I guess it was about a month ago (time goes by too damn quickly these days) that I was sitting on the couch with the old lady while she was flipping channels. She rarely even pauses for a blink as she passes by the cable news networks but this time she stopped on Fox to see the breaking news that an arrest had been made in connection with the death of pregnant soldier, Megan Touma. I was looking down reading my book but I kept hearing the name Edgar Patino, Edgar Patino, Edgar Patino. I looked up at my wife and said "I wonder if he's a soldier. It seems like if he was, they'd be calling him Sgt. Patino or Spec. Patino or something like that."

I went to bed. About an hour later wifey joined me and reported that after my remark she flipped to CNN to see what they were saying and, sure enough, they were reporting that Sgt. Edgar Patino had been arrested in connection with the murder. I just chuckled. I knew that the next day the folks at Fox News would also be calling him Sgt. Patino, so why make the omission? Maybe Fox News didn't have the details yet as the story was just breaking. But, it does seem like a rather relevant detail and one you would want to include in your breaking news coverage. Oh well.

Then, last night, the ball and chain and I were watching one of those unbelievable real life video shows on truTV, formerly known as CourtTV. One of the videos was of some liquor store security footage showing a botched robbery in Oceanside, California.

I watched as the they interviewed the store owner, as they mentioned that this was just one of a series of robberies by the same suspect, as they showed the suspect being shot (unfortunately it was not a fatal wound) in the act, and I listened as they named the crook, McKenzie Smith. Now, anyone who knows Oceanside knows that it borders on Camp Pendleton and thus it is crawling with Marines. So, my first reaction was to turn to wifey again and say "I wonder if he's a Marine." They made no mention of it on truTV but, if so, it seems like it would be a relevant or at least a very interesting detail. A quick Google search was fruitful. It turns out that McKenzie Smith also goes by Lance Corporal and, totally unmentioned on truTV, he was aided in his crime spree by Navy Corpsman Quintel Brooks. Again, I just laughed.

I know it's not a shocker that these omissions are made and maybe it's not even a big deal but it makes me wonder: In high profile cases, like that of Edgar Patino, such details can't be hidden but where they can be ignored, I wonder how common a practice it is, or how common a desire it is, to ignore the military membership of criminals.