The Navy sex ledger scandal that wasn't

IT was May 9, in Singapore, and three sailors were being marched off HMAS Success, carrying what possessions they’d scrambled together. One was Chief Petty Officer Jason Thomas, a family man and holder of several commendations from the Navy for his leadership and “devotion to duty”. Why he and the two petty officers with him were now being thrown off their ship, after a cursory “equity and diversity health check”, was a mystery to him, and a savage humiliation. The officers herding them off were yelling at the crew to “clear the passageways and do not look at this person”. Their captain later said “a rotten core” had been “removed”. Thomas was left in Singapore without a bed or support, and the other two were whisked off to the airport. Even worse was to follow, in an extraordinary saga that shows how some allegations are too politically loaded now for even sensible people to question, let alone laugh off. Read the rest here.

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