[T]he trial for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich was delayed until Nov. 1 because a key prosecution witness, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent, had a bad accident and is recovering from surgery.

Air Force Times reports:

The Minnesota National Guard says one of the top leaders of the Duluth-based 148th Fighter Wing has been sacked. The Guard issued a statement Friday saying Col. John H. Spencer Jr. was relieved as vice wing commander Wednesday after an investigation substantiated allegations of “an unprofessional relationship.”

WRBCtv.com reports:

The commander of a Tennessee Army National Guard unit is facing a court-martial in Iraq on charges of misconduct, misusing funds and fraternizing with subordinates.

Coastal Courier reports:

Twelve soldiers were investigated for allegedly stealing military equipment from Fort Stewart. Some of the soldiers have been charged and are awaiting trial and one was court-martialed late last year.

The stepfather of the five-year-old child who accidentally shot and seriously wounded a Mountain Home high school student in February was convicted of reckless endangerment during a court-martial June 22[,] and sentenced to six month’s confinement and ordered to forfeit $500 pay per month for six months.

SignOnSanDiego reports:

It could have been an awkward, even brutal, first day back at work. But Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, the 26-year-old squad leader convicted of masterminding the killing of an unarmed man in Hamdaniya, Iraq, in 2006, said he was welcomed back into his old Camp Pendleton unit Tuesday with handshakes. K.C. Alfred/Union-Tribune

Navy Times reports:

The commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Shipyard has been fired less than one year after assuming command. Capt. William Kiestler was relieved Wednesday. Vice Adm. Kevin McCoy, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, cited a loss of confidence in Kiestler’s ability to command. There was no mast[.] The loss of confidence stems from “a series of events over the past few months,” Dolan said. Specifically, there was a “failure to ensure critical maintenance work was being performed according to procedure and loss of situational awareness with respect to the status of ongoing submarine projects.”

Military.com reports that:

Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III put on his uniform and reported for duty Tuesday despite lingering accusations that he killed an unarmed Iraqi man in what became a major war crime case.

Army Times reports:

A lieutenant colonel has been temporarily removed from his leadership post with the North Dakota Air National Guard after being charged with a sex crime. Tom Meyer, 45, is accused of having oral sex with a 16-year-old boy he met online. Meyer voluntarily filed for retirement this past week.

A Camp Pendleton Marine whose murder conviction was recently overturned was released Monday after serving four years in prison for a major Iraqi war crimes case, his lawyer said. An emotional Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III vowed to be the best Marine he could be while he waits for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to review his case, defense lawyer Babu Kaza told The Associated Press after leaving the closed hearing at Camp Pendleton.

No. 10-5003/MC. U.S., Appellant v. Lawrence G. HUTCHINS, Appellee. CCA 200800393. Notice is hereby given that a certificate for review of the decision of the United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals was filed under Rule 22 on this date on the following issues: WHETHER THE NAVY-MARINE CORPS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS ERRED IN FINDING, INTER ALIA, THAT THE MILITARY JUDGE SEVERED THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP WITH CAPTAIN BASS? WHETHER UNDER R.C.M. 505(d)(2)(B), THE NAVY-MARINE CORPS COURT INCORRECTLY FOUND NO “GOOD CAUSE” ON THE RECORD FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF APPELLANT’S SECOND DETAILED DEFENSE COUNSEL WITH ANOTHER COUNSEL? WHETHER THE LOWER COURT APPLIED THE WRONG STANDARD AND ERRONEOUSLY PRESUMED, WITHOUT ASSESSING, PREJUDICE AND SET ASIDE THE FINDINGS AND SENTENCE, WHERE APPELLANT’S STATUTORY RIGHTS, AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL, WERE SATISFIED THROUGHOUT TRIAL?

LA Times report.

On the rapper, Army Times reports:

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom said Saturday that top brass decided to discharge Hall instead of taking him to trial in part because he admitted his guilt.

Army Times noted this context for the case:

Army lawyers concede that Hall never took physical action against any troops. His threat came the month after Maj. Nidal Hassan allegedly killed 13 people in a shooting spree at Ft. Hood, Texas — a period when the Pentagon was taking extra precautions about potentially violent soldiers.

Stars & Stripes reports:

A soldier charged with making threats to other soldiers in a rap song he wrote to protest his stop-loss will be discharged from the military. Spc. Marc A. Hall, of the 1st Heavy Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, will receive an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army, reduction to E-1 and will also lose a “substantial number” of military and veteran benefits, according to a statement issued Saturday by U.S. Division-Center in Baghdad. Hall has been in confinement for the past four months, most recently before standing trial in Kuwait, the release states. As part of his discharge deal, which came after charges were referred on March 30, Hall acknowledged he was guilty of at least one of the five offenses he faced, according to the release. The convening authority for the case, Maj. Gen. Terry A. Wolff, accepted Hall’s plea after considering the amount of time he had already spent in jail, his acknowledgement of guilt, prior service and the benefits Hall will lose, the release states.

Hopefully Mr. Apuzzo has a similar depth of knowledge about the UCMJ, R.C.M., and Military Rules of Evidence, to his knowledge of constitutional law. Or will he dump that on learned military counsel, that’s another part of Article 38, UCMJ.

This comment evidences a lack of understanding of chain of command issues and the Rules of who does what and how it is done.

If Lt. Col. Lakin is a patriot, then just who are the tyrants. In closing they are the ones who have debased the honor of our men and women serving our country in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps,and Coast Guard by having the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Col. Gordon R. Roberts act as a cop on the beat and issue Lt. Col. Lakin his Miranda warning. Was this the Political Puppets of the Pentagon’s idea of a public relations? Using the Congressional Medal of Honor in the hope of some talking head at the Marxist Statist Media (MSM) saying, “look America a Medal of Honor winner is condemning Lt. Col. ‘Birther’,” is not public relations, it is politically motivated PUBIC relations!

And in the process maligns a person of honor.

And in another piece of military political news, SignOnSanDiego reports:

A Camp Pendleton Marine is running smack up against the limits of what uniform-wearing Americans are allowed to say about their government after his Facebook page for “Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots” sparked concern among his superiors Tuesday.