Doesn’t Pass the “Smell Test”
Well, the Army’s drawdown is underway. And even decorated heroes aren’t immune.
It seems that at least one 11-year Special Forces Sergeant First Class and bona fide decorated hero is being forced out. His name is SFC Charles Martland.
He’s been described by former teammates as “the finest soldier they have ever served alongside”. He was awarded a Bronze Star with V-Device for combat heroism in Afghanistan. He was runner-up for 2014 Special Warfare Training Group Instructor of the Year.
But it seems Martland’s records went before a recent Quality Management Program review board. His file apparently contained a bad evaluation – a “Relief for Cause” evaluation, to be precise. He was selected for elimination by the board, and he’s being forced out.
What did Martland do to get relieved for cause? Well, I’ll tell you.
Martland’s team was engaged in training Afghan police. However, while doing that they discovered that one of the “fine individuals” they were training was also a child rapist and a woman-beater.
Specifically, the SF team supporting the training discovered that that individual had raped a 12-year-old Afghan boy. The boy’s mother brought her son to the SF detachment for medical care. When he was examined, the rape was discovered.
The individual found out that his crime had been discovered. He then located the boy’s mother beat her for exposing his crime.
Martland and his team leader afterwards confronted the rapist about what he’d done. When they confronted the rapist, that “fine individual” told them essentially that it was no big deal – and then laughed in their faces.
At that point, Martland and his team leader physically shoved the rapist and woman-beater; he fell to the ground. The rapist was bruised, but otherwise unhurt – unfortunately. I’d personally be OK with the bastard having ceased consuming oxygen at that point.
However, the low life bastard afterwards apparently reported the confrontation to other US authorities. This ultimately led to Martland and his team leader being relieved.
Yes, you read that correctly. They were relieved of duty because they confronted a child rapist and woman-beating low-life bastard without seriously injuring or killing him.
Sorry, but that doesn’t make any freaking sense. Wrong? Perhaps technically. But also IMO completely understandable. Hell – in my book, if anything those two should have been commended for keeping their anger in check and not summarily killing the bastard on the spot.
Martland’s team leader opted to leave the Army some time ago. However, Martland stayed in the Army instead.
But now he’s getting pitched.
Fox News has further details here. You should read the linked article.
But maybe you should wait until later to read it if you’re having high blood pressure issues right now.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Big Army, WTF?
Words fail me. And that takes some doing.
Yeh, I read about this on Fox News…this makes me more convinced, Army leadership (Brass) are a bunch of goat humping , pedophiles and will protect their own!!!
Soldiers fight to protect those that can’t fight. The army dismissed an excellent Soldier because he shoved a child rapist and a woman beater. He should have inserted his combat knife into that assholes carotid artery, and let him bleed out.
Even better yet, TRAINING ACCIDENTS HAPPEN, knowhutimean?
Find the jackass who relieved him – there is your candidate for rif.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Concur.
For my money, that eval would have shot him to the top of the list for promotion.
Two observations. One, the incident happened in 2011. If it alone is enough to boot him now, it seems to me it should have merited disciplinary action a few years ago. Two, reports don’t write themselves and move themselves through the chain of command. Thus, a number of his superiors took action, if only in writing. They should have buried the matter–as well as the child rapist.
That’s how it should work; unfortunately, in the drive to cut troop numbers, things that otherwise would not have impacted someone’s career all of a sudden become showstoppers.
I wonder if he could continue his career in the Army National Guard or the Army Reserve.
He cannot. QMP means you leave the army sans fanfare. He can appeal the QMP board but only based on errors to his permanent record.
At the end of the day, within 6 months he’s out of the Army.
HRC Separations Branch bureaucratic bean-couting dirtbags will be sure of that. The only thing they are good at is separating Soldiers regardless of extenuating circumstances, competence, etc.
As an Army Reserve Soldier with a 20 year letter, I’m subject to the QMP, should they have one covering my unit. Prior to consideration, I would have the option to transfer to the IRR, in lieu of to the retired reserve, if they were to decide to remove me from the TPU.
