The trial for Spc. Beyshee Velez will likely take place this summer
By Gregg K. Kakesako-Star Bulletin
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 13, 2010
A 31-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier will face a general court-martial, probably this summer, for allegedly killing a civilian contractor after a daylong standoff at a military base in Iraq last year.
In one of his first actions since assuming command of the 25th Infantry Division last month, Maj. Gen. Bernard Champoux ordered this week that Spc. Beyshee Velez, a combat medic who has served three tours in Iraq, face a court-martial for the death of Lucas T. Vinson, an employee of Houston-based KBR, near Tikrit on Sept. 13. KBR provides services including housing, meals, mail delivery and laundry.
Velez is charged with two counts of murder, one count of trying to elude Air Force security forces and three counts of assault. The Army said that although Velez has been charged with two different counts of murder, he could be convicted of only one of the murder specifications. That charge will be determined by the judge presiding over the court-martial, said Maj. Cathy Wilkinson, an Army spokeswoman.
The Army has said murder carries a maximum sentence of a dishonorable discharge and life confinement. Assault with a deadly weapon carries a maximum sentence of dishonorable discharge and eight years’ confinement. Fleeing apprehension carries a maximum sentence of a bad-conduct discharge and one year of confinement.
Velez was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd “Bronco” Brigade Combat Team, when the shooting occurred at Contingency Operating Base Speicher. Velez has been held at the brig on Ford Island since the shooting.
His defense attorney, Phil Cave, has argued that Velez was mentally unstable when he shot Vinson, 27, with his M-4 carbine.
During a week long pretrial hearing last month at Wheeler Army Airfield, Cave questioned a report by a three-member Army mental health board that ruled Velez was competent to face a court-martial.
Cave described Velez as “a family person” who spent a lot of money taking care of his mother, sister and nephew and who came from a family whose members “slept on the street” and had a history of bipolar disorder and suicide.
Monday, Mar. 08, 2010
By NANCY GIBBS – Time Magazine
What does it tell us that female soldiers deployed overseas stop drinking water after 7 p.m. to reduce the odds of being raped if they have to use the bathroom at night? Or that a soldier who was assaulted when she went out for a cigarette was afraid to report it for fear she would be demoted — for having gone out without her weapon? Or that, as Representative Jane Harman puts it, “a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.”
The fight over “Don’t ask, don’t tell” made headlines this winter as an issue of justice and history and the social evolution of our military institutions. We’ve heard much less about another set of hearings in the House Armed Services Committee. Maybe that’s because too many commanders still don’t ask, and too many victims still won’t tell, about the levels of violence endured by women in uniform. (Read the rest of the story here…)
If you are having problems watching this video on MsSparky.com click HERE to watch at Channel 11. You can also read the transcript of the interview there as well.
Also, if you have a facebook account you have to check out the Burn Pits page run by Jill Wilkins. As you might recall, Jill is the widow of Major Kevin Wilkins who died of a brain tumor shortly after returning from Iraq. The burn victims could ask for no better champion for their cause!
A tragic story about how an inexperienced Blackwater flight crew who crashed their plane in Afghanistan killing 6 including Lt. Col. Michael McMahon who at the time was the highest ranking soldier to die in the war.
(If you are having problems viewing this video on MsSparky.com click HERE to view it and the show transcript at the CBS site.)
By Matthew Hansen – Staff Writer
Omaha World Herald – February 21, 2010
Sgt. Klayton Thomas looked every bit the poster boy Marine as he strode into a military hospital last September to get his back checked.
He taught karate and earned his abs in the gym. He had survived a 2007 deployment to Iraq, even thrived during his prolonged stay in the middle of the then-treacherous Sunni Triangle. He rarely drank. He didn’t smoke. Life seemed perfect on this mid-September Thursday, if only his back would stop aching. The 25-year-old Columbus, Neb., native thought he had wrenched it playing soccer. Three months and 10 days later, he died in hospice care.
This much is known: Thomas succumbed to an unstoppable lung cancer that crushed his vertebrae, blitzed his bones and invaded his brain, dumbfounding doctors who had spent their entire careers treating the disease.
