Arguello may drop charges against Sergeant Major Archie
Hondo sends us a link to the Marine Corps Times which reports that former drill instructor Ethan Arguello plans to drop third-degree assault and battery charges against Sergeant Major Archie;
“I have not decided to go through with the charges, and uh, more than likely they’ll be dropped,” Arguello told the Marine Corps Times Wednesday.
Arguello, who spent a few days outside the base protesting the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange with the Taliban, had opted to wear his “campaign cover” — a distinct hat worn by Marine DIs — despite a prior phone call from Archie urging him not to continue wearing the hat.
I think that’s good idea. It’s the most honorable thing that Arguello can do at this point, since Archie has already ended his career over the dispute.
Category: Marine Corps
Maybe the Sergeant Major can rescind his retirement.
I put mine in and at the behest of my Unit, I extended 5 months to cover the Unit Training Manager slot that was vacant. We had an IG inspection on the way and our previous UTM had left and gone to a Wing job and we didn’t have anyone as a back fill.
It could happen.
He can probably rescind his retirement, but the SgtMaj has hired a public relations firm to represent him and the statement they released states that he didn’t voluntarily resign as the depot SgtMaj, he was “asked” to resign.
PR firm. Damn,….smart guy….this is a *big* deal and he’s wise to get professional assistance in handling this to the best of his advantage.
MasterGuns…I knew it sir!!! I knew there had been pressure on him from the PC corner of the Corps to resign. What a shame to lose a man like him to, “look and feel good” to the public. The pubic has become a bunch of PC pussies anymore. I think the guy should drop the charges. I hope the Marines ask him back and he tells them to fuck off. Meaning, I hope he has some folks in his corner telling him good advice for his future. Maybe even a book, not about the incident but about his career and what it was for him to be a Marine rising to the rank and authority he commanded. I wish all the best for Sergeant Archie in his future, whatever it holds. He is a rock solid man, Marine and American.
I wish I had the CSM’s address… I’d send him a bottle of Woodford…
I’d roll over someones toes with my wheelchair for a bottle of Woodford Reserve.
Funny.
Commander Phil Monkress at All-Points Logistics would step on some toes to get a meaty Johnson.
C’mon over my place – been looking for an excuse to open a 1.75L Woodford Reserve.
Am I the only one thinking this was a set-up by a former DI who’d gotten chewed out/nailed by Archie for something somewhere along the line and who was still carrying a grudge?
Hondo…Spot on. A grudge gone wrong.
Doesn’t matter one way or another. An E-9 who should have known better acted like a PFC on payday parade, showed his ass and assaulted someone. Inexcusable. As to the campaign cover, if it was not organizational property, that dude can wear it pretty much anywhere he wants. I would not have gone that route but that is just me.
Assaulted someone? How?
Assault is the definition for getting in someone’s face. Battery would have been if he had actually hit him. That is a legal definition.
There was no History or grudge between the two. Archie has been there since Feb,Im not sure When Arguello got out.
Archie contacted Arguello through the cell phone of a female who helped organize the protest, there was never a call by arguello to Archie to “ask” to wear the hat. This played out over a day or two, and the entire time Archie never thought to ask his peers or superiors what the ramifications of him going out and confronting the demonstrators.
Archie lacks judgement. He blindsided his CO with his ignorance of what his authority is, and has lost trust, He has to go.
Maybe. He’s pretty much an all-around shitbag, but even he realizes he’d be opening up a whole new world of pain on himself if he went forward with this.
It’s basically too late for Arguello to avoid the shitstorm. Deservedly, most Marines I know think he is a piece of shit for his actions, regardless of his motivations. His actions probabl;y speak volumes as to why is not still in the Corps. As for the Sergeant major, he is done. A senior Sergeant Major at that level, regardless of branch, that does not have the common sense to avoid an incident like that has no business being in a senior billet like that; again, regardless of motivation. I would bet a paycheck the first call he received after being released on bail was from a Sergeant Major at HQMC telling him to brush up his resume as his services were no longer required.
