It is the kind of old-fashioned discipline that was thought to have disappeared from even our elite Armed Forces.
But in a move hailed as a blow against modern ‘woke’ culture, the entire contingent of trainee Royal Marines has just been forced to crawl through mud to pay for the ‘sins’ of a handful of their colleagues.
Hundreds of rookie commandos were ordered to do the Marines’ ‘mud run’ after only a dozen or so fellow recruits were caught pilfering the camp’s canteen.
The run involves crawling through foul-smelling silt outside their training base in Devon in an exercise so gruelling that some ex-commandos thought it had been abolished. But defence sources confirmed last night that around 400 fit and able recruits had undergone the mud run.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘They were putting stuff through the self-service canteen checkout without scanning some items and the mass mud run was ordered as a result.’ But far from criticising the ‘mass punishment’, current and former Marines heaped praise on commanders at the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone.
One former commando said: ‘This has gone down very well after decades of suffocating “woke” culture in the Forces.’
A source at the base said: ‘This was a big call by the CO and, quite frankly, all the instructors welcomed it. Those people who were caught stealing didn’t just let themselves down – they let their mates down.
‘The vast majority of those who faced the mud were innocent but this sends a message to all that theft will not be tolerated.’ Former Defence Minister and ex-regular Army captain Tobias Ellwood said: ‘At first glance, this collective punishment may seem excessive. However, this is the military – not civilian life.
In a move hailed as a blow against modern ‘ woke ’ culture, the entire contingent of trainee Royal Marines has just been forced to crawl through mud to pay for the ‘sins’ of a handful of their colleagues
Hundreds of rookie commandos were ordered to do the Marines’ ‘mud run’ after only a dozen or so fellow recruits were caught pilfering the camp’s canteen
The run involves crawling through foul-smelling silt outside their training base in Devon in an exercise so gruelling that some ex-commandos thought it had been abolished. But defence sources confirmed last night that around 400 fit and able recruits had undergone the mud run
‘Fighting units, especially elite forces like the Marines, function best when there is absolute trust and discipline within the ranks and loyalty to the team. They train as one and fight as one, and such punishment reinforces their cohesion and unity.’
Commanders were understood to have been furious at the thefts, regarded as one of the worst offences in the Marines because it undermines the integrity of their ‘corps ethos’.
However, last night, defence sources said that officers in charge at Lympstone regarded the incident as closed, with no further action to be taken against the offending trainees.
