US Army LT sentenced to 20 years; what would you have done?

SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 14:08:01 -0500

How could we allow this happen?

https://www.change.org/p/us-army-lt-sentenced-to-20-years-charged-with-murder-for-protecting-his-men-from-taliban

From the page:

Clint Lorance is a loving, caring, hardworking, determined, friendly, positive person who has dedicated his life to the Army. He was an enlisted soldier who was the first in his family to graduate college, which he did while serving in the Army before becoming an officer. Clint is from Oklahoma and spent time in Texas, where his family lives now. First Lieutenant Clint Lorance has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder because of an unfortunate incident while Clint was deployed to a volatile area of Afghanistan in July 2012, Panzai, in Kandahar province. Only 96 hours after he took charge of his platoon, who had already been in the area for 7 months, Clint gave a difficult order under pressure in order to stay true to the only promise he made to his men - that he would not lose one of them. This was a bold promise since the platoon had suffered four casualties already, including the previous platoon leader who Clint was brought in to replace. Three Afghans came speeding toward Clint's platoon and their Afghan National Army counterparts on a known enemy route where they had been attacked just days before. Clint gave the order, responding to his soldier's verbal warning, to his men to engage the threat, and two of the men on the motorcycle were killed and the third escaped.

American Servicemembers volunteer to put themselves in harms way, sometimes for multiple deployments. When an accidental civilian death occurs as a result of the asymmetric nature of modern warfare, the US Government looks for someone to hold accountable. This is when US Servicemembers are offered as a sacrifice to host nation governments. There must be something done to prevent this in the future.

9/11 showed us what happens to our country when we don't go on the offense. It is imperitive that the United States have a strong and capable military. We can't have that strong military without strong leaders within the military who are willing to do what it takes to protect their men.

The US is a laughing stock to many countries in the war zone. When Taliban shoot at US Troops, the US Troops in many situations will not shoot back for fear of getting in trouble.

Is this the kind of reputation we want for our military on the world stage? Do we want Soldiers who are too scared of legal ramifications that they will simply let the Taliban run away.

This is apalling. To the millions of US Servicemembers who have been maimed and killed to defend our great nation, and to the millions to come who will voluntarily deploy to protect American lives, we owe them more than this. We owe them not just our support but we owe them the assurance that America does not turn its back on its Soldiers.

Make no mistake about it folks, the United States Government has sacrificed young 1LT Clint Lorance to appease the Afghan Government.

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US Army LT sentenced to 20 years; charged with murder for protecting his men from Taliban

Clint Lorance is a loving, caring, hardworking, determined, friendly, positive person who has dedicated his life to the Army. He was an enlisted soldier who was the first in his family to graduate college, which he did while serving in the Army before becoming an officer. Clint is from Oklahoma and spent time in Texas, where his family lives now. First Lieutenant Clint Lorance has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder because of an...

Response by Cpl James Waycasie made Oct 11 at 2015 1:01 PM

Cpl James Waycasie — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 13:01:32 -0400

This is a shameful administration. He made the same decision I would have made.

Response by MSgt John McGowan made Feb 13 at 2018 8:24 AM

MSgt John McGowan — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 08:24:14 -0500

S MSGT Danny McDow---- I have been reading about this for a long time. The reviewing GO was under charges for something. I have been on both sides of this also. I have to call it lack of information on my part but it does seem a little harsh. But I recall Obama coming up with weird orders during some operations. Like the fuel trucks they could not hit or the Green Beret that beat the crap out of the Afgan. To much PC in the military now. Makes me wonder who calls the shots.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 13 at 2018 9:03 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:03:14 -0500

He ordered his Soldiers to engage a motorcycle that could not have threatened the position the platoon was occupying. Nine men from his own platoon testified against him. He also had a documented history of misconduct towards Afghans.

As I was not there I can offer no direct opinion of this event, but it doesn't sound good.