Here's my full email to GQ magazine on their article about SSgt Andreas Pogany. He was charged with Cowardice stemming from a refusal to go on a mission in September of last year. A charge that if convicted is punishable upon death. Since then the US ARMY has rescinded and dropped all charges on Mr. Pogany. His side of the story is in the August issue of GQ. Excerpts of my letter were printed in response in the September issue of GQ. They cut alot of good points that I had out, but you can read it in its enetirety here:
okToSEND: letters@gq.com
Subject: Coward.
Hey GQ,
Great magazine, I 'm definitely getting a 2 year subscription when I get back from Iraq in October. I'm currently stationed at Camp Baharia in Fallujah. Yeah, I know, the armpit of Iraq. I was here in Iraq last year too. My battalion, 2nd Battalion 1st Marines were the distraction force for Special Forces when they rescued Jessica Lynch last year in An Nasariyah. I was on the roof watching as Delta's helocopters flew overhead wondering who they were since I knew we didn't have any special ops helos in our MEU. I found out two weeks later what our purpose was for invading Nasariyah that night. SSGT or should I say "Sarge" Pogany had no reason to be in Iraq in the first place. He should have saved his unit's time and tax payers money by going to Canada and seeking asylum as a deserter before his flight. He knew he didn't want to go, and the first instant he knew he was going, I'm sure he thought of every excuse to get out of it. Going to Iraq with Special Forces meant having to leave his nice air conditioned Intel office at Fort Carson with CNN on TV all day long. Hell they didn't send him at the start of the war in March, why should they send him in late September? He was to used to being the "Support" guys that got all the free drinks at home while we were in Iraq or Afghanistan. I'll bet he wore his uniform all over the place back there in the states. Well guess what, Sarge, you joined the ARMY not the boy scouts. And you should know better that the Army deploys soldiers all over the world. Did you think you were gonna stay home forever? You should have been prepared to go after 9/11 and Operation Enduring Freedom. Your wife should have been ready to take over the bills then not two weeks before. My wife is only 22 but she has been taking care of my bills and expenses since we got married when she was 19. So that two weeks the Army gave you, should have been spent getting emotionally prepared. Your short "stint" with the Marine Corps should have taught you about Honor, Courage and Commitment. None of which you showed in your panic stricken 3 first days of war. Suck-it-the-FUCK-up, man. Your a grown ass man. Most of our line company grunts are fresh from High School. 18-19 year olds who signed on the dotted line the minute they graduated. I'm sure 99% of them were scared shitless when rounds started coming down range. The other 1% are just plain crazy. But they snapped out of it and went to work. Yeah we were all homesick, and tired and wasn't sure if we were coming home or not. That's "normal". So from all the lameass excuses like the crazy Dr. Suess soldier, to the 5 hours of playing the waiting game for a tow truck (Shit Happens), to the chopped up remains, to lack of sleep and sustenance to even Lariam, the malaria pills you took. Which was planted into your brain by a lawyer out to make a name and an excuse for a class action tort case. And you fell for it. You said you took 4 pills in 4 weeks. I'm no pharmacist, but I do know how small those pills were, I took them too, but i think you have to overdose on those to get any kind of reaction. Plus what kind of bullshit line is "You just take what they tell you to take". Well I know a buddy who has some courage pills for ya Sarge. You should be happy that the Army dropped all there charges against you. The world will forget about your "cowardice" charges in a year and you can move on. But here you are dragging it out even more for the sake of pride. Thanks GQ for reporting his side of the story. It just backs up the Army's case that this POGue is a coward. I know for a fact that if he was in the Marines when he went to Iraq, he'd still be there right now "police calling" our FOB and cleaning the Port-a-Shitters and yes, with no weapons, because he would pose a risk not only to himself, but everyone in the camp. The Army hooked him up with a plane ticket home. That is unheard of in my service unless its a life threatening condition or an immediate family trajedy. This guy should not even be allowed to wear any uniform on or off base. How many other cases of Cowardice have there been since his, none that I've heard of. Maybe he's just being picked on. That's it, they had it out for him all along. We have a saying in the Marine Corps for that. U.S.M.C.....U Signed the Motherfucking Contract.