His death leaves a medical mystery, one similar to those posed by hundreds of other American military personnel battling exotic cancers or struggling with rare respiratory problems.
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This mystery begins in the unlikeliest of places: Iraqi “burn pits” — large, primitive landfills where contractors set trash aflame, causing ever-present black smoke to drift over dozens of U.S. military bases.
Health experts, a high-powered defense lawyer, Congress and even the president have taken notice, asking questions like Klayton Thomas’ parents and doctors asked in the weeks after he fell ill.
Why would an otherwise healthy young nonsmoker contract a cancer that generally haunts older smokers? Why did this cancer spread like wildfire when experts say its normal path can take years?
Simply put: Why did Sgt. Klayton Thomas die?
“We were scared to death when he went to Iraq, scared of a mortar attack, an IED,” said his mother, Connie Thomas of Columbus. “But nothing like this. Not in our wildest dreams.” (Read the rest of the story here…)
Attention on the net: You got the Barrack Patrol here, bringing you the best of what we hear and what you tell us about. (And, as always, confidentiality is GUARANTEED — not too many places around this here U.S. military that you get one of those … or at least one of those you want.)
And most of the chatter on our freq the last few days has been about Big General Mac’s order to shut down all the fast food joints and other “Hey Joe” establishments around the FOBs in the ‘Stan Suck. The reaction to said order has turned into a battle royale (with cheese) of sorts between two camps: The Trigger Pullers versus the FOBbits.
Now the Trigger Pullers, who, unlike the FOBbits have actually discharged their weapons in anger, are happy for a warm meal, period, never mind one served up by a good ole’ American franchise like KFC. So when they amble back from a patrol for a little down time and see the “world within a world” that is the FOB they tend to wonder where the priorities are with the guys running the show. (These are the guys who were pinned down the day before without air support because of too few drones in theater or whatever, so you’ll have to forgive them when the sight of a Baskin-??Robbins with all 31 flavors gets them a bit steamed under the Kevlar.) Suffice it to say that the Trigger Pullers are okay with Gen. Mac’s order. Instead of Whoppers, they want more bullets. As Trigger Puller “Lawman” told us: “Only at the FOB would you have to worry about Soldiers gaining weight in the middle of a war.” (Read the rest of the story here…)
Soldiers Fight in the Courts Over Liability in War Zones
By DIONNE SEARCEY – JANUARY 7, 2010
LTC James C. Gentry Indiana National Guard Commander died November 26, 2009 of exposure to sodium dichromate from Qarmat Ali
A recent lawsuit brought by a group of Indiana National Guardsman spotlights a controversial legal doctrine that prevents soldiers on active duty from seeking compensation for injuries sustained in war zones.
The guardsman allege that a mission to help clean up a water treatment plant in southern Iraq left them with what they say are potentially fatal illnesses.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Indiana, the Guardsmen allege that oil company KBR Inc. “disregarded and downplayed” the fact that the site at Qarmat Ali was coated with the hazardous chemical sodium dichromate. They were exposed, they say, to the chemical that is used as an industrial anti-corrosive agent to protect pipes.
As a result, the soldiers suffered “unprotected, unknowing, direct exposure to one of the most potent carcinogens and mutagenic substances known to man,” alleges the suit, which seeks monetary compensation for health problems the soldiers say they have suffered. (Read the rest of the story here…)
I would have liked to ask some very specific people if they know what day this. But, due to the fact that Heather turned down my Facebook friend request, I find it highly unlikely she or the others would reply to an email. So, the answers to the following questions are my attempt to provide a humorous satirical response at their expense on this very important day.
KBR’s spokeswoman, Heather Browne…do you know what day this is? “Yes….it’s time for a leg, eyebrow and bikini wax! My New Year’s resolution is to have an ‘unwavering commitment’ to myself for a change!”
KBR’s President of the G&I segment, Bill Bodie…do you know what day this is? “Yep! It’s former PTL minister Jim Bakker’s birthday? Maybe I should write an editorial for that supporting his fraudulent wrong doing!”
KBR law firm K&L Gates ….do you know what day this is? “It’s a Saturday and billable at a much hirer rate…can you repeat the question please…..very slowly this time.”
