Army gives ‘bad’ soldiers the boot

THERE is no place for defence force soldiers who step out of line, says Chief of Staff Philip Polewara.
In a media conference, he said the defence force had dismissed soldiers whose behaviour had damaged the military’s reputation.
Polewara said three of those incidences involved an assault on former NCD Metropolitan Superintendent Benjamin Turi, the incident of theft at Morehead in Western and the assault of two police officers in Vanimo.
He said that despite Turi releasing the soldier involved in his assault, the soldier was still dismissed from the force.
He said the soldier from the Second Royal Pacific Island Regiment involved in the theft at Morehead was charged by the command and dismissed from the force.
On the matter involving the two police officers who were assaulted by the soldiers in Vanimo, Polewara said one of the victims had taken the matter to court and was suing the soldiers involved so it was now a civil matter.
Polewara said other soldiers who had been involved in similar incidences had been dismissed.