British soldiers posted in Kenya are being ‘forced to have sex with prostitutes’ as part of a cruel initiation ceremony, an investigation has revealed.
The findings have concerned defense chiefs as details reveal senior ranks allegedly flip a coin to determine whether the soldier will be allowed to wear a condom or not during the interaction.
This is reportedly meant to prove how ‘brave’ they are.
But army bosses are concerned over the risk of HIV/Aids and ‘global reputational risk’.
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Approximately 10,000 British troops are deployed to the country each year for up to eight weeks to carry out firing exercises, writes the Mail Online.
When they returned to British soil they were questioned about the use of prostitutes for a study which has been published in the British Medical Journal Military Health.
One anonymous soldier told the Ministry of Defence: “When this unit deploys on exercise they have an initiation ceremony for all the new soldiers who haven’t deployed to Kenya before.
“The more senior soldiers would flip a coin – heads you could use a condom, tails you could not.”
The study reveals although a guide to sexual health is handed out on arrival, but the reported number of soldiers seeking care for related diseases are higher than troops based in Britain.
The report, written by the Defence Medical Services, found a third of soldiers don’t remember being given this guide.
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One in 20 people in the East African country are HIV-positive, (5%), compared with 0.2% in the UK.
Former Army intelligence officer Philip Ingram has criticized military leadership over the incidents.
He said: “Sexual health is a part of annual training for all service personnel.
“To hear that soldiers are being forced into some form of sexual initiation ceremony… where HIV rates are very high, shocks me to the core.
“It once again highlights a failure in leadership and that the culture in the Army is still fundamentally broken.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “All sexual activity which involves the abuse of power, including buying sex whether in the UK or abroad, is prohibited.
“We are committed to preventing sexual exploitation in any form.”
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