A Navy SEAL who served in the military for 14 years and worked on covert anti-drug operations has admitted to smuggling 10 kilos of cocaine into the United States, according to records from the federal district court in Miami and a source familiar with his service.
The SEAL, Angel Martinez-Ramos, left active duty in 2010 but continued to deploy on missions as a reservist, court papers say. He had drug paraphernalia, including a money-counting machine and drug-testing equipment, at home, the documents say. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine and is currently in custody in Miami awaiting sentencing.
His case comes in the wake of another embarrassment for the elite SEALs, the commandos famous for killing Osama bin Laden. Earlier this year, two former members of the group died after consuming heroin and alcohol on a commercial ship they had been hired to protect from pirates.
I want to make it clear that this post should in no way be perceived as anti-military in any way.
However I think it is important to remind people that the current deifying of our men and women in the armed services needs to stop.
Many of those in our fighting forces are exemplary and honest human beings, who courageously put their lives on the line to protect American interests overseas. Not our freedom, but our interests.
It must be remembered however that some of these guys are simply average men doing a very challenging job, who may or may not have the highest ethical or moral standards. As we have seen all too often.
Whenever we put any group of people on a pedestal, like the Right Wing so often does with our military, we risk not paying critical enough attention to who they are, and what they do.
Don't forget that these are individuals who travel to a foreign land and kill citizens of that land when ordered to do so, without ever knowing for sure if they are innocent, guilty, or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sadly we need people like this in the world, but we should always remember that a job like that requires a certain ability to suspend their empathetic natures, a skill that some pick up over time, and which some never had holding them back in the first place.
Thank you, Gryph. What the rabid flag-waving 'patriots' never get is that when Americans send troops overseas, they are mostly there to kill other human beings. These 'Christians' somehow suspend that knowledge in their rush to deify the troops 'protecting our freedoms.' They are not. They are doing what they are told, often against their own core beliefs, especially if they believe in one Creator who created every being. They are not doing God's work. They are doing a job for the US Government, and they are often making enemies abroad, especially if they use that uniform and that gun as license to steal, rape, and abuse. We need to send troops less often, and use other means of protecting our interests, as this President has tried to do (even when the RW calls him horrible names for not rushing to judgement and sending troops and bombs everywhere they think he should.Although I have no doubts that were he a war hawk, they would then be clamoring for his hide as well.) I am so sick of Palin's snide little comments. We should never glorify the killing of any human being. Never.
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point; the military is made up of people. Some people are good and ethical and heroes, others are not. Enlisting and putting on a uniform will not suddenly make a criminal into a saint.
ReplyDeleteIn any group, there will be good and bad.
DeleteWhile most people join the military to serve their country or to learn a trade or skill, there will always be a few who join because they enjoy the violence or feelings of power and authority.
Hopefully, many of those will be weeded out in training, but some will end up serving and will be the ones to bring shame our country.
Some institutions become corrupt. As John McCain's military charade points out. Too much boys being boys and cover ups.
DeleteGood and bad make up many professions. I have seen first hand how putting on that trident allows the criminal to hide in plain sight. I know that the Seals will protect their own even if it wrong. I was married to a Seal. I was surprised he made it as he had a criminal record and had defaulted on numerous loans. He now hides behind that Trident.
DeleteReading this, I wonder if, as you say, the deification of the troops is what allows the republicans to so easily vote against any legislation intended to help the troops returning to civilian life to adjust to a "normal" life?
ReplyDeleteWhether it is financial assistance for housing, jobs, education, or maybe most important of all, the mental health treatment and counseling that could help them adjust their psyches to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that allow one to succeed in civilian life, measures just keep getting voted down.
However, if they are gods and supermen, they don't need any help!
Huge surprise! Right! Does anyone remember the stories about the big incinerator at Elmendorf for disposing of, uh, stuff coming back from Vietnam. Rumor had it that some of the Stuff made it into the incinerator, some didn't.
ReplyDeleteBush/Cheney had to plop US military into Afghanistan to protect all those oil fields... What? No oil. Coincidence that the old 'Silk Roads' were revised first thing? Roads to Eastern European drug routes were top priority. The primitive poppy business was upgraded and new factories replaced the old ways. Heroin production could now be a slick operation and aid in the black market packaging and distribution.
DeleteThe caskets Sarah Palin uses to promote her latest torture baptism were also a means to traffick drugs back to the United States.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152391126938588&set=pb.24718773587.-2207520000.1399142448.&type=3&theater
Sarah must also educate her fans about those matters.
Next thing you know people will be claiming the ClA used to smuggle drugs.
ReplyDeleteOUTRAGEOUS! Who would use drug money to support a war?
DeleteAnyone thinking this is anti-military doesn't care about humanity or the military. We have covered these problems up long enough and it is cruel to treat our soldiers as if they aren't worth dealing with their problems. Military personnel are human and need attention when they have problems or afflictions. Whether it is drugs or sex, the people need to to know and face our problems.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Parnell-defends-timing-of-National-Guard-inquiry-5438600.php
Our leadership sucks when lag.
Thanks for saying this. The military is an abhorrent institution and IMO anyone who enlists in any branch of the U.S. military is a damn fool, not a "hero."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gryphen. Sometimes things need to be put in perspective. Of course there will be those like your former governor who would move heaven and earth to salute this guy's patriotic service, because she sees a uniform.
ReplyDeleteAs a country, we DO need to respect those who are the true heroes and mourn our losses publicly.
Are you surprised? starlets engage in public orgies and coke lines in LA bars (among other cities)
ReplyDeletedo ppl try to better things by highlighting it? nope
cameron diaz, keep on snorting