I have a hard time believing that this guy will escape punishment, knowing how loose the system works when the media is involved. I hope I'm wrong. I hope there's evidence that the Marine was justified within the ROE and the UCMJ in his actions, and I hope that someone looks at it.
I'm with you. But my initial read of your comments were that you were passing judgement on what the man did, not on how his actions would be handled by the military. I apologize if that wasn't correct. Unfortunately, I agree with your assessment of how the media influences the military's response to certain incidents. Tailhook comes to mind. However, when the investigation concerns something that isn't purely political correctness run wild, the UCMJ does a decent job of protecting the rights of all involved. Actually, I'd say more than a decent job. In fact, I trust it a lot more than the civil courts.
In your opinion, do the troops resent the need to be so aware of the Media political correctness? If they do, is there concern that keeping the embeds and cameras with them, could damage morale to the point that the start to question if is worth it.
We here all of the time, the soldiers saying the "mission" is worth it, but if they see one of their own being court-martialed for something that each one of them might have been inclined to do out of caution, will they become too cautious. Or will they become less effective out of resentment?
I am curious, having never been in combat. My husband is a Vietnam veteran, but he doesn't talk about it. Besides, he said that he didn't have a camera following him around.