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Cpl. Felix Ngoviky Facing Court Martial- Toronto Sun Article

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Bruce Monkhouse

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I guess that not discussing an incident doesn't count to your Father........    and "shell-shocked"??  I thought we booted that term out long ago.                                                                                                                     


Shell-shocked soldier faces court martial   
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/12/12/16522291.html
By DOUG HEMPSTEAD, QMI Agency
   
OTTAWA - The father of a decorated CFB Petawawa soldier has lost confidence in the military after his son - who has post-traumatic stress disorder - faces discipline after suffering flashbacks during a live-fire exercise.

Cpl. Felix Ngoviky, 33, can't discuss the incident. But he is to appear before a court martial Dec. 14 in Petawawa, Ont.
According to his father, Paul Ngoviky, the corporal faces three charges after he was rude to a non-commissioned officer on the training ranges in Petawawa on Oct. 28, 2009.

Ngoviky's father said he has documentation from a psychiatrist who diagnosed his son with moderate but chronic post-traumatic stress disorder - an anxiety disorder and a panic disorder.
He said it was this stress that led him to "freak out and have flashbacks" on the Petawawa ranges last fall, after his son was placed near the live-fire targets. When he was unable to continue with the exercise, his son became insubordinate - something Cpl. Ngoviky does not dispute.

According to documents obtained by QMI Agency, Cpl. Ngoviky stamped his foot in a mock salute and sarcastically proclaimed "yes sergeant" to a superior officer. 
He's charged with disobeying the order of a superior, behaving in a contemptuous manner to a superior and with conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.
He intends to plead guilty.

Cpl. Ngoviky served in Afghanistan for seven months from Aug. 2005 until Feb. 2006. In that time, he was a passenger in a convoy headed from Kabul to Kandahar that came under rocket attack. Cpl Ngoviky was also the victim of violence by a fellow soldier. On Dec. 25, 2005, Master Cpl. T.J. Mills and Ngoviky got into a fight that ended with Mills pointing and cocking a weapon at him.

When Mills was found guilty in Sept. 2008 and handed a suspended sentence, the military judge Lieut.-Col. J. G. Perron told him "your actions have also affected the psychological well-being of the victim."
But Ngoviky's father said all of this could have been avoided had the military been more understanding of his son's condition.
"As a father, it's very upsetting," he said. "I have no trust whatsoever in the military. I could scream. I could yell. I could swear."
"If he has an attitude problem, they created it," he said.

Court martial convener Simone Morrisey said being that so many soldiers have served over seas, post-traumatic stress is "one of the defences they come back with."
She said Cpl. Ngoviky has been assigned defence council and the court martial is open to the public.

doug.hempstead@sunmedia.ca


 
I worked with this particular soldier long before he deployed to Afghanistan.  His father claims the military created his attitude problem.  Believe me when I say that it existed long before he deployed to Afghanistan.  I'll leave it at that...
 
If he was diagnosed, would the docs put restrictions on where he should be employed to prevent flashbacks while he was under treatment? I thought thats why we had places like the IPSU/JPSU.
 
PuckChaser said:
If he was diagnosed, would the docs put restrictions on where he should be employed to prevent flashbacks while he was under treatment? I thought thats why we had places like the IPSU/JPSU.

The purpose of the  IPSU/JPSU is to  aid in the administration of the injured, as they are receiving therapy.  If he is not on mending in any way, or his MELs interferes with his performance , then he can be posted back to his unit.

dileas

tess

 
A rocket attack on a convoy in '05 from Kabul to Kandahar eh?

It was over before it started and half the convoy didn't even know it had happened, unless he was in the Gwagon....

Regards
 
dynaglide said:
I worked with this particular soldier long before he deployed to Afghanistan.  His father claims the military created his attitude problem.  Believe me when I say that it existed long before he deployed to Afghanistan.  I'll leave it at that...

Your word is as good as his considering the anonymous nature of the net but ya, I hear you.  I've met a few dudes who have serious issues from over there and I've seen a bunch who use it as an excuse to beak off and have little episodes. Guys who had attitude problems before deploying and have a convenient excuse now that they are back.


Der Panzerkommandant.... said:
A rocket attack on a convoy in '05 from Kabul to Kandahar eh?

It was over before it started and half the convoy didn't even know it had happened, unless he was in the Gwagon....

Regards

lol.  Our convoy got RPGed and we did a halt a while later to check the vehicles for damage. When we got back to KAF one trucker/co driver asked us why we stopped in the middle of the road. They had no idea what happened, they were listening to their IPODs and didn't have their radio headsets on.  Took about a month and the codriver started trying to get time off work. He was having flashbacks night terrors...
 
Grimaldus said:
lol.  Our convoy got RPGed and we did a halt a while later to check the vehicles for damage. When we got back to KAF one trucker/co driver asked us why we stopped in the middle of the road. They had no idea what happened, they were listening to their IPODs and didn't have their radio headsets on.  Took about a month and the codriver started trying to get time off work. He was having flashbacks night terrors...

