Montreal Gazette Responds to Guardian Op-Ed by Manning

[peky]

Actually, part of the sentence was reduction from E-2 (Private First Class) to E-1 (Private).  As has been pointed out above, military prisoners cannot be discharged until after their sentence is completed.  This means that Private Manning is, in fact, an active duty member of the military rank of Private.

Again, a minor detail.

Close but no cigar... darling

There are two kinds of Soldiers at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. — the ones with no rank or pay, and those with keys.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/justicelawlegislation/a/leavenworth.htm

[Wynternight]

I think I can safely close this topic. It went off the rails and never really recovered and since suzi was kind enough to start another thread to discuss the issue this one took a turn to I see no reason for two on the essentially the same discussion. Thank you all.