For those subject to the QMP on active duty, many are looking at involuntary discharge, with an honorable characterization, and 50% separation pay.
As a condition to receive that separation pay, the soldier has to enlist into the Ready Reserve, TPU or IRR.
What the QMP does is prohibit the soldier from serving in the component/control group that he/she was QMP out of.
Unfortunately for the above Soldier, a Relief for Cause evaluation report became a “showstopper.” That’s one of the criteria to look at when doing the QMPs.
Unless there is something else surrounding the Soldier’s situation, there’s a good chance that he could serve the remainder of his time in a reserve component.
Anyone in the Army is subject to QMP if they determine they need to cut numbers. Right now, the USAR is 20,000ish short of traditional reservists. That means they aren’t going to be looking to QMP anyone. In fact, they are beefing the heck out of reserve recruiting and trying to get people they pink slip from the Active Component to join the reserves. (USAR is critically short E-7s and O-3s)
The current (as of two years ago) QMP boards are only for active component and USAR AGR personnel (I’m pretty sure National Guard AGRs are exempt from these boards, but could be wrong).
However, you might be thinking about “QSP” not QMP. Quantitative Service Program, which is for releasing from active duty those in overstrength MOSs. They are even eligible for the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA) if they have 15+ years Active Federal Service. (Though QMP’d troops are not) Since they are not being kicked out for “bad paper” they can join the reserve as a traditional reservist.
I can guarantee you that personnel denied continued active duty service per QMP cannot join the reserves. For AGRs, if they have 20 years of “reserve” service they can choose to join the retired reserves OR get half-severance pay. But that’s all.
This is NOT the Army I served in.
Unfortunately, what I saw happen in the Navy two decades ago is happening in the Army right now.
So, if they’d shot the pedo and dumped him into a bomb crater, and then gone on their way, that would be okay? Instead, they acted relatively civilized, and that was not okay?
I’m confused.
Whoever makes such decisions is an asshole and should be kicked in a painful way in a painful, sensitive spot. I object to my tax dollars going into the pockets of these incompetent clowns. But this is not something new. It’s just the 1970s all over again.
‘So, if they’d shot the pedo and dumped him into a bomb crater, and then gone on their way, that would be okay?’
And there’s the problem. When word of what happened to SFC Martland gets around, the unofficial policy will turn into the Three S’s: Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup. And it is wrong, so very wrong, to force these young men into that position, to try to do the right thing in spite of their command climate, and become criminals in doing so.
Not really. Though eminently understandable and arguably justified in this particular case, offing the guy isn’t a good option. The UCMJ prohibits murder for good reason.
Unfortunately, as PN alludes to above that’s precisely the message this case is sending to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation in the future. It’s effectively telling them: “Either do nothing – or make sure there are no witnesses and the body is never found.”
Ask the late COL Rheault how trying the latter worked out for him and his men.
SFC Martland should have been given a medal for confronting a child rapist. My beloved Army is going downhill fast.
WTF? Always hear its for the children from the Moonbats on the left but when it occurs in another country, the douche nozzles tell us it is their “culture”.
Why, you’d almost think they were mendaciously dishonest douchcanoes who only cared about accumulating political power or something.
He needs to immediately claim to be transgendered. THAT will stop the Army from discharging him.
AND the Army could then claim to have the first woman SF.
/only partially sarcastic
Why would we keep a highly trained professional soldier with moral courage when we can have a new PT uniform and cute little “Ike” jackets? Besides, we’re too busy coddling people and being PC. Body Composition vs. Overweight. Retaining folks who are non-deployable and should be MRB’d out. Handing out ribbons and medals like candy. We are seriously screwed…
NCO’s shall no longer take personal imitative or you get your walking papers. So it took Nobabmas people about seven years to get were they can fire everybody that worked for JB jr.
Just keep luven my DD-214.
