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Last updated on Sunday, September 2, 2012
(BATTLE CREEK, Mich.) - A disturbing video taped at a U.S. military base in North Carolina shows one soldier hitting another with a wooden mallet, causing him to stumble backward and seconds later, collapse unto the floor, hitting his head on a chair.
Crystal Hilliard, reports that's where the video ends. But according to 22-year-old Sgt. Phillip Roach's father, Ken, the sergeant then had a seizure and had to be taken to a hospital for stitches.
Sgt. Roach flies a special type of plane, among other things, but is currently unable to do so because of the seizure, according to his father.
Sgt. Roach has been in the Army for five years and was recently promoted from specialist to sergeant. Being hit with the mallet was meant to be some sort of "initiation."
His father said both the soldier who struck his son with the wooden mallet and the one who filmed the incident are his son's superiors.
After reaching out to the president's office, Roach's father received a letter back acknowledging the "unauthorized ceremony," calling it a "clear incident of hazing that caused injury to a great soldier."
The letter also confirms the soldier who hit him in that video has been reprimanded. But Ken Roach called it a "slap on the wrist" and said the punishment's not good enough.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is also weighing in. Friday, he released a statement asking the Army to review this case.
To read his response visit http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/military/Copy_of_BC-Army-Sgt-hit-with-mallet-in-hazing1346532114885#.UEKSDiK1Hx4
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