Into Infamy…
Back in 2011 the Scout Sniper Platoon of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. was lead not by an officer but by a career Senior NCO, SSG (E6) Joseph Chamblin.
Scout/sniper 3/2 did a lot of revolutionary stuff on their Afghan deployment that year. They had more than 223 confirmed kills including high value targets. They did a lot of doctrinally different things, like being a main force engager rather than a supporting arm. They were the evolution of ten years of marine sniper in the war on terror lessons learned.
By January 2012, Chamblin was up for promotion to gunnery sergeant and set to re-deploy to Afghanistan. Within weeks, however, his career was in ruins after a video surfaced, showing him and three other scout snipers urinating on Taliban corpses they were ordered to recover during a patrol in Helmand’s Musa Qala district on July 27, 2011.
Then the fit hit the shan.
From a very enlightening interview in Marine Corps Times
Q. Do you think this video hurt the Marine Corps’ reputation?
A. Well, it depends on what your idea is of what a Marine should be. If your idea of a Marine is a real fancy-looking guy in
uniform that does snap and pop with a rifle and looks real pretty, then yeah, it probably hurt. But if your idea of what a Marine should be is the enemy’s worst f—ing nightmare, then I don’t think it did. But you can’t have both.
Your thoughts?
Marines are warriors. But warriors still fight with honor. What Chamblin did was incredibly dishonorable. He deserves all the infamy and discredit he received.
Aron
I typed this with my thumbs. Please excuse my brevity.
Agreed, this asinine idea that people who are wild in combat can’t be disciplined in peacetime is bull. If a person can’t control themselves then they are useless. Only children think that they ‘can’t help it.’