It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
A Green Beret and his allies say the fact that he "stood up to a child rapist" while serving in Afghanistan with an elite Joint Base Lewis-McChord unit shouldn't be grounds for kicking him out of the Army.
Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland says he beat up an Afghan police commander he was supposed to be mentoring because he was fed up with the commander's "brutal" sexual abuse of a village boy.
In 2011, Martland was nearing the end of his yearlong deployment in northern Afghanistan's Kunduz province when he and an officer became outraged with the behavior of some local leaders they were responsible for developing as police commanders.
Martland and his detachment commander, Capt. Daniel Quinn, lost their tempers when one leader near their base kidnapped a boy for more than a week, chained him to a bed, raped the child and then assaulted the boy's mother, Quinn said
The mother appealed to the Green Berets to help her son. Quinn said the soldiers brought the Afghan commander to their base and confronted him.
Quinn told The News Tribune that the Afghan admitted he had raped the boy. He angered the American soldiers by showing disregard for their concerns.
"He started laughing when we talked about what a big deal this was," Quinn said.
But Quinn said that he and Martland shoved the Afghan to the ground several times. They told the Afghan commander to leave their compound, and Quinn said he was able to run away from the soldiers on his own.
Martland wrote in a January letter to the Army Human Resources Command that the incident was the third time during his deployment that he knew an Afghan police commander had done something morally repugnant.
The other two incidents were a police commander's rape of a teenage girl and another commander's decision to allow the honor killing of a 12-year-old girl after she kissed a boy.
Quinn and Martland "felt that morally we could no longer stand by and allow our (Afghan local police) to commit atrocities,"
Now Martland's case is being championed by a California congressman and several veteran Green Berets who contend he shouldn't be punished further.
Martland, 33, was awarded two Bronze Star medals, including one for valor, during his time at JBLM. He likely will be discharged in November because the discipline handed to him for assaulting the Afghan made him a target for Army downsizing. Veteran soldiers with negative performance reviews in their service records are being culled from the ranks as part of the post-Iraq War drawdown.
Just so we’re on the same page, the “custom” Martland is accused of “not tolerating” is the local police chief’s decision to kidnap a 12-year-old boy, chain him to a bed, and rape him for a whole week.
Then, when the mother complained, the police chief savagely beat her.
Put yourself in Sgt. Martland’s shoes. Imagine that a beaten and bruised mother came to you and asked you to stop the local police officer from kidnapping and raping her son.
Then imagine that when you confronted the accused rapist, he admitted everything and dared you to do something about it, laughing in your face.
When Martland confronted the police officer, he confessed to everything. Well, confessed is probably the wrong word. He bragged about it and dared Martland to do something.
He bragged about it and dared Martland to do something.
originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: infolurker
I don't necessarily agree with what is going on but he isn't getting discharged for ignoring a custom like this is saying.
You know that as well. It is about the assault.
I know we all want it to fine because of who he is assaulting, and I would agree. But that isn't the case.
And it has always been that way, you can't just go and assault someone because you don't agree with what they did.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
originally posted by: OrphanApology
a reply to: infolurker
Soldiers are generally expected to follow the "customs" of the people in these areas.
Rape of young girls and boys is commonplace unfortunately.
Not sure why this story is receiving attention as child brides are commonplace over there. Is it because it's a male child that the soldier stuck up for him?
I don't get it.
So he was perfectly fine all those years seeing little girls get raped but then a boy getting raped becomes a big event? I don't understand the soldier mentality. How they sleep at night after willingly signing up for the U.S. military is a shock to be quite honest.
I don't necessarily agree with what is going on but he isn't getting discharged for ignoring a custom like this is saying. You know that as well. It is about the assault. I know we all want it to fine because of who he is assaulting, and I would agree. But that isn't the case. And it has always been that way, you can't just go and assault someone because you don't agree with what they did. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Quinn said he and Martland never gave official statements to Army investigators, and they were not punished in the military justice system, which makes it difficult to reconcile the differences between his and Johnson’s statements.
Read more here: www.thenewstribune.com...=cpy
Veteran soldiers with negative performance reviews in their service records are being culled from the ranks as part of the post-Iraq War drawdown.
Read more here: www.thenewstribune.com...=cpy