Totally agree on all points. Dropping the charges would be the most honorable thing the douche could do at this point. The SgtMaj; well, he dug that hole deep, wide, and with enthusiasm. I imagine his vmail box was slap full of messages when he got released. Shit, that’s Jr Marine 101. If you are in public, in uniform, with media(any media, including cell phones), best thing to do is STFU and GTFO. I feel bad for him, but g’damn, he screwed that pooch all on his own.
From the article – “Blood would be if Archie had sought to “square off” with him in a fight, and Arguello said that wouldn’t happen for obvious, legal reasons.”
Ummm, no, it wouldn’t have happened Arguello because you know that if it came down to that the Sergeant Major would pound you into a hole in the ground easier than sliding a lubed cucumber up a cheap whore’s ass.
I don’t know Hondo, you could be right. Seems to me Arguello’s decision to protest something like this outside a Marine base is silly, why preach to the choir when another venue would have more impact?
As for the charges being dropped, I think someone informed Arguello that pursuing this would likely be unhealthy for Arguello in more ways than one.
It’s the least the scum who caused all this could do. Absolutely the very least.
Meanwhile, I still support Sergeant Major Archie for doing the honorable thing, the right thing, even though it was not the politically correct thing to do.
I have to reluctantly disagree, OWB. IMO, Tankboy nailed it above.
The retired Marine was IMO an agent provacetur. He did this intentionally, hoping to bait Sgt Maj Archie into doing something foolish in public. Sgt Maj Archie swallowed the bait – hook, line, and sinker. And he did something that, while briefly satisfying and which arguably upheld the USMC’s honor, was ultimately career terminal.
A base/post/camp/station Sergeant Major/Command Master/SEA HAS to be able to avoid that kind of scene. They’re a public figure, just as much as the base/post/camp/station commander is. They live in a fish bowl. Their every move is noted by someone, and whatever they do reflects on their branch of the military.
For a brief period, Sgt Maj Archie let his emotions get the better of him. He let an agent provacateur bait him into creating a public scene. It’s no different than a Major General getting drunk and publicly disparaging his hosts when visiting a foreign nation.
Both should know better. And when they don’t, they generally don’t continue serving very long.
Oh, I don’t disagree with either of you, and do not see our positions as mutually exclusive at all.
For all we know, the good Sergeant Major already had a retirement date in mind in the short future. Or not. This could easily have been a last act of defiance kind of thing that those able to walk away on short notice occasionally do. (Yeah, I know that from personal experience. 😉 )
Not making excuses at all here. I still support his action whether or not he had considered retirement prior to the incident. I find his response to be both honorable and restrained.
Imo, SgtMaj Archie demonstrated that there was at least one senior enlisted Marine serving, up until recently, who was wired in a properly belligerent manner.
The Marines are made and meant for fighting, and if our politicians ever let them, winning wars.
Keep pushing the proper bureaucratic cubicle dweller mindset on management personnel, across the board, and then we’re surprised when the organizations begin to behave as nothing more useful than bureaucratic cubical dwellers.
Hyper-sensitivity! It is the bitchy best!
(I’m being at least half snarky. Especially when I say…)
Simper Fifi!
Were you serving in the U S Military? At the behest of the government. I had a low draft number in 64. I remember my ts saying we were Americans,protecting our way of life. Our way of life let’s the D’s politicians rule us. And because of that, we get to hold a revolution every two years to determine the way of our people. Those ds’es are why you were there. That ex had as much right to say, do, and because he was a Sgt, had the obligation to speak against what was wrong. And as a retired Sgt, I say he has every right to his opinion. He earned the right, to be heard, like it or not, but he earned it by being an american, ready to put his life on the line.
Jim,
Pretty much all of us served in the military, and hold sacred thew right of a Veteran above all others to voice his opinion. He above others, has earned that right. Being a veteran, however, does not preclude one from being an asshole. Wearing a part of the Marine Corps uniform, especially something as visible as a campaign cover tends to give the false impression of Marine Corps organizational approval of said protest. Something we were all taught not to do. That, and said Sergeant Major asked him not to wear said campaign cover, and yet he did. Therefore, although a veteran, he is an asshole that deserves whatever shitstorm comes his way.
90% or more of the commenters here are veterans Jim.
