Marine A - Sergeant Blackman

 The identity of Marine A has now been revealed as Sergeant Alexander Blackman, this in itself has generated a lot of debate as to whether or not this was the right thing to do. Secondly Sgt Blackman has now been sentenced to Life with a minimum of ten years to be served. The debate about the naming and sentence has been very interesting to read and to see the support that Sgt Blackman actually has. As ever the debate spans the conventional media as well as social media. The debate seems to focus on the argument that as he was under a lot of pressure when he committed the act and events of the tour had taken its toll on Sgt Blackman. Added to this is the idea that unless you have experienced what Sgt Blackman had been through then you cannot judge him.

The other side of the coin points out the fallacy of that statement and the fact that in many ways it is not the man but the action that is being judged. There is also the recognition that indeed the Sgt was under a lot of pressure and had witnessed quite a bit on this tour of duty.  However as the video shows the Sgt was fully aware of the actions that he was taking and it was certainly not while under fire.

  

 One article highlights an interesting point about the camera footage and the pressures and strains that over ten years of operational deployments has put on the training in the armed forces. The article points out the over familiarisation between the Sergeant and the Privates via the use of the term “mate”. This may seem trivial at first but as the article points out the enlisted men should be referring to Sgt Blackman as Sergeant or “Sarge” at the very least. These terms may seem to be interchangeable and an unnecessary criticism but as the article points out the difference is at the heart of military discipline.   

 There is a growing call for his sentence to be halved or reduced due to mitigating circumstances. Indeed yesterday it was revealed that an appeal against Sgt Blackman’s conviction was to be launched.

For what it is worth I am on the fence when it comes to the sentence, I believe that it was right for Sgt Blackman to face trial and for justice to be seen to be fair. Perhaps the sentence is on the high side, but the appeal will certainly draw this out. The important thing from all of this is that it highlights how we (the British people) ask so much of our military and yet seem to provide the least possible. It is no surprise that a lot of care once former soldiers have left falls to charities such as Combat Stress, Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion. This is where Sgt Blackman has so far been let down and here is where the argument relating to his mental wellbeing needs to be taken into account and to hopefully wake our government up to the fact that more care both before, during and after tours of duty needs to be in place. The army is certainly not full of soldiers one tour away from shooting POW’s, however there are a lot of serving and former serving soldiers that could do would support and advice. 

Casualty of War

Marine A is due to be sentenced and the resulting media blitz on this case will begin anew. On Monday the Telegraph website published an interesting article on the matter of combat in Afghanistan. Written by a journalist who has embedded with the Royal Marines a number of times, it is not surprising the view point that Chris Terrill takes. Indeed he writes with a knowledge that a lot of commentators do not have.

He finishes the article with “Soldiers are not automatons. They are flesh-and-blood human beings with frailties and vulnerabilities like all of us. They are ordinary people doing extraordinary things on our behalf; risking their lives in combat and having to make difficult and morally confusing judgments in the heat of battle. They don’t always get it right because, sometimes, the stakes are just too high for any one man to cope with.
I believe that if Marine A is a criminal of war, then he is also a casualty of war.”


This is the key point when it comes to sentencing, yes he has done wrong and justice has to be seen to be done, however it has to fit the crime and not be used as an example to other would be transgressors of the Geneva Convention.