Marines Ordered to Disarm Before Panetta Speech

[Steelgrave]

Just caught this on the news.....I've never heard of this done in a combat zone before. Anyone else? Makes me wonder what our Marines here think?

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/14/10684063-marines-asked-to-disarm-before-panetta-speech

[LongBlade]

From the article:

Disarming in this way was noteworthy, according to NBC News' chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski.

He told NBC's Chuck Todd that the move was "highly unusual" and that Marines in a combat zone are always supposed to have weapons within their reach.

[Gusington]

That is weird.

[son_of_montfort]

Odd. Where they really afraid for Panetta's welfare with our own troops? Sounds like Panetta's people were expecting to find a scene from, In the Hearth of Darkness or Apocalypse Now when the arrived or something.

[Gusington]

There's got to be another reason.

[Steelgrave]

However you look at it, it is certainly an insult to the troops who were there. A stateside base is one thing, a combat zone is another.

[TheCommandTent]

Here is the excuse given in the article...

"You've got one of the most important people in the world in the room," Major General Mark Gurganus told reporters at Camp Leatherneck, dismissing concerns related to the shooting. "This is not a big deal."

He said he had given the order because the two dozen Afghan soldiers also there were unarmed and he did not want to treat them differently.

I call bull on that one.  Of course the Afghan soldiers should be treated differently, they aren't US Marines who have taken an oath to protect the US and its interests.  IMHO it sends a sad message when they can't even trust the Marines with weapons in a combat zone.  I'm just a civilian but I'm pretty sure if the Marines wanted to kill somebody they really don't need a weapon to do it with.  Just sayin...

[LongBlade]

Anyone ever read Otto Carius' bio, Tigers in the Mud?

He relates how he spent an hour in the company of Himmler (IIRC) with his sidearm. Alone.

It is clear in retrospect he wished he'd capped him, but at the time it wasn't considered a big deal.

[Gusington]

I agree that at its simplest its an insult to the Marines. Also agree that US Marines should expect to be treated differently than Afghan troops. If I were a Marine it would piss me off.

[LongBlade]

I agree that at its simplest its an insult to the Marines. Also agree that US Marines should expect to be treated differently than Afghan troops. If I were a Marine it would piss me off.

I suspect there's more to the story.

It is almost a certainty that Panetta's boss wanted to send a message. That the message was unnecessary, stupid, and insulting to our troops is par for the course.

[Gusington]

I'm sure there is. But way to make the good guys look like animals.

[TheCommandTent]

Perhaps a bit of overreaction...

[son_of_montfort]

Or it really IS like Apocalypse Now over there and Big Brother doesn't want us to know. :o This is a weird story. If it is a message, it isn't a very good or clear one.

[Centurion40]

I agree that at its simplest its an insult to the Marines. Also agree that US Marines should expect to be treated differently than Afghan troops. If I were a Marine it would piss me off.

Word!

[Gusington]

Just read on NYTimes that an Afghan national tried to blow up a car near Panetta as he was de-planing...