That’s what I thought. It’s just another day at the office…or the spa. Whatever the case may be! Although KBR is locked in legal battle and enduring very negative press on this issue, I still seriously doubt any of you remembered this is the 2nd anniversary of the death of a son, a brother, a friend, a US Soldier. (Read the rest of the story here…)
BAGHDAD — Capt. Margaret H. White began a relationship with a warrant officer while both were training to be deployed to Iraq. By the time they arrived this year at Camp Taji, north of here, she felt what she called “creepy vibes” and tried to break it off.
In the claustrophobic confines of a combat post, it was not easy to do. He left notes on the door to her quarters, alternately pleading and menacing. He forced her to have sex, she said. He asked her to marry him, though he was already married. He waited for her outside the women’s latrines or her quarters, once for three hours.
“It got to the point that I felt safer outside the wire,” Captain White said, referring to operations that take soldiers off their heavily fortified bases, “than I did taking a shower.” (Read the rest of the story here…)
Top U.S. General in Iraq, Countermanding Subordinate, Rescinds Order to Punish Pregnant Soldiers
By SARAH NETTER and LUIS MARTINEZ
Dec. 25, 2009
The top U.S. commander in Iraq rescinded a controversial order by a subordinate general intended to punish soldiers who became pregnant while serving in a war zone.
Army general in Iraq issues an order making pregnancy a punishable offense.
Gen. Raymond Odierno has drafted a broad new policy for the U.S. forces in Iraq that will take effect Jan. 1, but which does not include a provision issued last month by Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo that disciplined both soldiers who became pregnant and their military sex partners.
Earlier this week Cucolo said the policy was intended to emphasize the problems created when pregnant soldiers go home and leave behind a weaker unit.
Cucolo’s order set off a firestorm of criticism this week, including condemnation by four Democratic senators who wrote Odierno a letter calling for the order to be overturned.
“We can think of no greater deterrent to women contemplating a military career than the image of a pregnant woman being severely punished simply for conceiving a child,” the senators wrote to Cucolo. “This defies comprehension. As such, we urge you to immediately rescind this policy.” (Read the rest of the story here…)
By Michael Gisick, Leo Shane III and Teri Weaver
Stars and Stripes – Mideast edition
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Four U.S. senators have asked Army Secretary John McHugh to rescind a policy that makes pregnancy a punishable offense for some soldiers serving in Iraq, saying it “defies comprehension.”
The request from Democrats Barbara Boxer, Barbara Mikulski, Jeanne Shaheen and Kirsten Gillibrand came Tuesday after the general who issued the policy began backing away from it, explaining that he never intended to court-martial or jail women who become pregnant under his command.
The senators joined a chorus of critics who contend that, even if the punishment ends up being mild, the order simply goes too far and infringes on the basic rights of individuals in the name of military readiness. (Read the rest of the story here…)
Illinois National Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Valdivia died while the target of a Navy probe into widespread abuses in her unit that she allegedly both condoned and was subjected to.
In January 2007, Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Valdivia, a 27-year-old dog handler at a U.S. Navy base in Bahrain, was found dead in her living quarters. She had killed herself.
Valdivia’s suicide came as she was under investigation for her role in a culture of hazing and abuse in her canine unit.
Interviews and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act suggest that before she was an alleged victimizer, Valdivia, too, was subjected to sexually demeaning abuse. And they suggest that Valdivia may have taken her own life amid fears that she would become a scapegoat for her unit’s widespread transgressions. (Read the rest of the story here…)
Bob Hope’s unwavering commitment to the morale of America’s servicemen and women is entertainment history, indeed, world history. Many say ‘legend.’
For nearly six decades, be the country at war or at peace, Bob, with a band of Hollywood gypsies, traveled the globe to entertain our service men and women.
