Not So Proud: Marine Sgt. Who Pissed on Taliban Corpses Pleads Guilty

Remember those Marines who pissed on the dead bodies of Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan?

Today another officer charged in the incident came clean, as Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola pleaded guilty to most of the charges leveled against him for desecrating the corpses of Taliban soldiers with his urine.

He also received charges for posing for photographs with the bodies post-urination, as well as for not reporting the misconduct in the first place. One of his compatriots in the act, Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin, pleaded guilty to similar charges in court last month. Both sergeants are based out of Camp Lejune, North Carolina.

Foresight is apparently not taught at boot camp, because the video the Marines took of the incident (above) is what got them in trouble to begin with. The pissers showed the video around as a sort of trophy when they returned to Camp Lejune.

Regardless, the punishments don’t seem too severe: Chamblin’s sentence consisted of 30 days of confinement, a reduction in rank, fines and the ordered forfeiture of part of his pay for six months. Three other Marines involved in the incident were simply given administrative punishments.

This certainly isn’t the only incident of this kind — American troops in Afghanistan were also recently caught burning Muslim holy books, for example —but this one is among the most disrespectful.