Don’t mess with retired Green Beret’s
Milo Plurnbottom 5 months ago // Military Life Gibber-gabber

Smokey Taylor, an 80 year old retired Green Beret was brought before a court martial January 2007 and apparently left the whole thing, ‘feeling pretty good about it.’

After an burglar invaded his home on early December 17, 2007, Smokey investigated the suspicious noise and activity, .22 caliber pistol in hand.

When Smokey confronted the intruder he was threatened with at knife point. Smokey responded with a single warning. When the warning failed Smokey shot the criminal between the eyes.

While the actual legal matter of the shooting is unclear and not reported on the versions of the story I could find. However, the Court Martial was actually a trial by his peers. Smokey Taylor was charged with “FAILING TO USE A WEAPON OF SUFFICIENT CALIBER.”

“That boy had the hardest head I’ve ever seen,” Taylor said after his trial. “The bullet bounced right off.”

The bullet didn’t penetrate, but the impact was enough to knock the thief down, but managed to crawl out, get up, and run away, only to be apprehended by the Knoxville police several blocks away. The criminal is awaiting trial in the Knox County jail.

Smokey Taylor is the oldest member of Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association. The “mock trial” was actually more of a celebration of Smokey Taylor and his endless heroism.

According to Chapter XXXIII President Bill Long of Asheville:

“Charges were brought against him under the premise that he should have saved the county and taxpayers the expense of a trial. He could have used a .45 or .38. The .22 just wasn’t big enough to get the job done.”

Counsel for the defense responded:

“He was victimized by old ammunition, just as he was in Korea and again in Vietnam, when his units were issued ammo left over from World War II.”

Once testimony was heard from both sides in the tongue-in-cheek court martial, Taylor was acquitted of all charges and given a round of applause.

In other news, Smokey Taylor was recently nominated to serve as Grand Chef De Gare du Tennessee.

While out wandering the internet, and clicking the Stumble button on my browser, I found this great story out of Brevard, Tennessee. The source of the original article is unclear. I am going to attribute it to the PC Free Zone, theodoresworld.net and written by Tribune Editor Bill Fishburne is a member of the Larry Thorne Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association. Read the full original article here