The media dubbed him “America’s No. 1 Soldier in Greasepaint.” To the GIs, he was “G.I. Bob” and their clown hero. (Click HERE to go to his official Website)
Trailer for the upcoming Midtown Films documentary “LaVena Johnson — The Silent Truth”, questioning whether there is a cover up of the rape and murder of women soldiers. (Warning: Video contains graphic images of the crime scene)
Stories of women killed in combat need to be told, Colonie vet says
By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer TimesUnion.com – Saturday, December 12, 2009
COLONIE, NY — The military’s investigation into how Staff Sgt. Amy Tirador died in Iraq has hit home for someone who never knew her: Noonie Fortin, an Army veteran who has spent decades documenting women at war and the sometimes murky circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Fortin has chronicled the stories of American women who have died in combat zones since the Civil War from her home just miles from where Tirador grew up. Fortin’s proud, tragic profiles are now published on a Web site bearing her name, and provide information gathered from military sources, media reports and, sometimes, family members. Pictures of the fallen accompany most of the modern day snippets, which also tell how, where and when the servicewomen were killed.
An author of 10 books and a public speaker, Fortin comes at the project from a patriotic point of view. She says she’s archiving the casualties for history. But the retired first sergeant says she knows the anguish and stress of war, and questions military reports she considers unbelievable or incomplete. And there’s been more than a few of those from Iraq, Fortin said in her Colonie home.
“I do it because these women’s stories need to be out there,” said Fortin, author of “Women at Risk: We Also Served,” which tells the stories of more than 60 military women.
On her web site, Fortin names 118 women, ages 18 to 54, who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 28 lost supporting military operations in Afghanistan. The military has classified at least 45 of the female deaths in Iraq as noncombat incidents, she notes. Of those, 13, including Tirador, died from gunshot wounds, while many of the others were involved in vehicle accidents or had health problems.
The latest entry in Fortin’s gallery is Tirador, an Army interrogator who spoke Arabic and worked in military intelligence. Tirador, 29, grew up in Colonie and was shot in the back of the head while walking to an 8 p.m. work shift on the U.S. military base Camp Caldwell in eastern Iraq, her mother has said. More than five weeks after her death, the military has released few details about it, only that it is investigating whether Tirador was killed, committed suicide or died in an accident.
Ann Wright, a vocal advocate for military women from Arkansas who retired as an Army colonel in protest of the Iraq war in 2003, called Fortin’s Web site “the only one that has information on every woman, military or civilian, killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Women are increasingly serving amid warfare, weapons and combat stress, Wright and Fortin say. In those environments, relationships can sometimes end in rape, violence or even murder, they say.
More than 2,900 sexual assaults were reported in the military in 2008, 8 percent more than 2007, according to a March report by the U.S. Defense Department. About 63 percent of those involved rape or aggravated assault, the report states. It says 251 of the incidents occurred in combat areas, with 141 in Iraq and 22 in Afghanistan.
The deaths of several women in Iraq and at least one in Afghanistan are suspicious, Fortin said.
She cites the 2005 case of Army Pvt. LaVena L. Johnson as the most striking. The 19-year-old Missouri woman died in Balad after being raped, beaten, shot and set on fire, said her father, who has pictures and documents from the incident. The Army has ruled Johnson’s death a suicide from a self-inflicted rifle shot. The case is profiled in the forthcoming documentary, “LaVena Johnson — The Silent Truth,” due for release in 2010. It examines whether there is an army coverup of the rape and murder of women soldiers.
“Is this another Pat Tillman-style cover-up?” Fortin wrote on her Web site about the death of Johnson.
She also tells the story of how the military had blamed the 2007 death of Spc. Kamisha J. Block on friendly fire, only to later admit that her ex-boyfriend shot the 20-year-old five times in Baghdad before killing himself. “The Army and Pentagon lied to the family and press,” Fortin said.
Here are other cases about which she questions the official military accounts:
Army Pvt. Tina Priest, who had claimed she was raped in Iraq, died from a non-combat gunshot wound to the chest in Taji in 2006.
Pvt. Hannah L. Gunterman McKinney, who died after reportedly falling out of a vehicle in Taji.
Maj. Gloria D. Davis and Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman, who the Army says died of noncombat gunshot wounds, but according to reports may have been involved in shady deals with private military contractors.
Army Spc. Ciara Durkin, who had told her parents to press for answers if anything happened to her while she was deployed in Afghanistan, Fortin says. In September 2007, someone shot her once in the head near a church at Bagram Airfield. The military reportedly has said she committed suicide. Family members believe she was killed.
