Sgt. Rob Richards selflessly fought America’s war on terror overseas three times in four years, was a respected Team Leader, recorded numerous kills, and risked his life each time, but that is not the story he will be remembered by. Instead, the media and Marines have chosen to depict Richards in a negative light, all due to an unfortunate mistake: Richards and his fellow Marines urinated on the enemy they had killed.
Over the duration of their tour in the summer of 2011, his platoon recorded more than 230 confirmed kills, and Richards’ team specifically, along with the aid of the tanks, recorded more than 70 kills.
It was during this tour that they killed an enemy insurgent and subsequently urinated on him. The enemy insurgent had planted improvised explosive devices that killed two of Richards’ fellow Marines. One of the Marines’ bodies "had been desecrated by the Taliban" and they had hung his leg in a tree. The enemy insurgent "was a high-value target or a person of great interest," Richards explained.
The Marines never expected that the video would be publicly distributed, or that they would ever suffer such harsh repercussions for what they thought was a harmless act. Sadly, the Marine responsible for recording the incident stepped on an IED, lost a leg, and was sent home to the United States. His belongings were packed up and inventoried by others in the unit. Richards believes that the camera was stolen by another Marine in their battalion. The video was posted to YouTube anonymously in January 2012.
"Wherever I go, people ask ‘Why did you videotape it?’ And I say, ‘We didn’t f---ing know,’ " Richards explained. "We didn’t know at the time, and we didn’t know it would get in the hands of a traitor, in my opinion. Not only a traitor, but a coward who would potentially try to destroy us and the Marine Corps at the same time by releasing it selfishly."
Though Richards fought to protect his country, he will sadly be remembered for a trivial offense committed against the very enemy that was trying to kill him and his comrades, and now faces an uncertain future.
(H/T Marine Corps Times)