Are We There Yet?
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Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher in Iraq in 2017. (courtesy photo)
This has been dragged out to the thickness of a hair.
First, Chief Gallagher is found not guilty of murder. https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/07/02/seal-war-crimes-suspect-not-guilty-on-murder-charge/
More than nine months after he was charged with murder, attempted murder and a string of other alleged war crimes tied to a 2017 deployment in Iraq, Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher strolled out of a Naval Base San Diego courtroom a free man, guilty only of appearing in an inappropriate photograph. – Article
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/07/03/seal-sentenced-for-posing-with-dead-detainee/
A Navy SEAL who was acquitted of killing a wounded Islamic State captive but convicted of posing with the corpse was sentenced by a military jury Wednesday to a reduction in rank and four months of confinement.
A judge, however, credited Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher with enough time already spent in custody to ensure he won’t be locked up. – Article
Okay, but what about the other Teamguys who were in the photos, too? Are they going to also be charged with “appearing in an Inappropriate Photograph”? Somebody screwed the pooch here. I’m sure that Those Guys will try to find book deals – stuff like that.
Category: Navy
First. Maybe.
I blame the Obama Administration for this. Not that the former President played a direct role or anything, simply that his use the military for social experimentation made the careerist problem worse.
The result is rather than having a loin in leadership positions you get sheep. Which on the large scale (ie the civilian population being in charge of the military via elected officials) is a horrible idea at the operational and tactical levels.
It made the command climate less about war fighting and more about sensitivity training. I don’t blame the direct leadership involved, as they “don’t know any better”. Most of them grew up in this climate, and those that didn’t remember either getting smacked for being a warrior first or saw someone else get smacked for it.
Not just the Obama administration. I also blame those senior SPECWAR officers (esp. O-6 and above) for this fiasco. As has become typical, when things got ugly — as was imminent due to policies they enacted — they ran and hid from this like frightened sorority girls with a snake in the dorm. Those policies include wildly expanding the Navy Special Warfare program (largely in order to provide more billets for themselves – meaning they could extend their careers while being promoted)in the 1980s with no real plan as to how to make it work). From 1980 – 1987 the SEAL Teams grew from two teams to eight (albeit the UDTs became SEAL Teams as well). This expansion required them to push through (relatively) massive classes of candidates, graduate higher numbers than had ever been graduated in the past, and overlook deficiencies that would have eliminated (some) BUD/S candidates in an earlier age. The inevitable result was a deterioration in cohesion and “teamwork” that had made the SEALs so effective in the past. My BUD/S class started with 52 trainees, after five weeks there were four of us left. Now, classes graduating 30+ are not uncommon, and many of the trainees barely know one another.
Thanks SEAL TWO. Good to get more insight from someone who has BTDT. When this FIRST broke, kinda thought it was more of a political/social justice/cover our ass/we’re scared of a real Warrior thing.
And, not surprisingly, after all the dumbassed bullsh1t that SEAL TWO mentioned went down, it got (arguably) even worse.
Like an NSW Admiral, standing before the relevant political slime, being asked if it was possible to DOUBLE the # of Teams and replying ‘absolutely’ with a straight face.
So how are you going to man double the current # of teams? Easy…graduate more BUD/S students.
How? Simple. The bean counters noticed that winter Hell Weeks KOd more BUD/S students than anything else (I’d say pool comp is worse, but I’m no 1st phase instructor and I don’t have the relevant #s/data in front of me).
Want more students graduating BUD/S? Just eliminate winter Hell Weeks (I’m not kidding, but I understand this nonsense was reversed fairly quickly).
And as far as old Teamgyus compared to new Teamguys (I’m in the middle I think, all my Mentors were definitely Old School) goes…if I see the ‘SEAL code’ referenced again, I’m going to fvcking break something.
Sounds like several other communities/fields in the Navy and elsewhere, where the, “pump versus filter” mentality has taken over.
Sadly, most of those who SHOULD have washed out in the pipeline end up making it to the fleet and either go sad panda or turn everything they touch into warm runny shit. Even worse, a few manage to hang around just long enough to really fuck the system over.
Unless they enforce the same ruling and hand out the same punishment to everyone who posed for those “trophy” pics, which would include his original accusers, the Navy is still full of shit. Can Gallagher appeal the conviction on those grounds?
Only SLIGHT solace he can take is his High 3 should still grant him Chief retirement pay, shouldnt it?
I DID see he got a full sleeve tattoo from elbow to wrist to celebrate his aquittal. Good on him.
If the recuction is approved by the CMCA and sticks post-appeal, no. A change to Title 10 occurring after the former SMA McKinney fiasco now mandates that retired pay be calculated at the reduced rank for someone reduced via court-martial shortly before retirement.
The McKinney case drove that change. In that case, former SMA McKinney was indeed convicted and reduced (very justifiably, and IMO he might have gotten off easy) by a court-martial. He retired almost immediately afterwards – and due to high-three average, got virtually the same retired pay as he would have without a conviction and reduction. Congress changed the law relatively soon afterwards (in the next DAA, I think) to prevent that happening in the future.
I thought at 30 years or 10 years after retirement you reverted to highest rank held. Did that change?
That’s “highest rank successfully held”. I’m reasonably sure that any rank terminated by reduction as part of court-martial sentence (or other reduction for cause) generally isn’t considered a “rank successfully held” for those purposes.
One thing I forgot, he lost the stripe as a result of courts martial, not Article 15. That might make the difference.
Ah. I see. Thanks for Intel Hondo.
I’m with you, TOW. Punish all of them who did the “trophy” pic thing. If they nailed Gallagher for it, they can nail the others on the same charge.
Reduction in rank is one last fuck you to a real warrior. Why those shitheads voted guilty in the first place is absurd as well but this is the shitty military injustice system we have now. I’m surprised they didn’t confine him on ship with bread and water too.
They had to vote guilty on that charge. Gallagher admitted from the beginning it was him in the photo.
The result is rather than having a lion in leadership positions you get sheep.
You are blasting Obama for yourself getting first post, or the tentative “maybe” way you claimed it?
Convicted of an inappropriate photo and he is busted to PO1?
What…the…FUCK?!
I have never been shot at and never was in the presence of a body I was responsible for killing, but I have a funny feeling there are a shitload of warriors who “deserve” to be reduced in rank if this is now the standard.
I can think of much worse acts than taking a photo with a corpse.
Sheesh!
Another good reason I got out before the advent of social media, etc.
And still “lost” most of my photos and negatives.
I remember someone at the range showed me camera pics of civilians lined up at trenches and being shot and Jeeps with dead German soldiers tied up on the fenders/hood of the jeeps like deer.