Social media again proves army's undoing

A failure in social media education on behalf of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has led to yet another public embarrassment for the organisation, after over 1000 soldiers have been implicated in a hate group that engages in regular sexism, homophobia and racism, according to a report.

ABC's 7.30 program revealed last night that the closed Facebook group has played host to over 1000 soldiers trying to outdo each other with various inappropriate comments.

Examples of comments from the private group revealed on the program included a thread about the participation of women on the front line of combat.

"Well if you had a nice, soft, warm put f*** buddy in the shape of a woman you could have got rid of all that stress. LOL," one comment read.

"F*** fodder for the enemy, new break contact drill, leave female soldier behind wearing bikini LOL," said another.

Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison said in response to the report that personnel who are found to be connected with the lewd and inappropriate comments would be dealt with "to the extent that our polices and laws allow".

This latest lapse in military decency follows a string of other gaffes involving social media and technology, including the Skype sex scandal at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and other Facebook-based hate groups. One soldier was allegedly posting racist slurs against the Afghani people on his Facebook page in March last year, while an ex-ADF member was charged by police for threatening a senior officer in connection with an online gay hate group.

A report triggered by the bad online behaviour at the ADFA highlighted an alpha-male culture, and recommended that young men be educated on the respectful treatment of women and the correct use of online services and social media.