Green Beret discharged for confronting child rapist gaining support for appeal

A Green Beret who is being discharged for roughing up an accused Afghan child rapist is gaining support nationwide from pro-military groups as his appeal nears the finish line.

Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland’s last stand will occur at the Army’s Board for Correction of Military Records. The panel’s website states that it exists to “correct errors in or remove injustices from Army military records.”

Supporters say that, if any case involves an injustice, it is Sgt. Martland’s — kicking out a decorated Green Beret for taking a moral stand against a child abuser.

After a failed appeal before a different panel, Sgt. Martland’s Army attorney this time is sticking to a legal, not emotional, argument before the records board.

There were “irregularities” in the soldier’s last evaluation — the document that put him on the discharge list — and thus it should be thrown out, will be Sgt. Martland’s legal position, according to Joe Kasper, chief of staff for Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican and war veteran who has taken up the commando’s cause.

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