Green Beret Made Morally Right Choice, Suffering For It

Green Beret Discharged for Shoving Accused Afghan Rapist Speaks Out
Fox News
by Judson Berger
Sep 28, 2015

A Green Beret ordered discharged after he and his team leader body-slammed an alleged Afghan child rapist is speaking out against the Army's effort to punish him, as he fights to stay in the service.

"Kicking me out of the Army is morally wrong and the entire country knows it," Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland said, in his first public statement on his case.

The detailed written statement, requested by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., was shared by the congressman's office with FoxNews.com. Hunter, who has advocated on Martland's behalf, intends to submit the statement to the House Armed Services Committee.

Martland's case has received renewed attention amid recent press reports on the U.S. military's handling of child abuse allegations involving Afghan allies. In his statement, Martland gives a blunt account of the September 2011 encounter with the "brutal child rapist," local police commander Abdul Rahman. He acknowledges the confrontation, but suggests the commander exaggerated his injuries -- and argues that the boy's safety, as well as American lives, was at stake that day.

Martland said the Afghan Local Police had been "committing atrocities," raising concerns that many locals viewed as "worse than the Taliban" -- and if locals returned to the Taliban, attacks against U.S. forces would increase.

"While I understand that a military lawyer can say that I was legally wrong, we felt a moral obligation to act," he said.
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