A decorated soldier who has worked for the U.S. Army Special Forces for 11 years is being kicked out after he stood up for a young rape victim and his beaten mother in Afghanistan, it is claimed.
Sergeant 1st Class Charles Martland, 33, was serving in the country’s war-torn Kunduz Province in 2011 when he apparently learned an Afghan police commander he had trained had raped a boy.
He and his team leader, Daniel Quinn, confronted Officer Abdul Rahman – who had also allegedly beaten the 12-year-old’s mother for reporting the sexual assault – and ‘shoved him to the ground’.
Despite Rahman walking away only bruised, Martland and Quinn were disciplined. The Army reportedly halted their mission, put them in temporary jobs, and then, finally, sent them home.
Upon their return, Quinn quit the Army and secured a job on Wall Street, Fox News exclusively reports. However, Martland, from Massachusetts, launched a fight to remain a Green Beret.
But now, the dedicated soldier has been ‘involuntary discharged’ from the Army following a ‘Qualitative Management Program’ that was apparently carried out in February this year.
An Army spokesman refused to confirm the details of Martland’s discharge for privacy reasons.
However, several army officials – and politicians – have expressed outrage at the verdict, which they believe was made due to the negative mark on Martland’s record from the January 2011 incident.
One of the soldier’s ex-teammates, known only as Casey, told Fox that if he was a commander, he would have given Martland ‘an award’ for confronting Rahman and ‘saving the [rape victim’s] life’.
Meanwhile, Congressman Duncan Hunter, who has written to Defense Secretary Ash Carter about the verdict, said: ‘It’s sad to think that a child rapist is put above one of our elite military operators.
He added: ‘Sergeant Martland was left with no other choice but to intervene in a bad situation. The Army should stand up for what’s right and should not side with a corrupt Afghan police officer.’
In his letter, Hunter, a Republican representative from California, said the Army’s decision to discharge Martland had left him ‘dismayed’.
He told Cater of the dispute involving Martland, Quinn and Rahman: ‘To intervene was a moral decision, and SFC Martland and his Special Forces team felt they had no choice but to respond.’
Former NFL defensive end Tim Bulman has also expressed support for Martland, whom he was friends with as a child, telling Fox: ‘You would want him in your corner and protecting our freedom.’
Prior to the 2011 incident, Martland and Quinn had trained up Rahman, armed him and even paid him in dollars, it is said. However, they had a problem with him and other Afghan police recruits.
According to Fox, the two Green Berets and their teammates had started hearing reports of cops in the country carrying out rapes.
When they confronted Rahman about claims that he had raped a young boy and beaten up the child’s mother, the officer ‘laughed about it, and said it wasn’t a big deal,’ Quinn told the site.
The two soldiers then shoved Rahman ‘to prevent further repeat occurrences’, Quinn said.
After Rahman formally complained, Martland and Quinn were flown out of the province and placed in temporary jobs in another location in northern Afghanistan – before finally being sent home.
Last year, Martland, who grew up in Milton, Massachusetts, and played football for Florida State University, was listed as a runner-up for the Special Warfare Training Group Instructor of the Year.
According to another former teammate, who wished to remain unnamed, the soldier saved the lives of some of his colleagues during his time in Kunduz Province by leaping in front of Taliban bullets.
Martland’s ‘involuntary discharge’ will take effect by November 1, it is reported.