In April 2016, a (low quality) video of U.S. Army Humvees plummeting out of a cargo plane and smashing into the ground, while the person recording the whole thing was laughing, surfaced on YouTube.
Naturally, the Army wasn’t too thrilled about the incident, never mind the viral video showing its equipment getting destroyed, and set out to find the perpetrators.
Last year, Sergeant John T. Skipper, a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy, was charged with purposefully cutting the parachute straps on three Humvees during the heavy drop exercise that took place in Germany.
According to Stars and Stripes, a court-martial jury of his peers found Sergeant Skipper guilty on three counts of “destroying military property with a value of more than $500” and giving a false statement during questioning.
The 29-year-old Sergeant has been demoted to E-1 Private and dismissed from the military on a bad-conduct discharge. Lucky for Skipper, he avoided the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a dishonorable discharge, and a forfeiture of all his pay and benefits.
The event was captured on film by a Sergeant First Class, who was swiftly punished with an administrative letter of reprimand for his laughing, cursing, and amusement at the destruction of U.S. Army property.
Warning: The following video contains strong language