Breaking: US Navy to fix what the Marine Corps wouldn’t by clearing MARSOC Fox Company commander from false accusations of war crimes

The Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR) reached a monumental decision on January 2, 2019 regarding the case of Major Fred Galvin (USMC retired). Galvin, along with other MARSOC Marines, was falsely accused of indiscriminately killing women, children, and elderly on March 4, 2007 in the village of Boti Kot, Afghanistan. NEWSREP has covered the incident extensively since 2016, and the BCNR decision is arguably the largest victory to date for Galvin and his men.

Twelve years ago last week, on January 4, 2007, the first Marine Special Operations Task Force received a farewell speech from the commanding general of MARSOC, Maj. Gen. Hejlik, in which he told all of the Marines and their families at the 2nd MSOB compound in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, “Not all of you will be coming back.” At the time, Major Galvin was commanding the first unit of special operations Marines (MSOC-F) to be deployed to combat since World War II.

On March 10, 2007, before investigations were completed, then-Maj. Gen. Frank Kearney (U.S. Army) ordered Fox Company to leave Afghanistan. The Marines involved in the alleged war crime—the MARSOC 7 as they’ve been called—have since been cleared of any wrongdoing through a rare court of inquiry (COI). However, the reputations of Major Galvin and his Marines have been irreparably tarnished, and they are still tormented by the accusations cast on them well over a decade ago.