Using our Military to push anyone’s agenda is bull

The situations that my fellow service members face day in and day out is the stuff of legends and on its own should merit front page in any newspaper, magazine or publication but to use an heroic situation add in a title you believe will get you more page views is an insult to these men and women who work so hard and dedicate so much than just their earthly lives, they risk their very souls.

I was forwarded this article by a brother of mine, who is often at odds with me regarding a lot of things.  One of the things we stand in opposition with is President Barack Obama but even though we stand on different sides of any issue, make no mistake, if you place a scratch on him rest assured that I will put a gash on you.  He is my brother not because we have the same mother and not because we have the same dad but simply because we shared the same uniform as a Marine and traveled in the same circles like Beirut, Grenada, Lebanon, Somalia and Desert Storm.  He is my brother because he served and so my family extends each time any man or woman joins any of our Armed Forces and graduates basic training so I take it personally when their heroic actions are used to further anyone’s agenda even my own.  Why we differ, in our opinion is that he just can’t forgive a people who has done so much to those who was truly there to help and now seeks to demand an alteration to this nation to fit their original existence.  We differ because while I stand strongly beside him in the aggressive actions toward America when we were there to help and will never bow to the demand an alteration to this nation to fit their original existence, I do not carry animosity toward the entirety of a race or religion.  My scars are far too deep to forget and I will forgive an entire race or religion but I may never be able to get rid of the anger toward those who dropped the bombs or fired the weapons at us.  

I am ranting and raving about an article titled “WHY WOULD OBAMA ALLOW GREEN BERET To Be Discharged for Saving Life of Young Boy” found in the Evening Compass.  The article talks about how wrong it is that two heroes are being like dirt by the U.S. Army and those in-the-know.  It reports that “In 2011, Charles Martland and his Special Forces Captain Dan Quinn (who has since resigned from the military) physically assaulted Abdul Rahman, after learning that Rahman had abducted a boy, chained him to a bed, repeatedly abused him as a sex slave and beat up the boy’s mother when she sought to find and rescue her son. The Green Berets intervened when they discovered that the boy was being raped and held as a sex slave. According to the Martland and Quinn, the Afghan villagers were pleading with them to do something about repeated sexual assaults against children by the Afghan police.  American military have long been saddled with the knowledge of the Afghan practice of “bacha bazi,” translated as dancing boys. Bacha Bazi is the ancient and widespread practice of Afghan men who abduct and lure poor boys into the grisly world of child sex slavery where they are raped and exploited by Afghan men.  This wasn’t the first time that Martland and Quinn experienced inaction from the Afghan government for serious child sexual exploitation crimes committed by the Afghan police force. Martland and Quinn knew that two Afghan commanders were not prosecuted nor punished for the rape of a 15 year old girl and the honor killing of an Afghan commander’s 12 year old daughter who kissed a boy. Martland who was fed up with the ongoing sexual exploitation of children by Afghan officials said, “I felt that morally we could no longer stand by and allow our Afghan Commanders to commit these atrocities.”  Obama’s administration, including his Pentagon, endlessly promotes and spends millions on sexual assault and human trafficking programs, policies and media messaging. The very human rights violations perpetrated upon innocent Afghan children are the ones which this Administration is demanding action to enforce zero tolerance.

Now I do not disagree with the style this article was written in in the above quote and as far as I am concerned, I am almost positive that I would have risked my career and did the very same thing these two heroes did.  You see, I see it as a bigger issue than just a career, image how those Afghan leaders will now see Americans based on the actions these heroes took.  Image the gratitude and respect garnered by these two that will now reflect wholly upon the U.S. Army and all of our American fighting men and women.  Image how hard it is going to be for ISIL or the Taliban to convince this village that Americans are bad people.  You see this goes further than just two people and this is the true measure of a real hero when you fight for something far bigger than yourself.  Did they deserve to be discharged, hell no, if nothing else reassignment if they wished to remain in service but never a discharge especially if it was not their wish to leave.  So what has me so fired up about this article?  Simply it’s the title, assuming that since you are in charge you are aware of every single thing that happens and should be held responsible for the actions of those who work for you.

Anyone who knows anything about the military knows that some within the upper echelon is never aware of every single thing that happens in their companies just like your boss knows not everything you do on your job or a parent knows not everything their children do outside of their presence.  So how are you to be held accountable for another person’s action?  I’d say if it can be proven that you knew had time to fix the situation but failed to act on that information is the only measurement needed to fix responsibility to.  Lie knowing that an attack on American soil was immediate but you failed to act, like knowing that these things are happening and not doing anything about it, like pretending to care about grossly offensive acts like this but punishing those who stepped up to stop it.  Basically I have a problem with this title because it was generated to get page views and marketed to people who dislike our current president.  It was not written to call to attention the injustice served to these two heroes and it was not written to call attention to the injustice of the children of Afghanistan.  What would have eased my discomfort and anger about this title is within the article proof had been shown that Obama knew and did nothing about it.  I know for me, if you are trying to tie me into the actions of anyone who works for me before you do you had better make damn sure I knew about it and did nothing to stop it.