afghanistan Tag Archives — Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

Worth the read-off topic

November 18, 2012 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

David Frum has this post in todays The Daily Beast.

“The hard decisions are not not the ones you make in the heat of battle. Far harder to make are those involved in speaking your mind about some hare-brained scheme, which proposes to commit troops to action under conditions where failure is almost certain, and the only results will be the needless sacrifice of precious lives.” -Matthew B. Ridgeway, Memoirs (1956).

At the same time Salon reports on his book, “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor.” The header of the piece is:

Ramrod Five/Stryker Brigade sitrep

November 7, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Lexington Herald-Leader reports:

Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs’ big talk about killing Afghan civilians and getting away with it made him stand out when he joined a new platoon at an Army base in southern Afghanistan a year ago, according to written statements from his comrades.

Some of his Stryker platoon mates from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash., told investigators they didn’t know what to make of him. They thought he must be kidding.

More bulk prosecutions?

August 26, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Yesterday I posted a Ramrod Five update and also the possibility that Dutch prosecutors may proceed against peacekeepers. Now UPI is reporting that:

A military prosecutor says she may pursue charges against several Australian troops in a raid in Afghanistan last year in which five children died.

Brig. Lyn McDade, the director of military prosecutions, says she is considering the unprecedented step of charging several Defense Force commandos, a move that has infuriated senior officers, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Thursday.

Up periscope 53

July 23, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Daily Weekly reports on a Fort Lewis Soldier convicted in civilian court of murder. The piece that caught my eye was this:

Since the start of the war in Iraq in 2003, there have been at least a dozen slayings on Western Washington soil alone involving active troops or veterans of Iraq. The body count includes seven wives, a girlfriend, and one child; six other children have lost one or both parents to death or imprisonment. Most gruesome was the double slaying by an attractive Fort Lewis soldier, Spc. Ivette Davila, 22, who shot, killed and then poured acid on the faces of Timothy Miller, 27, and Randi Miller, 25, a military couple stationed at the fort, then kidnapped their child.

Army Times reports:

Ramrod Five update

June 16, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

I first posted on this here. More information about the case is seeping out. Some of this may be circular reporting.

Fox5News (Las Vegas) reports:

The Army isn’t saying what motivated the killings of three Afghan civilians, whose deaths have led to charges against a Nevada soldier and four others from Washington state’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The Ramrod five

June 12, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

AP reports that:

Five soldiers from the same Washington state-based unit have now been implicated in the killing of three Afghan civilians, an Army spokeswoman said Monday.

The Army said Friday that Spc. Jeremy Morlock had been charged with three counts of premeditated murder and one count of assault.

Up periscope

June 6, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Air Force Times reports:

A wing commander lost his job because he not only played favorites but hid unfavorable information from his bosses about a female lieutenant colonel, and recommended her for promotion, according to an Air Force investigation.

Directly from Coast Guard Report blog:

Up periscope WE 300510

June 1, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Air Force Times reports that:

Inexperienced operators of a U.S. drone ignored or downplayed signs that Afghan civilians were in a convoy blasted in a deadly American missile attack earlier this year, a military report released Saturday said.

While Washington Post reports that:

Up periscope WE 160510

May 16, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Guardian, at guardian.co.uk reports that:

An Afghan prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for an American special forces commander over allegations that a police chief was murdered by a US-trained militia.

He accused American officials of refusing to hand over evidence or to permit his investigators to interview the special forces commander, known to Afghans only as "John or Johnny", who he alleges sanctioned the raid.

Up periscope – WE300110

February 4, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Army has charged an Illinois National Guardsman in Afghanistan with possession of child and adult pornography, and his family has come to his defense, arguing that he was the target of a personal vendetta.

Army Times reports. This is an ongoing case that started because the kids mother sent him a photograph of a child. In the photograph you can apparently see her crack.

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