Sgt. Jerrod Glass: The case

[CommunityEditor]

Under the glare of overhead fluorescent lights and the watchful stares of a jury of superiors, young Marines told a military court of abuse they say happened at the hands of their junior drill instructor.

Choked. Kicked. Slapped. Jabbed in the neck. Punched in the face. Hit on the head with a flashlight.

Bruised and beaten with a tent pole. Ordered to drink two, three, even four canteens of water just minutes after eating dinner, and then lie in their own vomit.

In recounting the actions of their DI, some of the young leathernecks testifying Wednesday at Sgt. Jerrod Glass’ general court-martial prefaced what happened to them by explaining that they weren’t fast enough, moved too slowly, had lost gear, were confused or unprepared, even looked where they shouldn’t have looked.

To prosecutors, Glass’ “brutal” actions against nearly every member of recruit training Platoon 2167 at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego amounted to abuse and mistreatment, violations of the Corps’ standard operating procedures for recruit training. To Glass’ defense attorneys, the drill instructor’s alleged actions fell short of outright violations and were implicitly known and condoned by his supervisors.

Now a military jury of six men — three officers and three senior staff noncommissioned officers — will decide whether he is guilty of the allegations. If so, the jury would decide if he should be punished in any way, up to 11 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.

When he was charged, Glass faced 225 separate counts after an investigation found 110 “factual” incidents. On the trial’s eve, both sides and the judge, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, agreed to consolidate the charges into 10 counts incorporating the gist of the earlier allegations: Two counts of assault, two counts of cruelty and maltreatment, four counts of destroying personal property and two counts of failure to obey a lawful order.

The allegations against Glass, a Phoenix native who was assigned to 2nd Recruit Training Battalion’s Hotel Company, and two other members of his DI team, have rocked the recruit depot since the allegations arose in early February.

The lead prosecutor, Capt. Christian Pappas, described how Glass was “a star” at Drill Instructor School, “one of the best students.” Glass should have known about the rules, Pappas argued.

Recruit training is guided by a depot order, a voluminous standard operating procedure that dictates just about every facet of boot camp. The rules restrict physical contact that a DI can have with his recruits, and limitations usually hinge on simple corrections or safety situations.

But soon after picking up Platoon 2167 on Dec. 23, 2006, Pappas told the court in opening arguments, Glass “continued to torment and bully” the recruits for nearly two months. “Nearly every member of that 40-man platoon was assaulted, abused, maltreated,” he said.

Not so, argued Glass’ defense attorneys.

“He was firm. He was demanding — and even exacting — of these recruits because that was his job,” Capt. Patrick Callahan argued in his opening statement. “His job was not to be nice ... He did it within the confines of the SOP.”

Callahan contended that the sergeant acted on his role as fourth hat — known as the “kill hat” — within the DI team training 2167. Glass “was told: You are the kill hat. This is your responsibility. You need to do whatever you need to do … even if that means violating the recruit training SOP,” he argued.

Callahan said that some of the allegations are unsubstantiated, and while others may seem harsh actions, “that does not mean those things are violations of the SOP.”

Two other DIs on the team — Sgt. Robert C. Hankins and Sgt. Brian M. Wendel — have refused to testify at Glass’ trial. Hankins and Wendel are facing special courts-martial, which carry lesser punishment, on separate charges related to the alleged incidents. A fourth DI, Sgt. Joseph Villagomez, received administrative punishment.

Defense attorneys offered this side argument: The recruits expected boot camp to be tough, and some rough handling was the norm, but none of Glass’ actions amounted to SOP violations.

None of Glass’ former recruits reported the alleged abuse until early February, after another DI questioned some of them about one recruit’s facial bruises.



Article: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news...artial_071109/

[The Universal Curmudgeon_guest]

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

Choked. Kicked. Slapped. Jabbed in the neck. Punched in the face. Hit on the head with a flashlight.

Bruised and beaten with a tent pole. Ordered to drink two, three, even four canteens of water just minutes after eating dinner, and then lie in their own vomit.
...

To Glass’ defense attorneys, the drill instructor’s alleged actions fell short of outright violations and were implicitly known and condoned by his supervisors.

