Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Soldiers strip as they play a game of Eight British commandos have been flown home in disgrace from Norway after reportedly stripping and urinating on each other during an Arctic training exercise.
The soldiers were arrested in the town of Harstad last Wednesday night after a drunken game of "naked bar", it was reported.
They apparently took their clothes off in the Sfinx Bar in Harstad, made lewd comments to women and urinated on each other, splashing other customers and furniture.
The troops could now face disciplinary action as the Ministry of Defence said it was taking the matter "extremely seriously".
An MoD spokesman said: "We can confirm that eight soldiers from 59 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers were arrested by the Norwegian police following inappropriate behaviour.
"All eight soldiers have been released, having paid a fine. The soldiers were in Norway on exercises and have now returned to the UK.
"The unit will consider internal disciplinary action against the soldiers regarding this incident."
Some of the soldiers do naked press-ups
The case has been made public in the Norwegian press, highlighting that local people have had enough of the yobbish behaviour of British troops.
Bar manager Peter Holmbakken told the Daily Mail he had never seen anything like it.
He added: "I can understand that the women were offended. It's no fun to be plagued by lots of nasty comments.
"To be perfectly honest, I and a lot of other Harstad residents are fed up with the Englishmen."
The Royal Engineers are based in Barnstaple, north Devon and were practising their Arctic warfare skills alongside Royal Marines in Norway.
They were part of an annual exercise involving thousands of personnel from more than a dozen Nato countries.
The soldiers are among an international brigade in northern Norway training for another expected tour of duty in Afghanistan
They had been drinking and began "bothering" female customers, before shouting "naked bar!" and stripping off.
The drinking game is said to be popular in many units across the British armed forces where participants immediately remove all clothing.
Then the soldiers began urinating on one of their party who had slumped drunkenly to the floor.
Local police handed spot fines of £500 to each of the men before passing them over to the Royal Military Police.
Harstad police spokesman Gair Pedersen said: "They were drunk and there was a problem in the bar but we are quite used to dealing with British soldiers like this."
The MoD said all UK personnel taking part in Exercise Octans had now been banned from going to Harstad and the eight men were all privates or junior non-commissioned officers.
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