Mustang Marine cleared of wrongdoing

A Mustang Marine is one who was enlisted first and then becomes an officer, hence the mix breed Mustang. Lt. Pantano who seeked a commission in the Marines in response to the 9/11 attacks has been cleared of any wrong doing in his Article 32 (grand jury) hearing. Why was someone who was defending his men charged in the first place? This sadly is why,

“Down at the unit level, there was never a question about Ilario’s conduct and whether or not he did the right thing,” Charles Gittins, Pantano’s civilian lawyer, said. “It was up in the higher echelons. The people removed from combat situations needed to put more trust in their officers rather than assuming they’re guilty.”

I'm not surprised. Though the Marines do one of the best jobs of training their men and women to handle a great deal of responsibility it is difficult to work with the higher ups when they can't see the battlefield from your point of view. That's why they give you the benefit of the doubt but here they chose not to and had a public relations fiasco.