Fortin also details the shooting deaths of three women supporting the Iraq war from Bahrain, including Navy Master-at-Arms Anamarie Sannicolas Camacho, 20, and Genesia Mattril Gresham, 19, who were killed by a male sailor in 2007 in what is described as a jilted boyfriend’s shooting spree.
Tirador is not the only female translator to die overseas. Spc. Alyssa Renee Peterson, 27, killed herself in Iraq in 2003 after saying that she didn’t like the way interrogations were done, Fortin says.
Tirador is the first woman from the Capital Region to die in a war zone since a nurse from Albany named Marilyn Lourdes Allan was shot to death in 1967 by a decorated Army captain in Vietnam, Fortin said. Allan is featured in Fortin’s book “Women at Risk.” She was working with the U.S. Agency for International Development, and had dated her killer, who committed suicide after shooting her three times, according to a Times Union report.
Fortin grew up in Lansingburgh and served in the Army Reserve from 1975 to 1997. Military investigations like the one underway in the Tirador case can take four to six months, she said.
“I feel that the military could do more,” Fortin said, referring the military’s handling of the investigations of noncombat deaths . “Will they? Not unless they get pushed.” (click HERE for original article)
WASHINGTON – His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.
There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some “difficulties” that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but noted that the problems had to do with Hasan’s interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a “mostly very quiet” person who never spoke ill of the military or his country.
“He swore an oath of loyalty to the military,” Grieger said. “I didn’t hear anything contrary to those oaths.”
But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
They had not determined for certain whether Hasan is the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan’s aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and he wanted out of the Army.
“Some people can take it and some people cannot,” she said. “He had listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military.”
She said he had sought a discharge from the military for several years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training.
A military official told The Associated Press that Hasan was in the preparation stage of deployment, which can take months. The official said Hasan had indicated he didn’t want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan. The official did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A second military official said Hasan’s family has Palestinian roots. There have been reports that he was harassed for his Muslim religion, but the official says there is no indication Hasan filed a complaint within the military about that.
Terrorism task force agents plan to interview several of Hasan’s relatives Friday, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the case.
Noel Hasan said her nephew “did not make many friends” and would say “they military was his life.”
A cousin, Nader Hasan, told The New York Times that after counseling soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, Hasan knew war firsthand.
“He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,” Nader Hasan said. “He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there.”
Federal law-enforcement agents ordered an evacuation of the apartment complex where Hasan lived in Killeen, Texas, Thursday night and conducted a search of his home, said Hilary Shine, director of public information for the city. She didn’t say what was found during the search.
Officials said earlier that federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize the seizure of his computer.
Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox News that Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Lee said Hasan got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars, and had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment.
Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a lifelong Muslim.
“I got the impression that he was a committed soldier,” Khan said. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan’s desire for a wife.
On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.
“I don’t know why he listed Palestinian,” Khan said, “He was not born in Palestine.”
Nothing stood out about Hasan as radical or extremist, Khan said.
“We hardly ever got to discussing politics,” Khan said. “Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist.”
Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008 Army Times article.
He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. He also served in the ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry there in 1997.
Military officials say the suspected shooter at Fort Hood was a psychiatrist
07:45 PM CST on Thursday, November 5, 2009
Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan
Major Nidal Malik Hasan - Alleged Shooter - New Reports Say He is Wounded Not Killed
WASHINGTON — Military officials say the suspected shooter at Fort Hood was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before being transferred to the Texas base in July.
The officials had access to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s military record. They said he received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because military records are confidential.
The Virginia-born soldier was single with no children. He was 39 years old.
Federal law enforcement officials say the suspected Fort Hood, Texas, shooter had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.
The officials say the postings appeared to have been made by Hasan, who was killed (CORRECTION: Hasan was not killed and has been hospitalized) during the shooting incident that left least 11 others dead and 31 wounded. The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.
One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.
Hasan is a graduate of Virginia Tech University, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001. At Walter Reed, he did his internship, residency and a fellowship.
