War Hero Punished for Protecting Child From Rape Gets Extension in Discipline Case
United States Sergeant First Class Charles Martland has reportedly been granted a two-month extension in his ongoing case with the U.S. Army as he faces expulsion for intervening to protect a child from an Afghan child-rapist.
The American Center for Law and Justice called it a "small victory in a vitally important case defending a war hero and exposing evil."
Martland, a Green Beret Bronze Star recipient, was disciplined after he and his superior officer, Captain Daniel Quinn, confronted an Afghan commander allied with U.S. forces who was abusing a young boy.
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"We felt a moral obligation to act," Martland has explained.
The boy was apparently being used as part of a long-standing grotesque practice in Afghanistan, where grown men force young boys to dress up like women before being raped.
The "bacha bazi," or "boy play" practice as it is known, has existed for centuries in Afghanistan, and continues to be used to this day.
"Perpetrators span all facets of society, including high-ranking officials in the government and security forces, and are allowed to systematically rape and traffic young boys with virtual impunity," the ACLJ explained back in February.
The conservative law group has accused the international community of ignoring the controversial practice "in the name of cultural tolerance and military strategy."
The Pentagon continues to deny that it upholds policy that ignores human rights abuses, however.
A September statement from spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said: "We have never had a policy in place that directs any military member, or any government personnel overseas to ignore human rights abuses."
Davis added: "Any sexual abuse, no matter who the alleged perpetrator and no matter who the victim, is completely unacceptable and reprehensible."
The ACLJ has accused U.S. Army leadership of taking action against the protector and not the predator.
"He is the consummate American warrior, hailed by those he served with as a man of honor, a soldier's soldier. He was decorated for his valor, respected for his courage, and feared by the enemy," the law group wrote.
"This war hero is set to be thrown out of the Army for protecting a young child from grotesque sexual abuse. It's not the enemy who may succeed in bringing him down. No, it's the bureaucracy of his own country. This is wrong and it must end."
Over 300,000 people have signed a petition in support of Martland, calling the action against him both "shameful and despicable."
"The U.S. military has a moral obligation to stop child sexual abuse on our bases and exonerate Sergeant Martland for defending a child from rape," the letter reads, addressed to the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Army.
