# Army presses charges against guardsman freaked out by corpse? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 8, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996 "2003-11-08T00:12:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/1 "2003-11-08T00:12:22Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/06/sprj.irq.cowardice/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/06/sprj.irq.cowardice/index.html) Lucy, 'splain this to me. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/2 "2003-11-08T00:16:03Z")
They don’t really say what happened in the story. If he saw it, then derelicted his duty in some way, it’s a justifiable charge. War sucks. You might not want to be in the business of killing people if you can’t put up with the occasional dead person. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/3 "2003-11-08T00:19:35Z")
I don’t know the specifics, but I heard today that they’re dropping the cowardice charge. I’ll see if I can find something. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/4 "2003-11-08T00:20:43Z")
Of course, that’s exactly what your article says, they’ve dropped the charge. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/5 "2003-11-08T00:29:28Z")
They said the cowardice charge hasn’t been used since Vietnam. The whole thing just struck me as weird. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/6 "2003-11-08T00:33:01Z")
I’m pretty sure there has to be more to the story than is presented in that link. Either some sort of refusal to follow orders, or some prior history that made this guy’s CO think that he was faking the panic attacks, or something. There’s got to be something else going on here. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/7 "2003-11-08T00:37:23Z")
Here’s an article I saw yesterday that may be a bit more detailed: [http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/goto/?getPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gazette.com%2FpopupNews.php%3Fid%3D626747&return=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drudgereportarchives.com%2Fdsp%2Flinks\_recap.htm](http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/goto/?getPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egazette%2Ecom%2FpopupNews%2Ephp%3Fid%3D626747&return=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edrudgereportarchives%2Ecom%2Fdsp%2Flinks%5Frecap%2Ehtm) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/8 "2003-11-08T00:59:46Z")
Much better article, thanks **Chand**. Still raises more questions then answers though, least for me. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/9 "2003-11-08T01:23:27Z")
Wow, that second article makes the army look much worse. But, still, it’s just Pogany’s side of the story so far. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/10 "2003-11-08T01:46:56Z")
> [@](#): > > _Quoth Chandeleur’s article_: > Pogany said he was terrified he would be killed. > > “Until you are faced with the chance you could die in two minutes, that an RPG could come through the window when you are sleeping, you don’t know how you will react,” he said. Um, this guy is a Special Forces interrogator, and he didn’t know what he was in store for? Im sorry. It doesn’t add up. There were ‘run-of-the-mill grunts’ that saw similar, if not more of the same thing in Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. C’mon now. The guy knew what he was getting into when he signed the bottom line on his enlistment contract. Tripler Am I “hardened”? No. But I can stomach momentary things like this. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/11 "2003-11-08T03:00:07Z")
Dead people are never really that pleasant to look at. It seems to me his superiors and/or his CO were being a bit crass, but I could see their point of view. The guy just saw him. If he were involved in the death or got splattered, I could see it having more of an impact. I do wonder how he got as far as special forces, but then again, stress can wear ya down. He’s not at a church picnic. I think the services have to do the “Patton slap” occasionally to keep the soldiers on mission. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/12 "2003-11-08T03:18:49Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by NurseCarmen_ > I do wonder how he got as far as special forces… The guy wasn’t special forces himself, he was just attached to a special forces unit. ---
**Author:** ![dctaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@dctaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dctaz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/13 "2003-11-08T03:23:09Z")
Many people today sign up for Military duty never expecting to see real combat. 'specially those “weekend warriors”. and > [@](#): > > Pogany, an intelligence soldier with the group for two years, left for Iraq on Sept. 26 from Fort Carson. He is not a Green Beret but was attached to a team of Green Berets for this mission. so, it seems that he was probably not combat trained to the fullest extent Death is hard to face, and I am not sure how I would react in the face of it, but it could have been worse as **NurseCarmen** said, he could have been there to be splattered with the blood. a sickedned, but not grossed out Taz ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/14 "2003-11-08T05:10:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dctaz \* > \*\*Many people today sign up for Military duty never expecting to see real combat. 'specially those “weekend warriors”. \*\* :rolleyes: None of us are “Weekend Warriors” anymore, and none of us sign up without knowing that the Guard/Reserves will be doing just as much as the active duty people. Want the truth? Most Guard/Reserve units have far better sortie rates and mission effectiveness than the active duty. We also fly far more than your average active duty unit. Why do you think they depend on us so much? “Weekend Warriors” my ass. ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/15 "2003-11-08T05:16:25Z")
Quick interjection. Perhaps the deriliction of duty charge was used in lieu of a malingering charge (especially if he’s under psycological or medical review for his ‘panic disorder.’) But, that would raise the question of who the fuck cleared him for duty anyway. ---
**Author:** ![crazy\_grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@crazy\_grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy_grady)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/16 "2003-11-08T06:23:20Z")
Once, I was a flower delivery guy. I had to go to a funeral home to drop off some flowers. I went inside a room, and there was an old (black) man taking his final rest. That scared the piss out of me for a second. Why? I don’t really know, but it did. I have only seen one other dead body in my life when I was about 15-16 years old of a friend of my father’s who died of cancer. So, I am not used to seeing death. Yeah, seeing a corpse machine gunned into two pieces would scare the crap out of me too. ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/17 "2003-11-08T16:20:54Z")
crazy grady, But, if you were a 32 year old Army sergeant, don’t you think you’d have a bit more of a spine than a 16 year old flower delivery person? ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/18 "2003-11-08T16:51:48Z")
I sat in a room with my father’s corpse for a while about a half-hour after he died. I still made it to work the next day. I suspect the military has to deal with people who get scared or upset after seeing the results of violence all the time. That this case is getting attention just makes me think there was more to it than said. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/19 "2003-11-08T17:27:38Z")
From my husband’s experiences with the Navy, admitting you have any kind of psychological problem instantly gets you in trouble. His command did everything it could to refuse him help, and when he finally went to therapy on his own, they did everything in their power to ruin his career. What happened to this soldier doesn’t surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996/20 "2003-11-08T17:43:35Z")
LunaSea: What you just presented is one side of the story. And I’ve seen plenty of Sailors who’ve received assistance for all kinds of medical conditions, to include psychological issues, over my career. Please note that by “I’ve seen” I do not mean that I’ve done so in a medical capacity, rather I’ve observed that there are those who’ve received such assistance. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-presses-charges-against-guardsman-freaked-out-by-corpse/211996.md?page=2)