So it is with historical interest that I come across this:
Even though they won't face a court-martial, two Air Force officers involved in a road-rage incident with a Blackwater USA contractor in Afghanistan have been slapped with administrative sanctions.Tip from Danger Room - Officers, Mercs Brawl
The discipline was meted out by the same general who dismissed criminal charges against Lt. Cols. Gary Brown and Christopher Hall.
Brown's civilian attorney has fired back with an angry letter, calling the sanctions a "laugh-out-loud joke" and suggesting that the general bowed to pressure from Blackwater, a private military company based in Moyock, N.C.
It's the latest turn of events in an escalating clash between uniformed military personnel and private contractors on the battlefield.
In a letter of reprimand, Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of the 9th Air Force, wrote that Brown acted with "unreasonable force and intimidation" in a confrontation with the Blackwater contractor after their vehicles collided on a busy Kabul road Sept. 19.
"Specifically," North wrote, "while in uniform you shoved, kicked, pointed your loaded M-4 rifle at, and threatened the life of Mr. Jimmy Bergeron, a U.S. civilian contractor employee who did not pose a reasonable threat to you or others.... I find your conduct reckless, undisciplined and a discredit to the armed forces." (More...)
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