October 13, 2008

Mr. Braden Kruger
105 Purgatory Pass
San Marcos, TX 78666

Dear Mr. Kruger,

First, let me thank you for your service to our country.  As the lead defense counsel for Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, USMC, I would like to take this opportunity to gratefully acknowledge, on his behalf, your generous contribution supporting our pursuit of justice in his case.  Every donation received is directly deposited into the special client trust account set up exclusively to pay the fees and expenses associated with SSgt Wuterich’s defense.  That defense has continued for more than two and a half years and currently is awaiting the outcome of a government appeal, thus moving the trial date later into next year.  This is longer than originally anticipated and fees and expenses continue to mount.  We cannot predict when we can conclude this case, but we could not have made it this far without the outpouring of patriotism and generosity of people like you.   Please feel free to quote or use this letter to also thank others like you who have come to the defense of a young Marine squad leader who protected the remainder of his squad in November of 2005 after losing three of them to an insidious improvised explosive device (IED) explosion resulting in one killed and two seriously wounded.

Marine commanders in Haditha and a full Army investigation cleared Wuterich’s squad of any suspicion of criminal misconduct.  But when a Time Magazine article portrayed only the insurgent’s patently false allegations, creating a one-sided picture of what happened, senior generals suddenly felt the need to order an NCIS investigation.  Rather than trusting on-scene commanders and the full Army investigation that found those Marines followed their combat training, NCIS decided to try to prove them guilty of war crimes.  Now with charges dismissed against three other Marines and four Marine Officers, only SSgt Wuterich is left standing to defend the actions of his squad and himself.

As most Americans understand, our Marines and Soldiers face the possibility of death or catastrophic injury every time they travel outside the perimeter of their bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Death comes without warning and often from an enemy who cowers and disappears among the innocent civilian populace in hopes we will kill or injure the innocent when we pursue the insurgents.  We must continue to support our Marines who follow their training in fighting the global war on terror.  Despite the best training available and the most cautious rules of engagement we can impose on our troops, they will not always be able to avoid causing civilian casualties.  We have read dozens such accounts in the days since the Haditha attack.  So we must insist that our military leaders pursue a course of supporting the troops they train and send into combat, rather than seek to punish those who may inadvertently cause those civilian casualties.  Leaders depend on our young warriors using their best judgment in combat when those same leaders are not on the scene themselves.

The evil we must avoid is that in using the perfect vision of hindsight, when no one is shooting at us, we somehow find it acceptable to criticize those who made decisions while under fire and with no time for reflection.  Combat results are only as effective as combat training.  As you and our other Marine brethren are well aware, split- second decisions in combat can mean the difference between life and death.  Investigating our Marines at a cost of an estimated several million taxpayer dollars over the course of a 2-½ year investigation and court proceedings on a premise of allegations later proven false is obscenely unfair.  Such a pursuit seems intended to placate the enemy rather than to defend our Marines.  On 19 November 2005, SSgt Wuterich did not have 2-½ minutes, much less 2-½ years, to contemplate and evaluate each tactical course of action available to him, unlike the prosecutors who sit in the security and comfort of an air-conditioned office.  In the wake of a complex attack initiated by a deafening IED that split a truck and a human being in half, SSgt Wuterich was ordered by an arriving Marine officer to pursue the source of hostile sniper fire in order to bring the rest of his squad home alive.

This, then, is the Wuterich defense team’s mission:  to prevent the need in the future to defend our warriors against false allegations by our enemies.

Thank you again for your generous donation that is helping provide us with sufficient funding to attempt to level the uneven playing field so that SSgt Wuterich can walk out of a military courtroom a free man.  We seek only a fair trial in defending against prosecutors with unlimited resources.  With the generous financial support and prayers of patriotic Americans, we have faith that justice will prevail.

With deep respect and appreciation, Semper fi,


Neal A. Puckett
Neal A. Puckett
LtCol, USMC (Ret)