1. Joined
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    21 Aug '15 15:01
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/21/army-kicking-out-decorated-green-beret-who-stood-up-for-afghan-rape-victim/?intcmp=hpbt3

    EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. Army is kicking out a decorated Green Beret after an 11-year Special Forces career, after he got in trouble for shoving an Afghan police commander accused of raping a boy and beating up his mother when she reported the incident.

    The case of Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland now has the attention of Congress, with Rep. Duncan Hunter writing to Defense Secretary Ash Carter challenging the decision.

    "I am once again dismayed by the Army's actions in this case," Hunter, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to Carter.

    Martland is described by many of his teammates as the finest soldier they have ever served alongside.

    But his Army career changed course during his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2011. After learning an Afghan boy was raped and his mother beaten, Martland and his team leader confronted a local police commander they had trained, armed and paid with U.S. taxpayer dollars. When the man laughed off the incident, they physically confronted him.

    They were punished by the Army at the time -- but why exactly Martland is now being discharged is a matter of dispute. Army sources cited his accolades, including being named runner-up for 2014 Special Warfare Training Group Instructor of the Year from a pool of 400 senior leaders in Special Forces, in questioning the decision.


    As for the incident in 2011, Hunter told Carter: "To intervene was a moral decision, and SFC Martland and his Special Forces team felt they had no choice but to respond."

    Casey, a former Green Beret teammate who would only use his first name since he is now a member of a federal counterterrorism team, told Fox News, "If I was a commander, I would have given him an award. They saved that kid's life."

    Martland grew up south of Boston, in Milton, Mass. An all-state football player in high school, he set his sights on playing college football after graduating in 2001. Martland went for the Florida State University team, which just finished a season ranked #4 in the nation.

    He made the team, impressing legendary head coach Bobby Bowdon and famed defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews. Still, he often remained on the sidelines. When Pat Tillman, a former NFL football player who volunteered for the Army Rangers, was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, he saw Tillman's sacrifice as motivation to apply for another elite program. Martland dropped out of college and graduated in 2006 from Special Forces Qualification Course, one of the U.S. military's toughest training programs. Over the years he became a jumpmaster, combat diver and sniper.

    After a deployment to Iraq in 2008, he deployed to Afghanistan in January 2010 as part of a 12-man unit. He and his team found themselves fighting large numbers of Taliban militants in volatile Kunduz Province.

    On one mission, one of their vehicles was struck by an IED, setting off a Taliban ambush. Fox News is told Martland rushed to the scene. He jumped in the turret of a damaged Humvee, exposing himself to enemy bullets while returning fire to help his teammates gather sensitive equipment.

    "I thought he was gone, then he comes out of nowhere to save us," said an active-duty Green Beret who requested anonymity.

    Martland was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions. According to one evaluation, he also was "praised" by Gen. David Petraeus, then commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.

    But very quickly, the Green Berets realized they had a problem with many of the Afghans they were training to become local police officers.

    "We had been hearing for months about raping in our province, not just in Afghanistan," said Daniel Quinn, a West Point graduate and the team leader of the detachment sent to Kunduz.

    One day in early September 2011 at their remote outpost, a young Afghan boy and his Afghan-Uzbek mother showed up at camp. The 12-year-old showed the Green Berets where his hands had been tied. A medic took him to a back room for an examination with an interpreter, who told them the boy had been raped by another commander by the name of Abdul Rahman.

    After learning of the meeting, Rahman allegedly beat the boy's mother for reporting the crime. It was at this point, the Green Berets had had enough. Quinn and Martland went to confront Rahman.

    "He confessed to the crime and laughed about it, and said it wasn't a big deal. Even when we patiently explained how serious the charge was, he kept laughing," Quinn said.

    According to reports of the incident, Quinn and Martland shoved Abdul Rahman to the ground. It was the only way to get their point across, according to Quinn. "As a man, as a father of a young boy myself at the time, I felt obliged to step in to prevent further repeat occurrences," Quinn said.

    Rahman walked away bruised from getting shoved and thrown to the ground, but otherwise okay, according to teammates. But Rahman quickly reported the incident to another Army unit in a nearby village. The next day a U.S. Army helicopter landed and took Quinn and Martland away, ending their work in Kunduz Province.

    For the next few weeks, both soldiers remained in Afghanistan but were not allowed to continue their mission. They were given temporary jobs in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and later in Herat. Pending the outcome of the investigation, both men were relieved from their positions and sent home. Their war was over.

    Quinn has since left the Army and started a job on Wall Street.

    Martland, though, has been fighting to stay in the Army. In February 2015, the Army conducted a "Qualitative Management Program" review board. His supporters suspect because Martland had a "relief for cause" evaluation in his service record, the U.S. Army ordered Martland to be "involuntary discharged" from the Army by Nov. 1, 2015.

    The U.S. Army could not confirm the specifics of Martland's separation from service due to privacy reasons, according to Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman.

    Critics point to the Army drawdown as a reason. One former Green Beret said any negative mark on a soldier's record can get them kicked out, given the drawdown.

    Martland still has received the highest scores in evaluations since the incident.

    "It's sad to think that a child rapist is put above one of our elite military operators. Sergeant Martland was left with no other choice but to intervene in a bad situation. ... The Army should stand up for what's right and should not side with a corrupt Afghan police officer," Hunter told Fox News.

