U.S. Army hero may be dismissed for defending 12-year-old boy

There may yet be hope for the career of a Green Beret Army soldier who faces discharge from the military after 11 years defending freedom for the United States with honors.

Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland has an exemplary career in the Army. He has received a Bronze Star for heroism and, by all appearances, he has been an outstanding example of what we want our armed forces to be.

I applaud him for the act that apparently led to the decision to discharge him.

The story was reported by Fox News, not the most reliable source of information, but it was repeated by Army Times.

Martland was told an Afghan boy had been raped by an Afghan commander named Abdul Rahman. Rahman had been trained by U.S. soldiers and was supported by American tax dollars. When Rahman found out his crime had been reported by the boy's mother, he allegedly had the boy's mother beaten.

This was not the first time the Green Berets learned of such atrocities and they were fed up.

Martland and his team leader, Daniel Quinn, went to see Rahman about the matter and Rahman laughed in their faces.

At that point, Martland and Daniel Quinn, Martland's team leader, shoved Rahman to the ground.

Pending an investigation of the incident, Martland and Quinn were both sent home.

Now, Congress is getting involved. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, contacted Army Secretary John McHugh who agreed to postpone a decision about Martland's future in the Army for 60 days.

In other words, our United States Army commanders took the side of an accused homosexual rapist over that of dedicated soldiers before any investigation could take place

What hope can there be for our country when our soldiers aren't allowed to stand up for a 12-year-old boy? And it wasn't the only such incident reported among Afghan soldiers. What on Earth are we doing?

This is just another example of what lack of discipline at home is doing to our soldiers around the world.

Spanking a child is just one form of discipline, yet a parent who dares spank a child in a public place can face jail time.

Discipline can be defined as "teaching."

Anyone who has raised for taught children knows some children can be taught through conversation but other children need sterner measures. A swat on the bottom has improved the behavior of many children. Likewise our current attitude toward discipline has ruined many children who grow up to be the kind of adults who think Martland and Quinn did wrong because they tried to reason and when that didn't work, they pushed an accused rapist to the ground to get his attention.

We're not talking about disciplining a child. This was an Afghan army commander supported by your tax dollars and the blood of our soldiers.

I say Martland and Quinn exercised great restraint in just knocking the man down.

But, we have learned there is hope. Although Martland faced an involuntary discharge from the Army on Nov. 1, the Army has granted a 60-day extension while his commanders rethink their decision.

Quinn voluntarily left the Army and now works on Wall Street. Apparently Quinn would rather fight the bulls and the bears on Wall Street than his military leaders.

Mr. Quinn, I don't blame you one bit.