Active Duty (web site)
ActiveDuty.com is an North Carolina-based pornography company specializing in the production of pornographic movies featuring straight military men, engaging in solo and gay sex acts. Dink Flamingo (perhaps a pseudonym) is the producer and director of the films.
The Films
Each film generally involves one or a group of military men that engage in solo or mutral, masterbation, along with homosexual oral and anal sex. During each film their is a often degree of conversation and male bravado from the men, although it is unclear how much of the diolgoue is scripted. The diologue with men engaging in solo masterbation often involves a discusion of their first "experimental" homosexual encouters.
Mr. Flamingo can often be heard speaking to the men, who often seem to think of him as a friend and it is assumed that he is the one operating the camera, although some of the men have been seen operating the camera as well. Mr. Flamingo has not been seen in any of the films, although his hand has been seen once or twice, suggesting that he is a white man, overweight, from the American South and in his forties or fifites.
It would appear that the location of the films is in Mr. Flamingo place of residence, although this is never stated in the films. Locations for the films range from a residential bedroom, bathroom, and a living room.
Members can view a range of video clips and pictures of the videos for sale on the website. The video formats are VHS, and more recently DVD. Non-members were originally able to access many portions of the website, including overviews of each video with nude and pornographic images.
While none of the men faces are disguised, most of the men deny that they are homosexual and the tone of the films is one gay for pay.
2002 Accusation of Blackmail
On October 2nd, 2002 a North Carolina man by the name of Rodney Brent Hodge was arrested and charged with extortation, for alledgey blackmailing several men stationed at Camp LeJeune, and New River into having sex with him. The complaint alledged that these men had agreed to be vidoetaped by Mr. Hodge and that he had threaten to show the video tapes to the men's families and commanding officers unless they agreed to have sex with him [1]. Based on this story, it is possible that Mr. Hodge is in fact Mr. Flamingo.
2006 Legal Investigation
On Janurary 27th, 2006 Fort Bragg announced that it had become aware that some of the men involved in the website, were from the 82nd Airborne Division. While neither For Bragg nor any of the news reports mentioned the name of the website, it is clear from the description of the website and the subsquent restriction of access on the Active Duty website, that the investigatioin is about the involement of servicmen with Active Duty. While no names have been mentioned, or formal charges initiated, some unidentifed servicemen from the division have been moved to a seperate location for the duration of the investigation.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice officers and enlisted men are prohibited from engaging in the act of sodomy (often defined as homosexual conduct) and penalties range from imprisonment to a seperation under less then honrable conditions. The Code also prohibits servicemen from engaging in behavior that is deemed to be "indecent" or otherwise "unbecoming an officer." Hence if any charages are formally filed it will be for the homosexual acts and for involvement in pornography.
The local WRAL newstation, has provided extensive coverage of the investigation, as have some of the national gay press media outlets. While Mr. Flamingo has not made any public statements, tax records note that he has a home in the Rayconda neighborhood of Fayetteville [2].
The Servicemen Legal Defense Network, a gay rights organization seeking to lift the ban on gay men and women in the armed forces, supported the Code's ban on pornography.