“I am once again dismayed by the Army’s actions in this case,” wrote Hunter, R-Calif. in a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter challenging the decision.
Martland has been described by many of his military brethren as the finest soldier they have ever served alongside.
During his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2011, he learned that an Afghan boy was raped and his mother beaten by a local police commander after she filed a report of the rape. So, Martland and his team leader confronted the rapist cop, who they had actually trained.
The police officer just laughed off the incident, so Martland shoved him down and told him that it will never happen again.
Now this decorated Green Beret is being kicked out of the Army for making a stand for what is right.
They were punished by the Army at the time — but why exactly Martland is now being discharged is a matter of dispute. Army sources cited his accolades, including being named runner-up for 2014 Special Warfare Training Group Instructor of the Year from a pool of 400 senior leaders in Special Forces, in questioning the decision.
As for the incident in 2011, Hunter told Carter: “To intervene was a moral decision, and SFC Martland and his Special Forces team felt they had no choice but to respond.”
Casey, a former Green Beret teammate who would only use his first name since he is now a member of a federal counterterrorism team, told Fox News, “If I was a commander, I would have given him an award. They saved that kid’s life.”
Martland grew up south of Boston, in Milton, Mass. An all-state football player in high school, he set his sights on playing college football after graduating in 2001. Martland went for the Florida State University team, which just finished a season ranked #4 in the nation.
He made the team, impressing legendary head coach Bobby Bowdon and famed defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews. Still, he often remained on the sidelines. When Pat Tillman, a former NFL football player who volunteered for the Army Rangers, was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, he saw Tillman’s sacrifice as motivation to apply for another elite program. Martland dropped out of college and graduated in 2006 from Special Forces Qualification Course, one of the U.S. military’s toughest training programs. Over the years he became a jumpmaster, combat diver and sniper.
After a deployment to Iraq in 2008, he deployed to Afghanistan in January 2010 as part of a 12-man unit. He and his team found themselves fighting large numbers of Taliban militants in volatile Kunduz Province.
On one mission, one of their vehicles was struck by an IED, setting off a Taliban ambush. Fox News is told Martland rushed to the scene. He jumped in the turret of a damaged Humvee, exposing himself to enemy bullets while returning fire to help his teammates gather sensitive equipment.
“I thought he was gone, then he comes out of nowhere to save us,” said an active-duty Green Beret who requested anonymity.
Martland was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions. According to one evaluation, he also was “praised” by Gen. David Petraeus, then commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.
Honestly, I hate to admit, he is actually better off out of the army where he can apply his skills with an organization of his choosing. Someplace where he is appreciated for his talent and able to make a real difference in the world, rather than working for a completely amoral, incompetent and backward bureaucracy such as the army, where he has no true value or purpose and is only considered a piece of meat to be fed to the dogs of war at their whim or carelessness. The current army is an organization that is so far afield of its actual purpose or capability, that it needs to be stripped down and properly rebuilt to once again become a viable American $#%&!@*et …something that will unfortunately never come to p$#%&!@* in today’s society! Sad truth…