The Army has reversed course and decided to allow a Green Beret to stay in uniform, months after his reprimand for roughing up an accused child rapist in Afghanistan.
Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland found out last August that he was to be booted out of service, a casualty of the Army's Qualitative Management Program, an involuntary separation measure for soldiers with black marks on their records. Since then, the soldier has been fighting to remain in the Army.
The Army Board for Correction of Military Records reviewed Martland's case and decided to remove the soldier from the QMP list, confirmed Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk in an emailed statement Thursday night.The board's action "will allow him to remain in the Army," Pionk said.
Martland has admitted he lost his cool on his 2011 deployment to Konduz province, Afghanistan. That's when he and his captain struck an Afghan local police officer — one who had allegedly confessed to raping a boy and then beating the child's mother for telling authorities. Martland said that he and the detachment commander, Capt. Daniel Quinn, received a "relief for cause" from that 2011 deployment for the assault, according to documentation provided to Army Times.
Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland
Photo Credit: Defense Department
Last year, the blemish in his NCO evaluation report from that incident flagged Martland for involuntary separation.
Martland appealed the Army's decision to kick him out, and he quickly gained several high-profile supporters, including Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"I am real thankful for being able to continue to serve," Martland told Fox News, which first broke the story. "I appreciate everything Congressman Duncan Hunter and his Chief of Staff, Joe Kasper did for me."