended prison sentences for the death by drowning of Second Lieutenant Jallal Hami, who died in 2012 during an activity of "
transmission of tradition
" at the school of officers of Saint -Cyr Coëtquidan. Many other stories are still unclear. They are either "
from another era
", they say among the military, or from the law of silence. Within the institution, we want to believe that these excesses are no longer current or have become extremely minor. "
We send messages through command actions and sanctioning the facts when they occur
", we assure. Hazing is also prohibited.
The sharing of traditions is, however, an integral part of the military institution. Each base and each unit is proud to cultivate its identity and its history. The esprit de corps is built in a form of hardening that goes beyond training. And almost by definition even, the military are ready to be "
jostled
" including physically. The "
heckling
" can quickly become harassment. But to refuse these rites of integration is to risk being sidelined from the group.