PINNING THE COMMANDANT

By Mark Thompson/Washington

General Charles Krulak, the head of the Marine Corps, has been busy denouncing the brutal September 1991 blood-pinning ritual recently seen on television. Last week, in fact, Krulak wrote a letter to the parents of all his young soldiers declaring that "tradition in the Marine Corps has nothing whatsoever to do with hurting or humiliating each other." But Mom and Pop might not be so reassured if they knew that until two months before the incident, Krulak headed the unit in which the bloody hazing took place. He commanded the 2nd Force Service Support Group at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, from June 1990 to July 1991. An aide says Krulak had no knowledge of such brutality, adding that the general spent part of that time in the Middle East during the Gulf War and had a pair of lower-ranking officers between him and those who pounded pins into their fellow Marines' chests.

--By Mark Thompson/Washington