I already commented but I want to point something out about this man. He has always been an ass kicker and achiever. He played football in high school and college. So? So, his height is listed by different sources as 5’8″ to a generous 5’10.” So? He’s white. So? He played fullback. So? He was all state in Massachusetts. So? So, he was recruited by D-1 Florida State and played for Bobby Bowden. So? That’s something very special.
Doesn’t surprise me in today’s Army. Circumstances and positives be damned, if a Soldier has something considered derogatory in their records they are subject to separation. I recall a letter written by a Major after he was selected for separation due to a DUI he got as a 2LT. He’d completed Ranger School, had above center mass OERs, and otherwise seemed an above average officer who’d learned from his mistake.
The separation board probably didn’t bother checking into the RFC. It’s much easier and quicker just to assume the NCO is jacked up.
The board can only look at the information in front of them, its not their job to ask deeper questions about a RFC. I’m not defending that at correct, its just a fact.
Some questions to consider…Did SFC Martland submit a letter to the President to the Board explain in greater detail the background of the RFC; Did SFC Martland attempt to get the RFC thrown out via the multiple avenues available under the OER regulation (Commander’s Inquiry, Appeal, Army Board for the Correction of Military Records), the incident was in 2011 so it appears he had plenty of time to do so? Where is the AR 15-6 Investigation, what parts of the story were substantiated?
Based on the information presented, I have great sympathy for the good SFC, but it seems to me that there are parts to this story that are missing.
That officer was Major Charles Slider. He received a GOMOR for a DUI in 2006. He was a Captain at the time.
So all that Trafficking in Person training ingot where they made a big deal about children being the most trafficked was BS. Roger that. All that Domestic Violence training and how to intervene is BS. ROGER THAT! I will remember to tell my friends who are still in that the start GMT on child rape and Domestic violence is BS as per US Army policy.
Or is there more to this story than meets the eye. Like this certain individual was a fine member of the local political class and therefore above the law as per our misguided understanding of events in the region.
“Like this certain individual was a fine member of the local political class and therefore above the law as per our misguided understanding of events in the region.” Ding Ding! Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner.
I keep seeing Jimmy C’s shit-eatin’ grin and his greasy paws in this. Like I said, it’s the 1970s all over again.
And the other C word. Clinton. Same thing happened in the 90s.
Though in the 90s, the Clinton Cartel was increasing the OPTEMPO of the Army 300% while reducing it 40%.
I see a trend of another bad word that starts with D. Dickheads, but also Democrats in the white house.
I live in Maryland and all my reps are a bunch of Dem a-holes, but what the hell, I’m going to ping them on this. Probably won’t do any good, but it’s worth it to show some support for the Sergeant.
Sent emails to Cardin, Mikulski, and Van Hollen. I’d hold my breath awaiting any significant action from them, but I’d die doing it.
Anyway, we’ll see.
yeah, Babs will probably recommend a medal.. for the Afghan.
Yeah, so Babs can recommend a freakin’ medal… for the Afghan.
pardon my “wtf happened here?” moment
The idiocy of “today’s Army” is beyond pathetic. You have assessment in DA pushing to allow openly Transgender serve, despite the incredibly large number of issues associated with it. Yet here they are tossing proven Warriors for doing the right thing. Never should have been relieved to begin with…but let’s give a 1Sg an ARCOM for trolling facebook.
Not only for trolling Facebook – but also for Blue Falconing professional peers by jumping both the NCO support chain and chain-of-command from Bn level straight to DA.
Trolling Facebook I could forgive. Jumping the chain and thereby screwing professional peers and superiors by not giving them a chance to un-f**k the situation? Um, not so much.
De Oppresso Liber.
Looks good on a crest, but you better not really do it…
Yep. This is the Army Obama wants. Congratulations.
Yep! He wants the ranks filled with attention whoring freaks like Bruce Jenner.
20-20 hindsight, but it sounds like the good SFC should have known and practiced at least three of The Four Esses:
SUppress(or)
Shoot
Shovel
Silence
“Soldier Achmed? Don’t know where he is. Probably went “over the hill”, and deserted to the Taliban.”