Sen. Jay Bailey Hutchison said Hasan was to be deployed to Iraq, and there were indications he did not want to go. (Link to original article)
Thursday’s Fort Hood shooting rampage that left 13 dead and 38 injured, of which 30 needed to be hospitalized.
13 slain in soldier’s Fort Hood ambush, Army says
06:34 AM CST on Friday, November 6, 2009
By CHRISTY HOPPE
FORT HOOD, Texas – The bloody scene might have been drawn from the scarred memories of Iraq war veterans assigned to this Army outpost in the hills of Central Texas: 13 dead and 30 wounded, gunned down in a sudden ambush.
But Thursday’s bloody assault at Fort Hood was committed by one of the Army’s own. As night fell across the nation’s largest military outpost on Thursday, investigators sought to explain why Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist, reportedly turned a pair of pistols on his comrades.
Late Thursday, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone and Col. Ben Danner gave an account of the chaos and carnage that began about 1:30 p.m. inside two buildings that house psychiatric, medical and dental units:
Officials say Hasan used two handguns, including a semi-automatic, to fire at fellow soldiers. Neither of the guns was military-issue.
As Hasan fired, an unidentified female civilian officer managed to shoot him at least once before being shot herself.
The gunman was finally felled by four bullets and airlifted by medical helicopter to an undisclosed hospital where he underwent surgery. Early reports said the gunman was dead, but Cone later said Hasan was in stable condition under guard at a hospital and “his death is not imminent.” He was on a ventilator and unconscious, officials.
Life-saving actions
The general said that many of the military personnel used life-saving skills learned as part of their training. He described a scene where people were “ripping their uniforms and taking care of each other.”
Still unexplained Thursday night was the motive for the attack.
Asked whether it could be considered a terrorist attack, Cone replied, “I couldn’t rule that out” but said the evidence does not point to that.
At one point, officials detained and interviewed three suspects, But they now think that there was a single shooter.
Apartment searched
Late Thursday night, Killeen police had cordoned off Hasan’s apartment at the Casa del Norte Apartments and had evacuated the neighborhood. They were concerned that Hasan might have booby-trapped his home and were cautiously moving in with a bomb squad.
Family members said Hasan, a native-born Virginian and 1997 biochemistry graduate of Virginia Tech University, had been distraught over an impending overseas deployment.
Hasan had been posted to Fort Hood in July, after serving for six years at Water Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He was unmarried, authorities said.
Nader Hasan, a cousin of the major, told Fox News that Hasan had suffered harassment from comrades over his Middle Eastern heritage.
“He is a good American,” Hasan told the news channel. “We are shocked.”
While wounded were being transported to hospitals around the area, authorities ordered the massive post closed. About 40,000 military personnel are based at the post, one of the country’s largest military installations.
“It’s a terrible tragedy. It’s stunning,” Cone told reporters gathered outside the vast facility northeast of Austin. “Soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians who work here are absolutely devastated.”
‘Stay put!’
At the Military Personnel Center, where arriving soldiers are processed and records updated, civilian employee Poi Shaffer was updating records for a soldier when she heard sirens on Battalion Avenue – about a mile away from the scene of the shooting.
“I heard sirens, ambulances, fire trucks, all kinds of stuff,” said Shaffer. “At first I thought it was a wreck, but I kept hearing more sirens. It kept going on.”
When she finished processing the soldier’s records, she checked her phone and saw that her husband, who works on the base for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, had been trying to call her. He phoned again and said urgently: “Where are you? Stay put!”
Her husband was close enough to the scene of the attack to hear the gunfire, said Shaffer.
Wife, baby on base
Spc. Joshua Branum, just back from his second long tour in Iraq, was at the Killeen courthouse taking care of a minor traffic issue when he heard of shootings and death at Fort Hood.
Three months back and now it was his wife and 1-year-daughter in harm’s way. “I went into combat mode – autopilot,” he said.
He immediately called his wife and told her to lock the doors and windows. “Keep yourself and the baby down at all costs,” he said to her. “And then I started on my way.”
For almost two hours, Branum paced outside the main gate at Fort Hood in his desert fatigues as he and more than a dozen active military personnel waited for the post to lift a lockdown so they could see their loved ones. Phone lines were jammed, and some were having trouble getting through.
