Cowardice Charges?

[catscradle]

When this story first broke on Democracy Now my jaw dropped. I was afraid it wouldn't get any press at all since many stories on that site never get mainstream attention. But I heard it this morning on the radio and again on CNN - and I'm so glad it's now getting national attention. Hopefully the rest of the charges will be dropped.

Army drops cowardice charge

FORT CARSON, Colorado (CNN) -- The U.S. Army Thursday dismissed a cowardice charge against a National Guardsman shaken by the sight of an Iraqi soldier's corpse, which had been cut in half by machine gun fire.

The cowardice charge carries a penalty of up to death. No one since the Vietnam War has faced that charge.

Instead Sgt. Georg Andreas Pogany, 32, faces a reduced charge of dereliction of duty. A military court hearing scheduled for Friday has been postponed.

The sight upset Pogany enough that he asked for help from his superiors to deal with panic attacks.

Sad thing here is - by all the accounts I've read, he didn't even asked to be relieved of duty. He basically just said he was having panic attacks and trouble coping and asked for some help to deal with the mental disturbances he was having. And they brought him up on charges for that. I guess they prefer that their men bottle it all up and go completely insane a few years later when it's no longer the problem of the US military =P

Having had a cousin that went insane during the Korean war police action, and suffered PTSD so badly that he was never able to live a normal day for his entire life and, in fact, died only 2 months after his mother's death from the stress of now having no one to take care of him - I have nothing but sympathy for this soldier. And nothing but contempt for his superiors and a US Army that let this case go so far.

Nice to know that normal human reactions to horror are treated as criminal acts in the military.

Comments

[mirichan.livejournal.com]

Just read it on CNN myself...

I wish I could just say "of course, it's an American thing", but I'm afraid is a military thing and I'd bet the Canadian army would act exactly the same.

The guy saw one man blown in half and he's not allowed to have a normal reaction of grief, shock and horror?

And the worst part is that he did ask for help... wonder how many will EVER dare asking for help from now on, and as you said yourself so eloquently, go insane later, when it's not the army's responsibility to take care of them...

How many army guys killed their wives last year, that had all come back from the same place and were all at the same division or whatever it's called? 4? 6?

They'll never learn...

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure on the statistics of US military versus the world on how they treat PTSD and other disorders, so maybe it is bad everywhere. And that would just be sad. And more than sad, criminal.

I didn't hear the story of the soldiers killing their wives =/ God! Can you site a newspaper or periodical? I'd like to read that.

Thanks for posting here =)

[mirichan.livejournal.com]

>>>Thanks for posting here =)

Well, hopefully you are the Stephanie I used to know in GW-Fan or else... OUPS? I've been reading you on and off since I discovered your LJ by checking someone's Friends list, actually ^_^

As for the soldiers killing their wifes... sure, I'll find it back... it happened in the last year, I'm sure... Let me track it back and I'll post the link...

[mirichan.livejournal.com]

And here you go:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/26/army.wives/

[mirichan.livejournal.com]

One last post...

You ARE the Stephanie I used to know [just went and checked your website ^_~].

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Yep, the one and only ;)

Thanks for posting the link, I'll check that out! =)