National Guard Officer Allowed to Retire After Motorboating a Subordinate

The U.S. military allowed a National Guard officer to retire after it convicted him of charges related to him motorboating a subordinate during an impromptu promotion ceremony. 

The officer is now-former Captain Billy Joe Crosby Jr. He was a part of the Louisiana National Guard stationed at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan. While he was there, according to court records, he talked repeatedly about a soldier’s breasts. When the soldier came up for a promotion, he told several people he would motorboat her during the promotion ceremony. Then, during the ceremony, he motorboated her.

For the purpose of the court martial the military had to provide an official definition of motorboating. “Several witnesses defined ‘motorboating’ as an act where a person places his face between the breasts of a female and shakes his head back and forth,” court records said. “One witness described that act as sexual in nature.”

It was such a brazen display of sexual misconduct that several witnesses immediately reported the incident. The charges were conduct unbecoming an officer, assault consummated by battery, and abusive sexual contact. Crosby initially plead not guilty, but changed his plea to guilty when prosecutors agreed to drop the abusive sexual contact charge.

According to court records, Crosby and the unnamed soldier were stationed together at “an austere outpost” in Jordan in 2021. A witness testified that Crosby had once asked the officer to drive with him to another part of Jordan. When the witness asked Crosby why, he said he “liked looking at her tits,” according to court records.

In January 2021, the officer was up for a promotion. When Crosby learned about it, he told several people of his intention to motorboat the soldier during the ceremony. In front of one staff sergeant, Crosby said that “he would ‘motorboat’ her at her promotion ceremony and that ranks are placed in the middle of the chest to allow males to motorboat females during promotion.”

On May 15, 2021, the officer learned she would be promoted. Crosby asked if she wanted a ceremony to go with her promotion and the soldier declined. “A day or so after [the officer] declined the promotion ceremony, [Crosby] came into the unit’s arms room where [she] was working with [a witness]” court records said. 

“[Crosby] approached [her]...told her to stand up, placed the rank in front of her chest, and leaned in to grab the rank with his teeth,” the court said. “[Crosby] then placed his face between [her] breasts. His face made contact with the middle of her chest. He vigorously moved his head from side to side [her] breasts while still holding the rank between his teeth.”

The soldier left the room, leaving Crosby behind. It’s important to stress again that this was not a formal ceremony and took place in a storage space for arms and ammunition. According to court records, the officer was dressed for a workout—in a T-shirt and shorts. 

Several people testified against Crosby during the trial. His bad behavior had multiple witnesses saying that he’d threatened to assault the officer before actually doing it. One friend who served with Crosby in Panama in 1989 stepped forward to serve as a character witness, attempting to play the whole thing off as Crosby’s “good” sense of humor.

“The 1st Sergeant will testify to Captain Crosby’s good sense of humor in difficult circumstances having known him since their deployment,” the court records said. “The 1st Sergeant will testify to [Crosby’s] habit of trying to make people laugh especially in difficult situations, this evidence is relevant because it makes the issue of [Crosby’s] intend to ‘arouse or gratify’ his sexual desires less likely under the circumstances alleged.”

This explanation didn’t fly and the Army court martialed Crosby. But, critically, it dropped the charge of abusive sexual contact. Dropping that charge means that Crosby gets to retire, keep his benefits, and that he won’t have to register as a sex offender.

"Capt. Crosby's behavior was not in line with the Army values,” Maj. Jessica Rovero, spokeswoman for the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, told Motherboard. “Multiple Soldiers immediately reported the behavior, and Crosby pled guilty at trial. Throughout the court-martial, all parties were treated with dignity and respect, which inspires trust in the process."

The U.S. Army has a major sexual assault problem. Reports of sexual assault in the Army have doubled in the last decade. It’s a problem that extends beyond the Army, all branches of America’s military service have a problem dealing sexual assault and sexism. 

The U.S. Marine Corps has been involved in repeated scandals involving Marines swapping revenge porn. Recently, Marine instructors were caught running a group chat where they called fellow Marines “slut” and “whore.” They weren’t punished. Women serving on Army bases are at heightened risk for sexual assault and harassment.

In the military it’s all about the chain of command. Crosby threatened to motorboat a subordinate in front of witnesses, and then made good on his threat. When he was caught, he was allowed to leave the military without facing the consequences for the sexual nature of a crime he plead guilty to. Stories like this send the wrong message to the men and women serving in America’s armed forces, but are sadly all too common.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to correct several factual inaccuracies. The charge against Crosby was ‘abusive sexual contact’ and his victim was a junior enlisted who was then promoted to a noncommissioned officer.