Executing a civilian? I think you mean not showing two kids being murdered

From at least 2015 onwards, if not earlier, disturbing rumours of war crimes, and in particular of illegal killings and mistreatment of detainees, circulated. Morale was affected. The response of the Special Operations Commander Australia (SOCAUST)to these issues included imposing an operational pause in the Command, sending his Deputy to Campbell Barracks to ensure the SASR adhered to ADF Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), and in 2015, commissioning a study with the aim of providing a ‘snapshot’ of the integration of the special operations capability with other ADF units and Whole-of-Government capabilities. He appointed Dr Samantha Crompvoets to conduct the study.

She explained that, as she interviewed various people, including Special Forces 'insiders’, both ‘on the record’ and ‘off the record’, she was sometimes told stories of ‘war crimes’. She identified a number of ‘deeply concerning norms’ within Australian Special Forces, including: the shift from ‘unacceptable behaviour’ to war crimes; the glorifying of these crimes as being a ‘good’ soldier; ‘competition killing’ and ‘blood lust’; the inhumane and unnecessary treatment of prisoners; and cover-ups of unlawful killings and other atrocities.

A specific incident described to Dr Crompvoets involved an incident where members from the ‘SASR’ were driving along a road and saw two 14-year-old boys whom they decided might be Taliban sympathisers. They stopped, searched the boys and slit their throats. The rest of the Troop then had to ‘clean up the mess’, which involved bagging the bodies and throwing them into a nearby river. Dr Crompvoets says she was told this was not an isolated incident. In this context, Dr Crompvoets says she was told that Special Forces soldiers were committing unsanctioned killing in order to ‘get a name for themselves’ and to join the ‘in’ group.