Retired Marine sues Navy and Defense Department over denied promotion following false accusations his team killed civilians
by Caitlin Doornbos
• Stars and Stripes • July 9, 2021
WASHINGTON — A retired Marine has filed a lawsuit against the Navy and Defense Department for denying him a promotion after he was falsely accused of war crimes, according to court documents.
Maj. Fred Galvin of Platte City, Mo., is suing acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington, D.C., District Court to overturn a decision in 2018 by the Board of Correction of Naval Record not to award him a post-service promotion to lieutenant colonel, according to court documents.
Galvin was first denied promotion after receiving a poor fitness report — “the first ever in his career” — following accusations of his team “firing indiscriminately at civilians” in Afghanistan in March 2007 when he led a Marine special operations company there, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday.
The accusations, which were later disproven, stemmed from a March 2007 incident when Galvin and 29 other Marines in his company were ambushed by a suicide bomber and roadside fighters before Galvin’s company returned fire and escaped, according to court documents.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2021-07-09/marine-lawsuit-navy-war-crime-promotion-afghanistan-2102696.html