I personally know of one maintainer who is claiming PTSD and was never hit, never experienced a rocket/ mortar attack, never did one convoy from Kabul to KAF, never left Jullian except on the way in or on the way out, never attended any ramp ceremonies either, never pulled QRF or convoy escort detail.

Flew from KIA to Kandahar and that was it. Left 2 weeks after landing in KAF for home because it was the end of the tour for him and the bulk of the BG.

Went to the MO a month later. The rest is history.

I know, I know; things affect people differently....but come on. Cases like his are well known and make others, who have big issues, very nervous in coming forward and seeking help.

Well, that's my rant of the day.

Regards
 
a court martial for being rude to an NCM . . .  that used to be settled with a "march the guilty bastard in", a one way discussion with the Company Co and a whole lotta extra duties and attention from the RSM.

 
Haletown said:
a court martial for being rude to an NCM . . .  that used to be settled with a "march the guilty ******* in", a one way discussion with the Company Co and a whole lotta extra duties and attention from the RSM.

One reason to be careful in drafting a charge sheet:  Most charges permit the accused to elect a court martial instead of a summary trial.  If the charge sheet does not include any such charges, and is limited to those that do not give the right to elect, there's a summary trial.

Try to get too creative in drafting the charge sheet, and you end up with a court martial instead.
 
Haletown said:
a court martial for being rude to an NCM . . .  that used to be settled with a "march the guilty bastard in", a one way discussion with the Company Co and a whole lotta extra duties and attention from the RSM.

Agreed, there must be more than a little gobbing off involved here.  Hell, I would have spent a goodly hunk of my early, and some of my later career period of military employment on CMs.
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
He's charged with disobeying the order of a superior, behaving in a contemptuous manner to a superior and with conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.
He intends to plead guilty.

Like our SSM said a long time ago. "If ya did it admit to it take you lumps like a man and we can get on with life and we wont worry about it"

I also wonder how much og this story the MSM has wrong, how much is sensationalized etc. Is it just a summary trial they are talking about?
 
mover1 said:
Is it just a summary trial they are talking about?

Nope, the CM is on the JAG CM Calendar.

Charge 1 (alternate to charge 3): S. 83 NDA, disobeyed a lawful command of a superior officer.
Charge 2: S. 85 NDA, behaved with contempt toward a superior officer.
Charge 3 (alternate to charge 1): S. 129 NDA, conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline.
 
Haletown said:
a court martial for being rude to an NCM . . .  that used to be settled with a "march the guilty ******* in", a one way discussion with the Company Co and a whole lotta extra duties and attention from the RSM.

Could it be that the member elected to go to CM in a faint hope that he would more readily get off scott free?
 
George Wallace said:
Could it be that the member elected to go to CM in a faint hope that he would more readily get off scott free?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a CM has a fair bit more punishment power than an individual trying someone in a summary trial, no?  If that's the case, it's also a gamble.
 
Perhaps his conduct sheet and pers file is full of more, recent shenanigans and that CM is the next appropriate level of justice.
 
milnews.ca said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a CM has a fair bit more punishment power than an individual trying someone in a summary trial, no?  If that's the case, it's also a gamble.
True, a CM has greater powers of punishment than a summary trial.  However, the evidentiary rules are also greater in a CM.  Regardless, CF members remain responsible for their actions regardless of medical condition, although the condition may mitigate the punishment if found guilty.
 
milnews.ca said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a CM has a fair bit more punishment power than an individual trying someone in a summary trial, no?  If that's the case, it's also a gamble.

Yes, but at a CM you've got a defence attorney, and the abiltiy to introduce more complex forms of evidence and argument than at a summary trial.

It could also be a case of a delayed charge - if it's more than a year since the event, it must go to court martial.  In that case, if found guilty, the defence lawyer will no doubt raise the issue prior to sentencing - "A summary trial would have only had power of punishment X".

 
milnews.ca said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a CM has a fair bit more punishment power than an individual trying someone in a summary trial, no?  If that's the case, it's also a gamble.

Sure it is a gamble, but some feel that with a CM they will find some legal loophole or legal BS to save them.  Those types are usually fools.  They would have been better off taking the Sgt Major's punishment, rather than escalate it to a higher level.
 
George Wallace said:
Sure it is a gamble, but some feel that with a CM they will find some legal loophole or legal BS to save them.
Or maybe even to get more public attention than a summary trial?

George Wallace said:
Those types are usually fools.  They would have been better off taking the Sgt Major's punishment, rather than escalate it to a higher level.
If it's simple, straightforward and you're pleading guilty, I'd go down this road, too.  I can't wait to hear/read what the CM comes out with, given the fact that there's got to be more to this than meets the eye via MSM.
 
Just curious:

Once the trial happens and everything is done, do the court documents and proceedings get released to the public? I know that's the case in civilian court for the most part.
 
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