tallship<p><em><strong>"Nobody will ever know that I brought justice to a murdered family."</strong></em></p><p>- US Army Pfc. Justin Watt, of Tucson, Arizona - 26 June 2006</p><p>No Justin, the whole world will know of your honorable sacrifice and bravery under threat of your own demise.</p><p>You are a <strong>true American hero</strong> that stepped up under the fog of war to do what is just and right. Your courageous act that brought justice for that family and your innocent friends that were lost will be remembered always.</p><p>Much like an earlier incident from November 1966, where Pfc. Robert Storeby was threatened with being reported as KIA in a future recon mission by his squad leader, Sgt. David Gervaise, in the now infamous <em>"Incident on hill 192"</em> (spawning three feature length films); Pfc. Watt wisely decided to skirt the chain of command by speaking with a mental health counselor, who subsequently set the chain of events into motion for the eventual arrest and convictions.</p><p>But before Watt did, what followed was quite eerily, an almost identical reaction of accusatorial defamation to that of Pfc. Storeby in 1966 by his then company commander who ridiculed and threatened him. Storeby had to circumvent the chain of command by enlisting the aid of a chaplain, who then forced Army CID to intervene with an investigation.</p><p>This time, however, it was Watt's battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Kunk, who dismissively berated Watt in front of others, including some of the actual culprits in the gang rape and murder of the 14 year old girl, and murder of her mother, father, and 5 year old sister before the bodies were set alight in an arson of the family's meager farm house.</p><p>The parallels between these two cases are astounding.</p><p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120723091033/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-12-soldier-anguish_x.htm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120723091033/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-12-soldier-anguish_x.htm</a></p><p>Today, Justin Watt works in the IT industry.</p><p>One of the murderers, Steven Green (the actual triggerman) was discharged from the army within a couple of months following the heinous crimes for APSD (Antisocial Personality Disorder), prior to any investigation of the crimes, and was therefore later arrested by the FBI, tried and convicted as a civilian, and then sentenced to life imprisonment. On 15 February 2014 he committed suicide while incarcerated, ironically, in Justin's hometown, at United States Penetentiary, Tucson. Or maybe he was McAfee'd, who gives a shit? Good riddance.</p><p>The story of how these soldiers actually stalked this adolescent child for weeks on end, planned and executed the horrific events, orphaning the family's two young boys, and were it not for one brave soldier, perhaps never to be held accountable for their abominable acts, is something that I leave with encouragement for you to follow up on.</p><p>Suffice it to say just knowing the basics of these events - both, actually: those in 1966 and those that occurred 40 years later in 2006, ... Well the brutal, specific details may be more than some sensible folk would care to oblige themselves the details of.</p><p>Both involved a planned home invasion, brutal gang rape, and premeditated murder.</p><p>The outcomes of the justice meted out are however, substantially different. In the first, 1966 cold blooded kidnapping, gang rape, and premeditated murder, those court-martialed were all released in less than five years.</p><p>But in 2006, punishment in those cases turned out very different. Except for Green himself, who instigated and planned the crimes, most of the rest of the soldiers involved are currently serving decades of hard labor in a military prison following their convictions - 3 of the other five were sentenced to 90, 100, and 110 years of imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth.</p><p>Justin Watt doesn't have 3 major motion pictures chronicling and recognizing his heroism, but do we really need another cinematic homage to essentially document a very similar set of violations of humanity?</p><p>The other hero in these two events separated by four decades, Private First Class Robert Marshall Storeby, was honorably discharged from the United States Army in 1972, and is retired, still currently residing in his home state of Minnesota, having just turned 81 years of age last month.</p><p>Neither of these two brave men sought out glory for recognition of their selfless acts of honor, nor did they court public adoration - they're the most genuine kind of American hero. Following their enlistment in the United States Army, they both quietly returned to their previous lives, as best one can I suppose, once bathed in the horrors of war, and from everything I've gleaned, content with the oh so difficult, life imperiling decisions they made, to do the right thing.</p><p>If either of those two former soldiers happen to read this article some day, I guess it might be enough just to say,</p><p><em><strong>"Thank you for your service."</strong></em></p><p>If there's a moral shared between these two interwoven stories, it's probably something like:</p><p>- The world is not a safe place and there are no safe spaces.<br>- The "system" was, is, and always will be fucked up and inclined against you.<br>- Do the right thing, even in the face of mortal danger.<br>- It's okay to doubt yourself, people in subsequent years will acknowledge your heroism.<br>- And for those who believe, Jesus is watching you and taking notes.</p><p><a class="hashtag" href="https://public.mitra.social/collections/tags/tallship" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tallship</a> <a class="hashtag" href="https://public.mitra.social/collections/tags/history" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#history</a> <a class="hashtag" href="https://public.mitra.social/collections/tags/valor" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#valor</a></p><p>⛵</p><p>ISBN 9781942782827 - 2024 translation 1st Ed.</p>