For the Marines who served with Sgt Manuel Loggins Jr., it would have been an injustice to stay quiet. So in a move that broke with the military's tradition, Loggins' commanding officer at California's Camp Pendleton publicly rebuked civilian authorities in neighboring Orange County for their handling of the investigation into the fatal February 7 shooting by a deputy of the highly esteemed Marine.

Many Marines have been investigated by police and had their behavior publicly dissected by civilian prosecutors in high-profile cases. Only weeks before Sgt Loggins' death, a former Camp Pendleton Marine was arrested in the killing of four homeless men in Orange County.

While Marines have each other's backs on the battlefield, when they get into trouble back home off base, the military tends to step aside while police investigate. But Marines say this time was different.

The death of Sgt Loggins has rocked the tight-knit Marine Corps community. Fellow troops describe him as a devout Christian man who was dedicated to his pregnant wife and three children — and was nothing like the picture painted by law enforcement.

The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs has said Sgt Loggins plowed a car through a gate at San Clemente High School at 4.30am, and then got out as his 9- and 14-year-old daughters could be heard screaming in the SUV. The association said the girls told sheriff's personnel their father had been acting oddly, while Sgt Loggins could be heard in a nearby field yelling irrational statements. When Sgt Loggins returned, he allegedly ignored warnings by deputies not to start the SUV. A deputy shot him, fearing for the children's safety, the statement said.

Sgt Loggins' commanding officer, Col Nicholas Marano, countered back with a bruising statement issued to the media: 'While I am confident they will do the right thing in the end, I am less than satisfied with the official response from the City of San Clemente and Orange County. Many of the statements made concerning Manny Loggins' character over the past few days are incorrect and deeply hurtful to an already grieving family.' FULL STORY