Marine Times

By Gidget Fuentes
Posted : Friday Dec 14, 2012 16:50:51 EST

A staff noncommissioned officer will be court-martialed Wednesday at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on charges related to an infamous 2011 incident in Afghanistan in which Marines with a scout-sniper unit videotaped themselves urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters, the Marine Corps announced Friday.

Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, will be tried at a special court-martial on two counts of violating Article 92 and five counts under Article 134, said Col. Sean Gibson, a spokesman at Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va.

Chamblin is accused of failing to properly supervise junior Marines, failing to require they wear their proper personal protective equipment, failing to report the misconduct of junior Marines, failing to report the negligent discharge of a grenade launcher and failing to stop the indiscriminate firing of weapons, officials said in a statement.

A 39-second video of the incident, which allegedly took place during a counter-insurgency operation near Sandala in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province, surfaced Jan. 10. It received worldwide attention and prompted condemnation from top military leaders. An investigation quickly identified four Marines seen in the video.

Chamblin is one of several NCOs and staff NCOs, assigned or attached to 3/2 during the 2011 deployment, charged in connection with the alleged desecration of dead bodies.

In August, two NCOs received nonjudicial punishment after pleading guilty to several charges, including taking photographs of and posing with dead bodies, the Marine Corps said. One staff NCO pleaded guilty to failing to report the mistreatment of the casualties and lying to Naval Criminal Investigators about the video incident. Officials did not release their names because NJP is considered an administrative action.

Legal actions against several Marines are pending, Gibson said.

Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola is awaiting special court-martial on similar charges as Chamblin. He also is charged with wrongfully and indiscriminately firing an enemy machine gun that the Marines recovered and with failing to stop the unnecessary damage of Afghan compounds, according to MCCDC. No date has been set for his court-martial, Gibson said Friday.

Legal actions are pending against several other Marines, but because of the ongoing investigation, Gibson said he could not yet provide information.

The desecration cases are being handled by MCCDC, which was designated as the convening authority. The commanding officer, Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills, in September referred the cases against Chamblin and Deptola to be heard at courts-martial.

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Replies

  • Boy am I glad that I am retired.  The Military is not what it used to be.

    • My husband said the same thing, 27 years as a Marine and he just shakes his head.  This is not the Corps that he remembers.

      • I spent a total of 36+years, enlisted and commissioned, sensible and chickenshit, but NEVER had to put up with this kind of crap under the worst conditions! Given the hierarchy we've had these past 4 years, and now with the impending 4, God help us! This is not only the military I never knew, but this has become the COUNTRY I never knew.
    • AMEN!

  • It's too bad they only urinated. The bodies that were "desecrated" were the remains of evil and should have been bathed in pigs blood also among other things.

    Ron

  • WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!!

     

  • Sure glad Im retired from the Military now. Im wondering why there isnt more action against the enemies that desicrate our dead and wounded. Not to mention raping, plundering, and pillaging of the bodies, and of female personnel they capture or kill.  The enemy we are fighting is not a uniformed army but a guerilla force, and therefore, by Geneva Convention, are not entitled to any kind of trial, or reasonable treatment, other than a proper execution for their criminal activity.

    During the Muslim Revolution in the Philipenes, Col. Leonard Wood, captured some 40 of the rebels. He executed them and poured pigs blood on all the bodies, save for one captive, which he didnt shoot, and let go to tell his compatriots what had happened. The revelution ended shortly thereafter.

    • That's the only way to treat these murderous bastards. Religion of peace my ass.

    • Amen....Our so called president doesn't seem to mind when or what the enemy does to our military men and women but he sure is concerned about what we do to them. You are right they are not entitled to the rules set forth by the Geneva Convention but the president thinks they should be treated better than our military are treated. I am so glad I am no longer a part of the military. I loved this country but I can hardly recognize it anymore.

       

  • About the only thing they are guilty of is stupidity...for filming the video.  This is mild compared to what the muslims do to the people they catch.. Has anyone forgotten the Americans hung on the brige in Bagdad?  You think those muslims didn't to the same to them???

    The military high command is just way too PC to be effective as commanders.  Believe it.  Camp "Swampy" sure ain't what it used to be.

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