NotMe
2011-12-01 02:13:51 UTC
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/bae-dakota-meyer/
Hero Marine Sues Defense Giant After Sniper Scope Fight
By Spencer Ackerman
Email Author
November 29, 2011 |
11:12 am |
Categories: Military Life
Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer is perhaps this country's best-recognized war hero,
a man who risked his life over and over again to save his buddies from a
Taliban ambush. That's why he's the only living Marine to be awarded the
Medal of Honor - the nation's highest award for valor - for his actions in
Afghanistan or Iraq. It's undoubtedly one reason why the defense giant BAE
Systems hired Meyer after he left the Corps.
Then, BAE considered selling high-tech sniper rifle scopes to the Pakistani
military. Meyer objected, given Islamabad's um, unambiguous relationship
with the terrorists and militants based in Pakistan. Then he quit. Suddenly,
Meyer's former bosses at BAE started calling the war hero "mentally
unstable" and a drunk.
That's according to a lawsuit Meyer filed against BAE, which alleges that
the defense behemoth blocked the retired Marine from getting a job with a
competitor by slandering his character.
Things started to unravel earlier this year, BAE sought to sell advanced
thermal optic scopes to the Pakistanis for their sniper rifles. That's 100
percent legal, thanks to the U.S. government's decade-long decision to sell
the Pakistanis billions of dollars' worth of military gear, in the hope of
cementing Islamabad's commitment to fighting terrorism. But BAE employee
Meyer questioned whether the sale was responsible.
"We are taking the best gear, the best technology on the market to date and
giving it to guys known to stab us in the back," Meyer wrote to his
supervisor, according to the Wall Street Journal's Julian Barnes, who
obtained Meyer's lawsuit.
When BAE didn't heed him, Meyer decided to take a job with his old defense
firm, Ausgar Technologies. But Meyer didn't get the job. His supervisor at
BAE, Bobby McCreight, allegedly e-mailed a Defense Department acquisition
official to say Meyer was clearly traumatized from combat, "had a problem
related to drinking in a social setting," and even mocked Meyer's
forthcoming Medal of Honor award as his "pending star status." The suit says
an Ausgar official informed Meyer that he wouldn't be rehired, thanks to the
Defense Department official's decision to pass McCreight's assessment on to
Ausgar.
This man who McCreight allegedly mocked. On Sept. 8, 2008, more than 50
insurgents ambushed Meyer's patrol in Kunar Province. They held the high
ground, firing rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns on
Marines and their Afghan partners in what would become a six-hour battle.
The barrage left at least four Marines and several dozen Afghans cut off
from the rest of the patrol. Meyer's response was to climb in a truck and
descend further into the valley to rescue the team, under what his Medal of
Honor citation describes as "heavy enemy fire" and "despite a shrapnel wound
to the arm." Meyer didn't do that once. He did it five times, the citation
reports, "in the face of almost certain death." And that made Meyer the
first living Marine to get the medal for his actions during the Iraq or
Afghanistan wars.
It might be added that Meyer's tour near the border with Pakistan might have
given him a particular sensitivity to the risks associated with arming the
Pakistani military. The U.S. commander in charge of eastern Afghanistan, Lt.
Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, recently told reporters that those alleged U.S.
allies help insurgents rocket U.S. troops on the border. It would seem that
Meyer hasn't stopped trying to save U.S. troops in danger.
BAE now has a massive P.R. problem on its hands - the latest of many. For
years, officials in Britain and in America have investigated the firm on
bribery and corruption charges. In 2010, the company agreed to pay a $400
million fine for violating arms control restrictions, and lying to federal
officials about the BAE's actions. That was followed up by an additional
$48 million fine in 2011.
Spokespeople declined to comment on the lawsuit to the Journal. But the
company, which makes everything from anti-ship microwave guns to stealthy
killer drones to freaky invisibility cloaks for tanks, risks calling a war
hero an exaggerator or a liar in defending itself. Good luck with that one.
