HAZING NOT COMMON, ARMY OFFICIAL SAYS.

Byline: Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph

Fort Carson's top spokesman was promoted to lieutenant colonel Friday ``and nobody pounded my rank on my shoulder,'' said Steve Panton.

Panton was referring to videotapes that show Marines beating award pins into the chests of young troops at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in 1991 and 1993.

It's naive to think the Marine Corps is the only service in which hazing occurs, but no incidents have been reported in the Pikes Peak region in the past several years.

At Fort Carson, however, several soldiers say it is common knowledge that promotion pins are sometimes punched through a soldier's uniform into the flesh. Soldiers say it hurts, but it isn't nearly as brutal as seen on the nationally televised Marine Corps videotape.

Although Panton said he has neither experienced nor witnessed ``blood winging'' in his 17 years in the Army, he did admit it may exist.

``It don't think it is a common practice,'' he said. ``When it happens, it is not the official way to have their rank pinned on.''

``We try to treat our soldiers with dignity and respect,'' he said.

In the Army, maximum punishment for hazing includes up to a year confinement, forfeiture of pay and allowances, and dishonorable discharge.

At the Air Force Academy, there have been two ``training violations'' in the past five years. Neither was severe enough to be classified as hazing, said Neil Talbott, an academy spokesman.

In one case, a freshman cadet received excessive blisters on his hands during physical training because of poor supervision, Talbott said. In the other, a freshman cadet was ordered to eat a ``silver bullet'' - peanut butter and chocolate on a spoon - laced with Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and mustard.