SFC Charles Martland

Completely unacceptable. Does our country stand for right or wrong anymore?

All my support!

I would like to say that I am appalled to read this article, plus the latest one in today's St. Paul Pioneer Press. I am a police officer and worked 4 years in the child abuse unit for my department. These people would be going to jail if this were to happen in my city. Cultural protocol be damned, this is one of the oldest laws on God's/Mohamed's planet. We as MEN/adults protect children and protect women. We don't allow this type of behavior to go on in our presence or if we have knowledge of the offense. What happened to the leadership of the US military? It is my understanding that if there is an order that is not moral, the soldier down to a private has a right to disobey it. At the very least, this is a very immoral policy that the military has adopted. Why are we there? Shame on SFC Martland's superiors. I will sign off now. SFC Charles Martland keep the faith, I have your six o'clock.

i support red white and blue and this green beret !

I am grateful to the NYTimes for breaking this story which quickly got picked up by other outlets. Would the population outside the military have become aware of this otherwise? How detestable that anyone considered an ally could be supporting this kind of behavior toward children. I don't know enough about protocol to know precisely how SFC may have violated it but it seems impossible that the situation did not mitigate any stepping over lines here by him and Captain Quinn.

He is a true hero.

SFC Martland had a moral duty to act.

SFC Charles Martland is another reason I am proud to be called an American

This is an outrage. Leave this hero alone! This man is being kicked out of the ARMY for protecting a child? Shame Shame Shame on the Army. Thank you, SFC Martland.

This is something that is ridiculous!

I believe the punishment for SFC Martland was too harsh. If we cannot "try" to impose American values and American norms onto the afghan culture then we shouldn't be there training them. If their moral values include killing and raping innocent children in military camps supplied by the US then the US should pack it up and get out.

This is ridiculous. Over some abusive raping hajji

This man demonstrated exemplar moral values, and that is the type of people I am confident that should be in leading an army! He doesn't merely follow order, but he analyses it and balances it with human rights! Give him his career back! We need to encourage this behavior and not suppress them.

This man and his unit do not deserve this bureaucratic overreach of policy for simply defending the weak. As a Green Beret, their life's calling and motto is to liberate the oppressed. He used a simple, truthfully non harming jesture to get his point across. It seams hypocritical for the punishment of minor force coming from a culture that believes a man's hand must be chopped off for stealing, a woman stoned or beheaded for cheating; and yet, raping a young boy carried no consequence, and this honorable American warrior did something about it. To be treated in this way by his own government for doing what was right in a lawless country, is not what this country was founded on, nor what it stands for. I ask that this man be pardoned from charges, and able to serve valiantly what is left of his Special Forces career. De Oppresso Liber.

This is for Dan Quinn, Gregory Buckley Jr., and Charles Martland. THIS is what it takes to lead- the hard choices and the courage to stand alone in the face of evil. Even when it's supported by your own country. We all know in our hearts what is right and the real path to peace is in our soul. God will bless you all for acting and for not letting it go unheard. Your personal torment about it is over. We hear you!

Unacceptable

It is reprehensible that an American Hero would be treated this way.

A Hero and Soldier defended a CHILD and his mother who was trying to STOP HIM FROM BEING RAPED REPEATEDLY and our United States Government PUNISHED HIM and PROTECTED the CHILD RAPIST. WHF is wrong with us that everyone is not demanding justice here. He was trying to stop horrific human atrocities, not "push" American morals onto Afghans. This is INSANITY. Does whoever punished him have CHILDREN? Would they stand by while THEIR CHILD was being raped by grown men?What has happened to our country?

I fully support your efforts to defend this man. He is most assuredly a man of integrity and honor.

We as Americans must stick up for an objective moral foundation. This soldier held to it. He should not be punished for holding up our values in the world.