Not just for the military, but a lesson in equalizing factors: what straight males say they don’t like most about gay males is the one time they are in the shoes of women. Lesbians don’t really strike so much fear in straight women because they are more physically matched, same for the converse of males.

Homosexuality pretty much cancels out dangerous aggression if one were to encourage openness about sexuality and how the tempering factor of homosexuality affects men and women at either end of the gender poles.

By continuing to destroy or take out that tempering factor, the sort of alpha dog behaviors such as this, are allowed to run roughshod over civility.
And the military isn’t any more excuse to let this happen than in civilian society. Which of course they are not completely isolated from and are there to protect too.

The only reason anything happened to Toussaint is that the media and Rep. Joe Sestak got involved. Normally, or I should say 99% of the time, that doesn’t happen. Most won’t do as much as Rep. Sestak. Those who slapped Toussaint on the hand and recommended his promotion to Senior Chief should also be held accountable, but again, that won’t happen. In today’s military, shit rolls downhill, not up (ie. Abu Ghraib – if you read the account, only the enlisted and Commanding Officer suffered consequences, with the enlisted taking the brunt of the penalties). The old saying that the Captain goes down with his ship is purely mythical, especially today. The military is now all politics. No MacArthur’s, no Patton’s just political West Point/Annapolis servants.

What will be interesting is to see when Toussaint made Senior Chief. Normally a reduction in rank is down one. So, if he just made Senior Chief Petty Officer and is not getting paid for it yet, he is literally a Chief Petty Officer, so therefore his reduction would be to First Class Petty Officer and he would be retired as such. That, is a big blow, but I doubt that they will do that. He will probably retire as a Chief Petty Officer with full benefits, even though that doesn’t compensate for those who were abused (or ‘paid the price’) by his leadership.

Should he be allowed to retire? Well, that is a debate that will continue. It is mainly going to be on what the charges were, his performance beyond the hazings and past punishments (NJP/Court-Martial) of others who have committed the same ‘crime’.

We can say the military is doing the right thing, but that is only because their hand was forced.

@Chris McCoy: Court martial isn’t an administrative action, it’s a judicial proceeding. Administrative action is described as “not punitive in character; instead, it is meant to be corrective and rehabilitative. Administrative actions include measures ranging from counseling or a reprimand to involuntary separation.”

A pension he may have, but in the real world any sane person will see him as unemployable.

It’s for decent people to never let him forget that, until justice is properly served.

It’s difficult enough to recruit high-calibre personnel as it is. What message does it send out to potential recruits, when high command lets psycopaths and sadists like this off so lightly?

He will also receive a letter of censure from the Secretary of the Navy, which the Virginia Pilot describes as “the harshest administration action that can be taken against a sailor.”

That’s a load of BS. Court Martial is the hardhest administrative action against any service member in any branch of the service.

This man will be Honorably Discharged, and therefore will receive a retirement pension and health benefits, at our expense for the rest of his life.

So much for justice.