A growing trend towards incredibly bad decision-making on the part of America’s leadership in foreign and military affairs has been well-illustrated in the strange case of Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland.
Sgt. Martland, a heroic Green Beret who has been awarded two Bronze Stars, faces both a reprimand and a dismissal from the Army because he defended a child from a rapist, and the child’s mother from a vicious beating from that rapist.
As described at military.com, Sgt. Martland, serving in Afghanistan with an elite Joint Base Lewis-McChord unit “beat up an Afghan police commander he was supposed to be mentoring because he was fed up with the commander’s ‘brutal’ sexual abuse of a village boy… A one-star general reprimanded Martland after the September 2011 incident for a ‘flagrant departure from the integrity, professionalism and even-tempered leadership I expect from all soldiers of this command, but especially a Special Forces professional’….He likely will be discharged in November because the discipline handed to him for assaulting the Afghan made him a target for Army downsizing. Veteran soldiers with negative performance reviews in their service records are being culled from the ranks as part of the post-Iraq War drawdown.”
In its determined attempt to reduce the size of the U.S. military, excuses are being manufactured by the Obama Administration to eliminate as many service members as possible. Recently, experienced U.S. Army majors, some serving in the field in Afghanistan, and key Navy personnel, including chiefs, have been let go. If this year’s expected cuts go into effect, the United States Army will be smaller than its North Korean counterpart. China’s Navy will be larger than America’s within five years. Russia, for the first time since the dawn of the atomicage, now has a larger and more modern nuclear force than the U.S. The U.S. Air Force is at a historically low level.
The punishment levied against Sgt. Martland has incurred the anger of many, including Rep. Duncan Hunter, (R-California) who has petitioned Defense Secretary Ashton Carter concerning the matter, and retired Lt. Gen. (US Army-Ret.) William “Jerry” Boykin, now serving as Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council. That organization is currently circulating a petition opposing the punishment being given to Martland.
According to the group, “While most of us would consider the act of trying to stop the sexual abuse of a child as a normal human response, Sgt. Martland was reprimanded for this action…Sgt. Martland’s case is unfortunately not unique. While the sexual abuse of children is widespread in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports, ‘Among American military personnel and civilians who served in Afghanistan, it was well known that many wealthy and prominent Afghans rape boys, often making them dress up as women and dance at gatherings during which they are assaulted — and that Western officials often turned a blind eye to the practice for fear of alienating allies.’ What does it mean to be an American soldier? If our brave men and women must turn away from such atrocities in the name of not alienating allies, do we stand for anything anymore?”
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While punishing Martland for doing the right thing is, in itself, a cause for concern and protest, what does the move to censure this American hero say about the mindset of U.S. leadership?
Clearly, the mindset of the Obama Administration is that America is almost always wrong in its relations with the world. This has been evident in the President’s “Apology Tour” of Islamic nations early in his administration. It has been evident in the Obama-Clinton “Reset” with Russia, in which the Kremlin was essentially green-lighted to become the leading military power on the planet. And it is most clearly seen in its energetic attempts to slash the U.S. military budget and demoralize America’s soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.
During the tenure of the Obama Administration, the U.S. has been reduced from being the world’s only superpower to being an impotent non-player on the world stage. Russian forces have invaded Ukraine, threaten Eastern Europe, and have become a major force in the Middle East. Moscow’s military has become a force in Latin America. China has invaded and stolen off-shore possessions belonging to the Philippines, and Beijing is constructing naval bases on disputed islets which will soon give it a stranglehold over an area through which 70% of the world’s commerce flows.
The lack of appreciation for the services of Americans serving abroad extends beyond the military. It could be seen in the White House’s failure to even attempt to rescue Ambassador Stevens and his staff when they were attacked in Benghazi, and the lack of any substantial follow-up in the aftermath of that assault.
The miscarriage of justice being administered to Sgt. Martland is a symbol of the utter contempt the Obama Administration has both for America’s service members and America’s role in the world.