The Army’s top Special Forces commander denied a request from former Maj. Mathew Golsteyn to restore his Special Forces Tab after he was accused of the premeditated murder of an Afghan civilian.
Golsteyn, 39, was pardoned by President Trump in November. Golsteyn was accused of killing an unarmed Afghan suspected of being a Taliban bomb-maker in 2010.
Lt. Gen. Francis Beaudette, the commander of the Army Special Operations Command, denied Golsteyn’s request to reinstate his Special Forces Tab last month. “On Dec. 3, 2019, following a thorough review, the Commander of the Army Special Operations Command denied Golsteyn’s request for reinstatement of the Special Forces Tab,” an Army representative said in a statement Thursday.
The elite decoration, a green and yellow patch worn on the upper-left sleeve of the uniform, is awarded after a soldier completes the Special Forces Qualification Course and allows the person to wear the green beret for the remainder of one’s career. “I’m disappointed, but I’m not surprised,” Golsteyn told the Washington Post. “I was really hoping they would do the right thing.”
The Army Board for Correction of Military Records will now consider the appeal, as well as his request to remove a 2014 reprimand from his personnel record. The commander’s denial could set up another clash with Trump, who ordered the Navy to return former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher’s Trident pin despite the objections of military leaders. Then-Navy Secretary Richard Spencer resigned over Trump’s decision and accused him of undermining the military justice system. Gallagher was convicted of posing with the corpse of a dead fighter in Iraq.
In February 2010, two Marines working with Golsteyn’s unit were killed by a bomb during the early stages of the Battle of Marjah in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. A man identified only as Rasoul was suspected of being involved and brought before a tribal elder, who confirmed he was a Taliban member. Golsteyn claimed he released Rasoul and set up an ambush outside his base in case Rasoul escaped toward the Taliban position. When Rasoul did so, Golsteyn shot him dead. According to the Army, Golsteyn and another soldier took Rasoul off base and killed and buried him.
Golsteyn disclosed the incident during a 2011 CIA polygraph interview, prompting the Army to open an investigation. It was closed two years later without charges. The case was reopened in 2016 after Golsteyn admitted to killing the suspected bomb-maker in a Fox News Channel interview. Golsteyn was stripped of his Special Forces tab and Silver Star awarded to him for bravery during the battle.
The case entered the national spotlight after it was reported last year he was one of several accused military members President Trump was considering for pardons. Golsteyn’s wife, Julie, told the Washington Examiner last May that a pardon “would end the eight year long nightmare” her husband had been living since the investigation started.