Hero Marine Sues Defense Giant After Sniper Scope Fight
By Spencer Ackerman
Email Author
November 29, 2011 |
11:12 am |
Categories: Military Life
Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer is perhaps this country's best-recognized war hero,
a man who risked his life over and over again to save his buddies from a
Taliban ambush. That's why he's the only living Marine to be awarded the
Medal of Honor - the nation's highest award for valor - for his actions in
Afghanistan or Iraq. It's undoubtedly one reason why the defense giant BAE
Systems hired Meyer after he left the Corps.
Then, BAE considered selling high-tech sniper rifle scopes to the Pakistani
military. Meyer objected, given Islamabad's um, unambiguous relationship
with the terrorists and militants based in Pakistan. Then he quit. Suddenly,
Meyer's former bosses at BAE started calling the war hero "mentally
unstable" and a drunk.
That's according to a lawsuit Meyer filed against BAE, which alleges that
the defense behemoth blocked the retired Marine from getting a job with a
competitor by slandering his character.
Things started to unravel earlier this year, BAE sought to sell advanced
thermal optic scopes to the Pakistanis for their sniper rifles. That's 100
percent legal, thanks to the U.S. government's decade-long decision to sell
the Pakistanis billions of dollars' worth of military gear, in the hope of
cementing Islamabad's commitment to fighting terrorism. But BAE employee
Meyer questioned whether the sale was responsible.
"We are taking the best gear, the best technology on the market to date and
giving it to guys known to stab us in the back," Meyer wrote to his
supervisor, according to the Wall Street Journal's Julian Barnes, who
obtained Meyer's lawsuit.
When BAE didn't heed him, Meyer decided to take a job with his old defense
firm, Ausgar Technologies. But Meyer didn't get the job. His supervisor at
BAE, Bobby McCreight, allegedly e-mailed a Defense Department acquisition
official to say Meyer was clearly traumatized from combat, "had a problem
related to drinking in a social setting," and even mocked Meyer's
forthcoming Medal of Honor award as his "pending star status." The suit says
an Ausgar official informed Meyer that he wouldn't be rehired, thanks to the
Defense Department official's decision to pass McCreight's assessment on to
Ausgar.
This man who McCreight allegedly mocked. On Sept. 8, 2008, more than 50
insurgents ambushed Meyer's patrol in Kunar Province. They held the high
ground, firing rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns on
Marines and their Afghan partners in what would become a six-hour battle.
The barrage left at least four Marines and several dozen Afghans cut off
from the rest of the patrol. Meyer's response was to climb in a truck and
descend further into the valley to rescue the team, under what his Medal of
Honor citation describes as "heavy enemy fire" and "despite a shrapnel wound
to the arm." Meyer didn't do that once. He did it five times, the citation
reports, "in the face of almost certain death." And that made Meyer the
first living Marine to get the medal for his actions during the Iraq or
Afghanistan wars.
It might be added that Meyer's tour near the border with Pakistan might have
given him a particular sensitivity to the risks associated with arming the
Pakistani military. The U.S. commander in charge of eastern Afghanistan, Lt.
Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, recently told reporters that those alleged U.S.
allies help insurgents rocket U.S. troops on the border. It would seem that
Meyer hasn't stopped trying to save U.S. troops in danger.
BAE now has a massive P.R. problem on its hands - the latest of many. For
years, officials in Britain and in America have investigated the firm on
bribery and corruption charges. In 2010, the company agreed to pay a $400
million fine for violating arms control restrictions, and lying to federal
officials about the BAE's actions. That was followed up by an additional
$48 million fine in 2011.
Spokespeople declined to comment on the lawsuit to the Journal. But the
company, which makes everything from anti-ship microwave guns to stealthy
killer drones to freaky invisibility cloaks for tanks, risks calling a war
hero an exaggerator or a liar in defending itself. Good luck with that one.