quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I would have no problem with any Taliban, especially a bomb maker, getting scragged, except for the disobeying of orders part. Even I, a civilian, have to obey bullshit orders if I want to keep my job. But I can always - and a number of times have - vote with my feet. A military officer has no such option and a much stricter duty to obey lawful orders.

And the thing is, this guy thought he was special. He didn't like his orders / rules and felt he could do as he pleased.

Everyone over there saw bullshit of varying degrees when it came to ROE, but that's the discipline. You are part of the machine and unless it's a truly unlawful order that you have a duty to disobey, you follow fucking orders. You don't go off the reservation and waste people / targets that don't fit the rules. Don't like it? Then don't sign up and take Uncle Sam's greenbacks if you aren't up to following orders and doing shit you don't want to do, because that's at least half of the job.

I had a plane full of ordnance and a target I was 100% sure of full of IED laying motherfuckers. However due to others incompetence in tracking the target, the person in control of the situation felt it no longer complied with the ROE in being 100% for certain. I made my case on the radio, they thought about it, and said negative do not engage.

So we watched, relayed information, and left when our time was up without erasing them from the face of the Earth. I wish it would have worked out differently and we could have stuck an AGM65E up the vehicle's ass, but it didn't. If anyone died because they got let go, it isn't on me. It's on the lawyers and booger eaters far away from combat, and there it will remain.

I can understand the frustration, but not remotely worth it. Plan a raid on the guys house. If he gets whacked in the raid so be it. If you find plenty of incriminating evidence and he gets put away by the local police or rendered to another location by an OGA, OK. Gets cut loose...plan another raid.

Why was the bomb maker being released? A Taliban bomb maker is somebody we'd spend big bucks to arrange for a Hellfire missile to show up (and blow up) in the back seat of his car.

https://www.armytimes.com/news...d-afghan-bomb-maker/

Hearing set for former Green Beret accused of murdering alleged Afghan bomb-maker

By: Todd South   1 day ago

Officials have set a date for the preliminary hearing of a former Green Beret charged with murder in the death of an Afghan man during a 2010 deployment.

Maj. Mathew Golsteyn will face the Article 32 hearing on March 14 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, according to a statement released by Army Special Operations Command.

The hearing is an “initial step” toward determining if Golsteyn violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice charge of premeditated murder.

Eight years after the alleged incident, on Dec. 18, Golsteyn’s commander “determined that sufficient evidence exists to warrant the preferral of charges against him,” USASOC spokesman Lt. Col. Loren Bymer told Army Times in a brief email statement at the time.

Both President Donald Trump and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, have defended Golsteyn. Trump has tweeted that he would review the case against Golsteyn, prompting concerns that the judicial process could be swayed in favor of the former Green Beret.

Golsteyn’s attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, said at that time that his client is a “humble servant-leader who saved countless lives, both American and Afghan, and has been recognized repeatedly for his valorous actions.”

The major was recalled to active duty and placed under the command of the USASOC headquarters company at the time of the charge.

Golsteyn was a captain with 3rd Special Forces Group when he deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.

During the intense Battle of Marja, explosives planted on a booby-trapped door killed two Marines and wounded three others who were working with the major’s unit.

During those heated days, Golsteyn earned a Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor, when he helped track down a sniper targeting his troops, assisted a wounded Afghan soldier and helped coordinate multiple airstrikes.

In the same deployment, Golsteyn allegedly later told CIA interviewers, after Marines were killed in the February blast, his unit found bomb-making materials nearby, detained a suspected bomb-maker and brought him back to their base.

A local tribal leader identified the man as a known Taliban bomb-maker. The accused learned of the leader’s identification, which led the tribal leader to fear he would kill him and his family if released.

Trusting the leader and having also seen other detainees released, Golsteyn allegedly told CIA interviewers that he and another soldier took the alleged bomb-maker off base, shot him and buried his remains.

He also allegedly told the interviewers that on the night of the killing, he and two other soldiers dug up the body and burned it in a trash pit on base.

Those details were included in a 2011 report filed by an Army investigator, Special Agent Zachary Jackson. The report led to a board of inquiry into the allegations against Golsteyn.

The board recommended a general discharge for Golsteyn and found no clear evidence the soldier violated the rules of engagement. But the board found the major’s conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Top Army officials stripped Golsteyn of his Special Forces tab and the Silver Star. He was pending a medical discharge, when, in 2016, he told Fox News a version of the events that led to the death of the bomb-maker, prompting a second inquiry that led to the murder charge.

Headline: “Army looking into whether Golsteyn will get his Special Forces tab and Silver Star back, despite Trump’s pardon.”


Link to full story.

Summary: Opinions vary with many saying “He’s not one of us,” and that the pardon related to the criminal charges, not to the administrative actions of awarding the Special Forces tab or Silver Star Medal.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Headline: “Army looking into whether Golsteyn will get his Special Forces tab and Silver Star back, despite Trump’s pardon.”


Link to full story.

Summary: Opinions vary with many saying “He’s not one of us,” and that the pardon related to the criminal charges, not to the administrative actions of awarding the Special Forces tab or Silver Star Medal.

Trump to head of US Army Command on a back channel...."How would you like to receive 'all' of your funding next year?"

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
The board recommended a general discharge for Golsteyn and found no clear evidence the soldier violated the rules of engagement. But the board found the major’s conduct unbecoming of an officer.

This is the operative opinion and is akin to how a police officer can be found not guilty at trial, yet still legally fired from his job. Also, there are a whole host of awards, decorations, and skill identifiers that can be revoked if you engage in prohibited conduct.