Oh, and no cell phone videos or pics would help a lot, too.
WTF!
Let me guess, the PC world probably wants Bruce Jenner to fill the ranks after removing this hero?
This is fucking infuriating!!
It was shown a long time ago that when judges have drinking problems, more DUI’s get put back out on the street to drive drunk again, than those that stand in front of a judge that doesn’t have a drinking problem.
When the ‘judges’ smack down the soldiers doing their job instead of the women beater/child rapists…well, just draw your own conclusions. I’ll give you a hint: ‘Priest scandal.’
So are you saying that we would probably find those ‘judges’ email addresses on that Ashley Madison website?
I have no idea. I wouldn’t go near the Ashley Madison site for anything.
No judges involved here, PN. This appears to have all been admin/personnel.
I don’t have direct knowledge, but this is IMO almost certainly what happened.
1. Incident happens as described by SFC Martland and team leader.
2. Low-life child rapist and woman beater complains, probably through Afghan channels – but possibly to other US elements outside Martland’s unit.
3. Word gets to higher HQ.
4. Investigation initiated, probably 15-6, by Investigating Officer. Not sure if Martland and team leader are relieved before, during, or after investigation is completed – could have been any of the three.
5. Chain-of-command overreacts and removes the two, likely to avoid “offending the locals”. However, neither NJP nor legal action apparently is taken.
6. Investigation substantiates incident.
7. Martland and team leader get “releif-for-cause” (RFC) evals associated with change of duties. Martland gets stellar evals in all assignments afterwards.
8. QMP board scheduled. Part of screening criteria is presence of any RFC evals.
9. Screening criteria causes Martland’s records to be flagged for QMP consideration.
10. Board selects Martland for QMP release due to presence of RFC eval.
As Luddite4Change noted, there are multiple things that SFC Martland could have done to fight the RFC eval. I’m guessing he in fact appealed it, but was unsuccessful. I have no idea if he wrote a letter to the board president or not, or if the ROI for any investigation conducted was present in his records when they were seen by the QMP board. (I’ve seen one such case personally, but in that case the ROI was attached to a board letter submitted by the individual. The ROI tended to exonerate the guy, and IMO probably saved him from getting pitched.)
Bottom line: my guess is that this is merely bureaucracy at its worst. All along the way, people simply followed “established practices” without even thinking about doing the correct thing, much less doing it.
Just following orders. Yup, got it.
Unfortunately, so did the Nazis.
The real problem for the SFC is that this is going public now. Had this been publicized while the NCOER was in process, or soon their after he might have had a different outcome. Just look at how public opinion put the kibosh on taking action against the LCDR in Chattanooga.
In other Army news, after years of fucking over his troops General Odierno will be starting a new career.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/2015/08/20/odierno-tapped-senior-advisor-jpmorgan-chase/32046833/
Sadly, there are hundreds more like him still at the Five Sided Puzzle Palace.
I’m sure it’s being done by some PC 0bamite so they can try to replace him with some minority, gay, transgender, or any combination thereof in order to “promote diversity” in the SF.
I found a petition at
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sfc-charles-martland
I’m not sure if it will matter but I signed it on SFC Martland’s behalf.
In the end we will lose a fine soldier because of a piece of shit Afghan pedophile and woman beater, who at this time is still committing his crimes.
well no big surprise here the Afghans are a bunch of baby Facker’s
I’m Soooooo Glad I’m OUT ………
Hondo I would in no way justify what the Army is doing to this outstanding NCO but I would like to point out that if we booted every child-rapist and woman-beater from the Afghan Military or police forces, what you had left would fit inside a HMMWV and not the troop carrying kind, either. 😉
That might be a bit of an exaggeration. But I’ll agree that those practices are widespread in Central Asia.
Lest anyone think Martinjmpr is simply joking or out to lunch . . . best I can tell, he’s not.
