Army denies medals, insignia to pardoned Soldier
Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, USA (Ret)
The Army has rejected Golsteyn’s appeals to be re-instated as a Green Beret, return of valor awards and rescinding a letter of reprimand. Unfortunate, but in the current climate certainly not surprising.
David sends.
Army denies medals, Special Forces insignia to soldier Trump pardoned for alleged murder
Tom Vanden Brook
WASHINGTON – The Army has rejected an appeal to return medals for valor to retired Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, a Special Forces soldier former President Donald Trump pardoned for alleged murder in Afghanistan. It was one of three high-profile cases in which Trump interceded on behalf of troops accused of war crimes.
The decision regarding Golsteyn, reached last June, was not announced by the Army in Trump’s final months as president but is revealed in documents released to USA TODAY. The Army also denied Golsteyn’s request to restore his Special Forces tab, marking his service as a member of an elite unit, and the removal of a letter of reprimand placed in his personnel file.
A Green Beret, Golsteyn was charged with killing a suspected bomb maker who had been ordered released after questioning in Afghanistan in 2010. Golsteyn admitted during an interview to join the CIA that he had killed the man. That launched an Army investigation that culminated in the murder charge, but Trump’s pardon canceled his court martial.
Golsteyn had appealed to the board in December 2019 to restore his Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor for valor in combat. Initially, Golsteyn had been awarded a Silver Star for heroism, but it had been upgraded after a review.
Trump took up Golsteyn’s cause and that of two other service members accused of war crimes after their stories were championed in conservative news media.
Army givith, and new political Army taketh away? Read the entire article here: USA Today
Thanks, David.
Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Army, Guest Link
Off topic, but did I read about Gen. Diversity Hire telling The Hermit Kingdom the U.S. is ready to fight tonight? I remember all the hand ringing about “Trump is going to Start WW3” from the group think morons on The Left.
Oh, don’t worry, it’ll still be Trump’s fault somehow.
He’s the Emmanuel Goldstein of our proggie era.
I thought the evil Orange Man was the Goldstein of our Progs.
Same difference. RINOs don’t like him either hoping to kiss-up to Progs.
This one E4 Mafia?
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-defense-secretary-north-korea-warning
How can the U.S. military be “ready to fight tonight” when it is engaged in a 60 day stand down to root out “white supremacy” racists from its ranks? Aren’t all our ships and subs in port for 60 days of death by powerpoint? Somehow, I don’t think the Hermit Kingdom is worried about part of a single infantry division in South Korea as a real threat.
Think that was a stand down mandated to take place at every unit within 60 days, not a 60 day stand down.
I honestly believe all NK has to do is launch its old Soviet era FROG Missles at Camp Humphries and the 2nd Div is pretty much done. Of course
The North has no chance of winning a protracted war but the damage to us will be the first few hours.
Some Taliban *ssholes might’ve been offended and that wouldn’t be “diversity & inclusion,” I understand…
I think we should diversify the ways we kill the Taliban and include all of them.
Guess it’s a good thing that Trump didn’t find a cure for cancer. They’d cancel that too.
The Major’s big mistake was talking to corruptocrats at the CIA. Letting those career swamp rats 🐀 hook him up to a lie-box was incredibly stupid. Why anyone would want to work for an org run by commie secret Muslim Brennan is unfathomable.
He apparently missed out on learning the fundamentals of shoot, shovel, and shut up.
So he was raised in the suburbs, I take it? Mountain boys learn that at a young age.
Or to use a more modern reference, he forgot the First Rule of Fight Club.
He was probably remembering his Clearance questions that they did not really care about what you said, as long as you said it before it came up during a corroborating interview. All those people who got arrested for dealing or smuggling drugs and told to go in the Army or jail, got clearances because they admitted to it (could not be used against them).
A lot of the folks who work for the “company” are quite amiable, and he thought he was joining them…he just forgot the admin folks all work for the Political appointees!
They can take away his medals but not the fact that he earned them.
Go ahead lefties…make a big deal out of this. Bring this man’s
record to light for all to see. I dare you.
Beats the hell out of John Kerry’s “Silver Star with “V” device”.
https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/52976
Still waiting on his SF180.
He’ll never provide one. His full records might explain why his SS award was signed by a SECNAV who was appointed years after Lurch left the Navy.
Our enemies are celebrating. We cannot longer trust our own government agencies.
What kind of world do we live in when friendlies can do more harm to our lives than the enemy?
Orwell called it.
Many, many times.
Not to mention The Undisputed Truth in “Smiling Faces”:
Don’t let the handshake and the smile fool you,
Take my advice, I’m only tryin’ to screw you.
Khrushchev described how it would happen
and he also nailed it.
Who were those officers seating in that review board?
Probably some Service Support folk…
So there i was teleworking as a GS employee to supplement my active duty retirement when i get an email to report tomorrow for “Anti-Extremism” stand down training. A quick look at the slides and notice it is all white-guilt nonsense. Told my CC that I gots leave to burn. He responded that it is 100% accountable……but he approved my leave so…I’ll wait this out
I got the same schpiel….I’ll sit there and dick around on my phone. Or sign the roster and go make a 3 hour head call.
I have never been really high on this guy.
That aside, if he was pardoned, then he should “returned” to normal.
But with that political hack and clown Milley in charge, good luck.
King George V of Great Britain removed the clause allowing for the stripping of the Victoria Cross (the British and Commonwealth equivalent of the Medal of Honor) under any circumstances.
“The King feels so strongly that, no matter the crime committed by anyone on whom the VC has been conferred, the decoration should not be forfeited. Even were a VC to be sentenced to be hanged for murder, he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold.”
I tend to agree with the King. Valor awards are earned. They are not bought. They are not privileges subject to continued honorable conduct.
They can take his tab for all I care, but it’s improper to remove his valor awards for something unrelated to the actual award is wrong. It cheapens the award if you ask me. Sergeant Snuffy Smith was disliked by his peers and considered a dirtbag. He still earned the fuck out of that Medal of Honor. https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=89655
Agreed.
Past services do not guarantee future performance, but valor awards are earned on a fixed time and place, and therefore should not be up for review based on future actions.