    A childhood friend who went on to play in the NFL, Tim Bulman, said of Martland: "You would want him in your corner and protecting our freedom."
  2. Account suspended
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    22 Aug '15 00:25
    Gotta be some kind of plaster saint to be in the US military today.
    How dare that Sgt shove some child molester.
  3. Standard memberbill718
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    22 Aug '15 11:02
    Originally posted by whodey
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/21/army-kicking-out-decorated-green-beret-who-stood-up-for-afghan-rape-victim/?intcmp=hpbt3

    EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. Army is kicking out a decorated Green Beret after an 11-year Special Forces career, after he got in trouble for shoving an Afghan police commander accused of raping a boy and beating up his mother when she ...[text shortened]... L, Tim Bulman, said of Martland: "You would want him in your corner and protecting our freedom."
    JMHO- There may be more to this dismissal than simply pushing a police commander. The Army is not in the habit of kicking someone out just for that.
  4. Joined
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    22 Aug '15 11:31
    Originally posted by bill718
    JMHO- There may be more to this dismissal than simply pushing a police commander. The Army is not in the habit of kicking someone out just for that.
    Why would they hide it then?
  5. Standard memberno1marauder
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    22 Aug '15 11:51
    Originally posted by whodey
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/21/army-kicking-out-decorated-green-beret-who-stood-up-for-afghan-rape-victim/?intcmp=hpbt3

    EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. Army is kicking out a decorated Green Beret after an 11-year Special Forces career, after he got in trouble for shoving an Afghan police commander accused of raping a boy and beating up his mother when she ...[text shortened]... L, Tim Bulman, said of Martland: "You would want him in your corner and protecting our freedom."
    Physically striking a local commander of an allied paramilitary force in a war zone in their own country is a serious breach of discipline as even Martland recognizes:

    Martland, 32, said in a memorandum to the Army in his defense that he understood they were “absolutely wrong in striking one of our (ALP) commanders."

    http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/enlisted/2015/08/21/green-beret-striking-corrupt-afghan-got-me-kicked-out/32080843/

    The alleged crime should have been brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities in the US-Afghan chain of command rather than a few soldiers going vigilante.
  6. Joined
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    22 Aug '15 11:53
    Originally posted by no1marauder
    Physically striking a local commander of an allied paramilitary force in a war zone in their own country is a serious breach of discipline as even Martland recognizes:

    Martland, 32, said in a memorandum to the Army in his defense that he understood they were “absolutely wrong in striking one of our (ALP) commanders."

    http://www.armytimes.com/story/ ...[text shortened]... priate authorities in the US-Afghan chain of command rather than a few soldiers going vigilante.
    I could see how an arrogant pedophile could instigate a situation like this. I know I would probably be tempted to do much the same.

    Of course, the law is the law, right? There are no exceptions. So expel the soldier and keep the pedophile.
  7. Standard memberno1marauder
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    22 Aug '15 11:58
    Originally posted by whodey
    I could see how an arrogant pedophile could instigate a situation like this. I know I would probably be tempted to do much the same.

    Of course, the law is the law, right? There are no exceptions. So expel the soldier and keep the pedophile.
    You have no idea what happened to the Afghan commander (who is not someone the US can "keep" anyway).

    Yes the law is the law. Physically manhandling an American soldier accused of a crime would have gotten Martland in trouble as well.
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    22 Aug '15 12:001 edit
    Originally posted by no1marauder
    You have no idea what happened to the Afghan commander (who is not someone the US can "keep" anyway).

    Yes the law is the law. Physically manhandling an American soldier accused of a crime would have gotten Martland in trouble as well.
    He should have claimed to be gay and claimed to have simply had a lovers quarrel.

    My guess is if he had, he would still be a soldier.
  9. Standard memberno1marauder
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    22 Aug '15 12:00
    According to the Army Times article the Afghan police we were training were:

    Martland, in his letter to Hunter, said he had encountered corrupt police officials who were conducting beatings, honor killings and rapes — and going unpunished.

    This is another good reason why we should get out of these countries once and for all.
  10. Joined
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    22 Aug '15 12:15
    Originally posted by no1marauder
    According to the Army Times article the Afghan police we were training were:

    Martland, in his letter to Hunter, said he had encountered corrupt police officials who were conducting beatings, honor killings and rapes — and going unpunished.

    This is another good reason why we should get out of these countries once and for all.
    So why does Obama stay?
  11. Standard memberno1marauder
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    22 Aug '15 12:17
    Originally posted by whodey
    So why does Obama stay?
    Ask him.
  12. Joined
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    22 Aug '15 12:19
    Originally posted by no1marauder
    Ask him.
    Sure, next time I see him.
  13. Germany
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    22 Aug '15 13:43
    Protecting our freedom, one shove at a time.
  14. SubscriberWajoma
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    23 Aug '15 02:22
    Originally posted by KazetNagorra
    Protecting our freedom, one shove at a time.
    Another inane witless one liner from KN.

    You got the stylez dude.
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    23 Aug '15 15:02
    Originally posted by whodey
    Why would they hide it then?
    Because it makes the army look bad if it emerges that Martland was the actual abuser, and the Afghan was merely the scapegoat.
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