I presume that his lawyers are relying on "legal" arguments along the lines of "There is no specific order that the training staff is not to compel Recruits to 'drink two, three, even four canteens of water just minutes after eating dinner, and then lie in their own vomit' when they are saying that the actions weren't outright violations.

[CommunityEditor]

Update: Jury finds DI guilty in recruit abuse case (http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...victed_071114/)


A military jury convicted a drill instructor Wednesday of charges that he abused his recruits, violated training and damaged their personal property.

The six-member jury found Glass, 25, guilty of two specifications of cruelty and maltreatment, one specification of assault, two specifications of failing to obey a lawful order and three specifications of destroying personal property.

The jury’s decision came on the second day of deliberations after five days of testimony in Glass’ general court-martial, held in a second-floor courtroom near the depot’s famed parade deck.

The jury will decide what punishment, if any, the Phoenix native could receive. He faces a maximum of about nine years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.

Sgt Glass gets six months in the brig, and Lindsey Lohan serves 84 MINUTES for DUI and cocaine possession. What's wrong with this picture?

[The Universal Curmudgeon_guest]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Sgt Glass gets six months in the brig, and Lindsey Lohan serves 84 MINUTES for DUI and cocaine possession. What's wrong with this picture?

If Sgt Glass receives a sentence of that severity, you can count on him filing a "civil rights violation" action based on the legal theory "They'd never do that to me if the people I beat up had been Iraqis and that means that the sentence was racially biased.".

I can just imagine if I cried to then Commandant of the Marine Corpes Gen. Leonard F. Chapman, Jr when I was in boot camp, platoon 2145 in 1970 what his reaction would be. What we went through makes these little babies seem like having their butts powdered.

If SSgt Carillo, Sgt. Wasburn and Sgt. Haney are still alive, I say thanks for being the type of DI's that you were.

Semper Fi

Ron Brueske Jr.
former SSgt. USMC.

[Funkymustafa]

I thought his parents' reactions were more telling:

" Glass’ mother, Barbara Glass, said, “I still believe he did not do anything he was not instructed to do ... by his superiors. If it’s denied, I know it’s a bald-faced lie by the Marine Corps.”

Glass’ father, Jerry Glass, tearfully criticized the Marines’ handling of the case.

“I thought the Marine Corps stood for, ‘Leave no man behind,’ ” he told reporters. “I think they had their head in the sand or they are not being honest with the public.” "

Well of course not, the Marine Corps is obsessed with keeping a clean public image and thus the unwritten rule is that any DI or similar public figure (recruiter, etc) who misbehaves is thrown under the bus and the bus is then backed up over them. They will issue a round of declarations that Sgt Glass was an outlier, this won't happen again, unacceptable behavior, etc etc etc even when everyone knows that this stuff goes on all the time on both coasts. I know the whole recruit-jumping-into-a-trash-can schtick happened in my platoon. I have friends for whom "water IT" was routine.

But more to the point: when you or your buddies are shooting shit about boot camp and imitating a DI or pretending to quarterdeck somebody, what do you draw those experiences from? Obviously, your own bootcamp time. Marines who become DI's are probably going to talk, act, and do the same things that they saw their own drill instructors doing a few years prior, on and on down the line. A DI who makes someone jump in a trash can probably got the idea from seeing it when he was a recruit or getting the idea from a buddy who saw it when he was a recruit.

A reduction to Pvt. and 6 months in the Brig for a man that served 2 combat tours in Iraq... This man got the green weenie. He doesnt deserve such severe punishment. If some pussy is crying about getting a little bruise, I dont want to serve in combat with him.

Lcpl. Anonymous

Big strong Marine who is really a coward. Bet he felt real good abusing his recruits. He should be thrown in the brig for 7 years. He violated Marine Corps rules of conduct. He violated them knowingly. He is sick and anyone that endorses that behavior is sick. Trying to make better Marines does not occur by beating them to death. Knowingly violating the rules does not do much for setting an example either. I hope he didn't go independent while he was in Iraq. Marines would die with that type of freelancing. So rightfully so, he is OUT of the Marines.

A guy like that should go to the Foreign Legion and continue his career. It's crap that his recruits could testify against him, it breaks the heart. If there is one thing he was trying to teach them, it was this: HOW TO STAY ALIVE 101...if White House schmucks can realize that was all he was doing then we really are screwed. Good luck to him, what ever path he chooses.