Soldiers Face Sanctions for Posing in Nude Photos Sent to Newspaper

By: Female National Guard soldiers who posed nude for pictures before deploying Iraq will face "nonjudicial, administrative measures," the Army said.

The women were not suspended and were "busy supporting the war effort," Maj. Jay Adams, chief of public affairs for the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), told The Courier-Journal of Louisville on Tuesday.

Adams said the investigation was conducted by commanders in Iraq and that he was barred from releasing more information about the sanctions by the federal Privacy Act.

Administrative sanctions can include measures such as docking soldiers' pay or confining them to barracks.

The allegations were reported to the commander of the 410th Quartermaster unit about a week to 10 days before the Danville-based company shipped out for Iraq on Aug. 26 from Camp Shelby, Miss. Eleven of the 107 soldiers in the unit are women.

The Courier-Journal reported in September that the Army was investigating whether women had brought discredit to the military by agreeing to be photographed. The allegations were investigated by the Army because the unit had been assigned to active duty.

The newspaper reported that it had been independently provided a compact disc containing 232 photographs of at least a half-dozen nude and seminude women in various poses with military rifles and covering their breasts with American flag decals.

Lt. Col. Phil Miller, a spokesman for the Kentucky Guard, said Tuesday that "as far as the leadership of the Kentucky National Guard is concerned, this incident is now closed, and the soldiers of 410th Quartermaster Unit can proceed with the mission they were mobilized to perform as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom."

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Related E&P/AP story from Sept. 28: Louisville Paper Gets Disc With 232 Photos of Nude National Guard Women