Mathew Golsteyn was on a fast track to a brilliant Army career until he broke the rules.
A West Point graduate, Green Beret, and decorated war hero, he probably would’ve become a general someday. Until he broke the Army’s rules in one of the worst possible ways: Bringing the service into disrepute by committing a war crime.
He was court-martialed for orchestrating the murder of an Afghan villager who was accused by a tribal leader of being a Taliban bomb-maker. Golsteyn admitted his role in the man’s death on multiple occasions, including on a TV show. Trump pardoned him prior to trial, so his guilt was never formally determined, but while the pardon shields him from criminal consequences, it did not save his Army career. He’s now in civilian employment.
A final issue remained: His Green Beret status and medals. The Army revoked them, and he wanted them back. He won’t get them, according to a decision of the Army’s highest review board. Read story here.
Golsteyn is officially kicked out of the Green Berets. That stings. A genuine hero (read about that here), he was tentatively awarded a Silver Star, a major combat valor award, which was to be upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross, just below the Medal of Honor. He lost that, too. He retains a Bronze Star, a lower-level valor medal previously awarded him. The SS/DSC was pulled based on a judgment that it would not have been awarded if Golsteyn’s involvement in the civilian killing had been known at the time.
As president, Trump could pardon him for military crimes, and controversially did so. The military didn’t support that decision, fearing it impaired good order, but is bound by it. The matter of Golsteyn’s military recognitions and awards is an Army matter, and on that, the Army has spoken. His heroism is not forgotten by his buddies, but is stricken from the official rolls.
That’s what happens when small cog in a big institution embarrasses it.
Next the big institution gets sued by the small cog, and the embarrassment continues, and is compounded if it comes out the army is wrong in its decision, or it losses. In any case the situation returns to the limelight.
As the artice noted, absent blatant racism, it’s exceedingly difficult to overturn the board’s decisions in courts, for the obvious reason that judges don’t want to interfere in internal military affairs.