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=4637439f-5bda-46bd-b325-8e0b7fd7bb55
I was detached to the CJSOTF at BAF for my Afghanistan tour but the remainder of my detachment was involved in the training of the Afghan military at the KMTC (Kabul Military Training Center) and they used to refer to the Afghan barracks as the “Federal Pound Me In The Ass Prison.”
They also said “Yeah, we don’t go over there after dark. We just don’t. You don’t WANT to know what happens there when the lights go out.”
My first day at BAF, I was reminded of the importance of 4th day of the week, Thursday.
More importantly, “Man Love Thursday”. Only to find out that EVERYDAY in Afghanistan was Thursday.
I unfortunately saw/heard about a lot more of that activity down at KAF and Camp Hero, the Afghan Commando base.
Can you say “Chai Boy”? Disgusting.
Quoted from my post, “ISLAMIC SEXUALITY: A SURVEY OF EVIL”, at my personal web site, “OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE”:
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http://writesong.blogspot.com/2011/09/islamic-sexuality-survey-of-evil.html
This reminds me of something I learned (?) when I was a soldier in the United States Army and returned from having spent two (02) years in the Republic of Viet Nam.
The year was 1972, and I was stationed at Hunter-Liggett Military Reservation in California, assigned to the Combat Developments Experimentation Command (CDEC), a rather obscure unit which no longer exists (or does it?).
One of my supervisors was Sergeant First Class Geisler, and he told me once that Muslims don’t believe that their version of the messiah (or whatever they call him) can be born of a woman, so each year they get together at some holiday and engage in homosexuality, for that is the only way in which God could be born.
The concept is so horrifyingly repulsive that I really don’t know if that’s true, but Sergeant Geisler, who had a background in military intelligence, maintained it was.
_____________________________
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https://youtu.be/rkQoqVoBBCk?list=PL938E8785112D44D9
The event happened in 2011. Was he by any chance a SSG back then? If so, then a DA Centralized Promotion Board thought him fit enough to promote and retain after the event. They would had access to the same RFC NCOERs that the QMP board saw.
Yep. Smells like shit.
Previous QMP directives stated that if you had anything “after your most recent promotion” it effected you.
So, if he was only an E-6, he should’ve been exempt from the board. But, it depends on the directive. (Though, HRC Separations makes up the rules they want from day to day, so it could be the same here.)
This Army could find a way to lose a water gun fight.
Its hard to even blame the board itself because we don’t know what they saw, what they looked at and most importantly what the select objective / administrative instructions were that they received. Even though the board makes the decision, they are told (same as for promotion boards) who to select for what and why, how many, etc. At the end of the day, I throw this out as bureaucrats at HRC telling the board in no uncertain terms “Look, we have to reduce the force, so if they have paper that says they looked at someone disrespectfully, boot them!” (though no one will admit it because board procedures aren’t available outside the board room.) Army HRC is looking for any and EVERY excuse they can find to kick people to the curb. ESPECIALLY before they hit sanctuary so the Army can save money on their retirement checks. They are also so incompetent that they don’t even communicate effectively with themselves. I had a friend who retired a couple years ago. 6 months after he was officially retired, he got a call from HRC telling him that he was getting QMP’d, but they couldn’t figure out why they were unable to communicate with him other than his personal phone. When the person found out he said, “you can’t be retired! your unit should’ve never let you retire! You were under consideration for QMP!” His response was, well fuck off I am retired now. There are many things that will tag someone for a QMP board: RFC eval, 4 or 5 in either SR rating block, permanent letter of reprimand, perm’d article 15, DUI, etc etc. Of course, a “4” in the SR block, according to 623-3 merely means the NCO is doing “fair” and needs more time in his current position. So, now it goes back to kissing ass and bowing down so you don’t get a bad mark. For a while we got away from it, but this is the same “zero tolerance Army” we had in the 90s under the clinton cartel. (Unless of course you’re a high… Read more »
Thinking it might even be a blunt way to send a message to keep USSOCOM in line…
Sign my petition on Change.org.
People piss hot and get to stay in, the fact this would get him forced out is total bullshit.