Nobody here has said he doesn’t have a right to his opinion you moron, but no one has a right to be heard. And just as he has a right to his opinion, we have a right to ours.
But it’s obvious this was not about releasing Taliban criminals, and was about setting up a superior he held a grudge against.
When one wishes to effect policy by staging a public protest, one usually protests in a location where their message will stand in stark contrast to the location’s image. Arguello chose a location where his message would be muted by preaching to the choir, so one has to assume there was another motivation for using that location.
Jimbo. About that every-two-years revolution thingy: It applies only to the House, 1/3 of the Senate, and not at all to the other two branches of government. That ain’t much of a revolution.
You want to re-think that comment about “having a low draft number in 64”? Your number was 64 (in what year did you hit the lottery and when were you born?) or your draft lottery number in ’64 was low enough that you were drafted? If so, what was it?
Hahahaha what a loser blue falcon,he has been getting a shit storm of hate on fb,even on his gaywad page he started,I also saw that another DI posted that he got relieved of duty as a DI for failure to meet some sort of training standard..a shitbird as well as a blue falcon.
Criminal charges are brought by the state, on behalf of the state, to try a person alleged to have broken the law of the state. Arguello’s status is that of witness, not prosecutor. The prosecutor alone can drop the4 case. Argullo can fail to appear as a subpoenaed witness and the judhe can issue an FTA warrant for his ass. Otherwise, he can show up and feign confusion and mistake about what actually happened and blow the case up that way. Most reasonable prosecutors won’t let it get that far. We’ll see.
I was wondering about that. Even if douche-pickle decides he doesn’t WANT to persue the case, the DA/prosecuter may look at the evidence and persue them anyway, at least they do that in my stupid state. Especially for domestic type issues. Sucks, I mean his career is done early already, but an assault and theft conviction will jeopardize his clearance and future employment. Fuck all, what a bonehead move he made.
That’s in all states, especially in DV cases where all too often victims used to routinely FTA and the case would be lost. Victims would usually later file additional abuse charges, if they weren’t dead. States stopped giving victims a pass and prosecutors started telling them, “Appear or I will ask the judge to issue a warrant for your arrest.”
Play stupid games win stupid prizes.
Pro tip for Marines in uniform. Don’t attempt to devil dog civilians because your jimmies have been rustled and especially don’t steal from somebody in front of a police officer while being video taped.
True words. The SgtMaj is guilty of the Marine sin of “loss of bearing”. I’m sorry his career is over, but the end result of his actions were predictible. Once this went viral, nothing could save him, it’s way too political at his level.
Arguello never served under Archie. He EASED in 2011 and stuck around the area.
He was A DI for roughly two years. He did six training cycles. He never advanced above the position of “3rd Hat” meaning he wasn’t considered smart enough or trustworthy enough to teach recruits important tasks. He was basically the hat that would scream at the recruits and “IT” them.
That was the tip of the iceberg though. He got booted after NCIS got a hold of certain… videos…
The way MCRD works is that if you are infamous enough word sticks around. I’m Sure Archie made some calls and got the scoop on Arguello and the thought of the guy wearing a Smokey just lit his fuse.
No matter how people try to spin it, Sgt.Maj. Archie was in the wrong. He brought dishonor to the Marine Corps. Calling the person out on the street a bunch of names leaves a hole in the critical thinking process and shows a huge lack of understanding of the constitution we take an oath to defend and protect.
Sgt. Maj. Archie has served his time has been an E9 for 7 years. Time to get out and give another Marine a chance at promotion.
Maybe it is just me, but a SGM that is willing to fight and do something rather than act like a politician is something that the military is missing right now. We have several SGMs in the military that are too busy being “yes men” and are way too concerned with keeping their careers in tact. At least Archie is leaving his mark in a good way and not rubber stamping his ham fisted way of force reduction or saying that Marines make too much money.
That fucking p-word had him arrested on 3rd degree assault charges? What a wet one.
Another one bites the dust!
A municipal court judge dismisses the charges against Sergeant Major Paul Archie:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20141014/NEWS/310140066/Charges-dropped-against-Parris-Island-Sgt-Maj-who-confronted-protester
Charges dropped or not, the fact that he made such a public spectacle of himself is grounds to post his ass.