Anybody who complained about anything in the Defence Forces faced losing their job, said a former member of the air corps who claims he was “scalped” by a senior officer.
Paul Kavanagh, giving evidence in the second week of public hearings at the Defence Forces Tribunal, said he was the victim of a number of bullying incidents — some of which, he claimed, senior officers were aware.
He claimed senior officers in the air corps knew personnel were “tubbed” – thrown into large tubs of chemicals and engine grease as a brutal form of so-called hazing, or initiation at Baldonnel Aerodrome, in Co Dublin.
He too was a victim of tubbing — where he was grabbed and thrown “head first” into a large tub filled with oil and grease and even “a dead crow”.
The practice has been referenced before by other former air corps.
He was asked if senior officers in the Air Corps were aware of this specific practice, and he replied: “Totally, yeah.” He added that “no action was taken”.
Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner website below.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41859684.html
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