This is good for Sgt. Nelson, going to trial could have cost him many years. He should have never been charged in the first place but he was. He can reenlist if he so chooses.
jaz, I got to run to Bible study, could you do a complete ping?
Not so sure Nelson did the best thing. For one, this is the conviction the government's been looking for for years now. Second, I'm not so sure it even happened. All of the stories have varied so much, and there is zero evidence that it ever happened. There are no complaining relatives, no blood, no signs whatsoever in the house in which it was supposed to have taken place.
I believe a number of things happened to this squad over the course of that wild Fallujah fight, and that all those hours of contact with a civilian-clad enemy eventually blurred into what is known as "hypothetical memory."
This lawyer could have fought but chose not to because of statements that were taken from a soldier under duress and suffering from ptsd.
A dear relative was at Fallujah in an Army unit supporting the infantry, regularly alongside during battle. Afterwards, a Marine SgtMaj gave their detachment OIC a handful of unit coins afterwards. The army battalion SGM heard of it and confiscated the coins complaining that the rear detachment troops didn't get a "fair" recognition of their contributions to the operation.
Long story short, he took those soldiers' coins and handed them out to the remfs (of rank) who hadn't even been present. Just about the most signature example of horrible leadership I've ever heard of. The good news is those troops, some of whom are now NCOs, vividly remember how not to treat their own troops.