He said he wanted to patrol the perimeter in his truck, to feel he could help in some way.
“In a situation like this, any soldier feels that I should have been there. Maybe there wouldn’t have been so many dead, maybe there wouldn’t have been so many wounded,” Branum said.
He said he was angered to hear that it was a soldier who fired at colleagues.
Having defused bombs and cleared roadways during his first two-year tour in Iraq, Branum said he knows all about post traumatic stress disorder and has suffered from it the past two years.
“If they blame this on PTSD, I’ll lose my faith,” Branum said. “PTSD does not cause you to organize and carry out a shooting.”
The lockdown was finally lifted about 9 p.m.
‘Texas family’ tragedy
In Austin, Gov. Rick Perry issued a statement that read in part: “The Texas family suffered a significant loss today with the tragedy at Fort Hood. Along with all Texans, Anita and I are keeping those affected by today’s incidents in our thoughts and prayers.”
Perry ordered that all Texas flags be lowered to half-staff until Sunday.
The FBI and Texas Rangers joined with military investigators in the search to determine how and why the attack occurred.
Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.
“The bottom line for us is that we are increasing security at our gates because the threat hasn’t yet been defined, and we’re reminding our Marines to be vigilant in their areas of responsibility,” said Capt. Rob Dolan, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.
After nightfall at Fort Hood, the religious gathered to pray, the patriotic gave blood, and doctors and nurses worked to save the lives of the wounded.
Sirens continued to sound, but traffic once again rumbled along Battalion Avenue and speakers blared, “The emergency no longer exists.”
President Obama called the shootings “tragic” and “a horrific outburst of violence.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered that all flags in the state be lowered to half-staff until Sunday as a tribute to the victims.
“We are deeply saddened by today’s events but resolve to continue supporting our troops and protecting our citizens,” he said.
In the aftermath of the incident, Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas, posted an online appeal for blood as it began receiving victims.
“Due to the recent events on Fort Hood, we are in URGENT need of ALL blood types,” it said.
Fort Hood is the Army’s largest U.S. post, with about 40,000 troops stationed there. It is home to the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command. It is near Killeen, Texas. The Headquarters Unit and three brigades of the 1st Cavalry are deployed in Iraq.
The fort is home to the Warrior Combat Stress Reset Program, which helps soldiers returning from war with combat stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In June, Fort Hood’s commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told CNN that he was trying to ease the kind of stresses soldiers face.
He has pushed for soldiers working a day schedule to return home for dinner by 6 p.m. and required his personal authorization for anyone working weekends. At the time, two soldiers stationed there had committed suicide in 2009 — a rate well below those of other posts.
Nearby Killeen was the scene of one of the most deadly shootings in American history 18 years ago when George Hennard crashed his truck into a Luby’s cafeteria and then began shooting, killing 23 people and wounding 20.
Hennard’s spree lasted 14 minutes. He eventually took his own life.
I will update this as more information becomes available. Please keep these soldiers, their families and friends in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.
Ex-Army master sergeant pleads guilty to bribery
HONOLULU (AP) — A retired army master sergeant on Friday pleaded guilty to bribery and money laundering charges stemming from his tour of duty in Iraq.
Ronald Joseph Radcliffe, 43, first entered a not guilty plea in May. But on Friday, he changed his plea to guilty as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
Radcliff was in Iraq from January 2004 to February 2005 as a member of the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
While stationed in Kirkuk as a supply official, Radcliffe accepted money from Metin Subasi, a Turkish national, according to the indictment. He then steered Army contracts to several of Subasi’s companies.
He later mailed cash to his girlfriend in Hawaii, telling her to deposit it in the bank in small increments so as not to tip off the Internal Revenue Service, according to the indictment. He also carried cash with him when he visited Hawaii in September 2004.
On Friday, in U.S. District Court in Honolulu Radcliffe admitted receiving at least $37,600 in return for influencing the contracting process.
The money laundering charge arose from transactions involving the proceeds of the bribery.
He faces maximum prison terms of 15 years on one bribery charge and 20 years on one money laundering charge.
At the time of his initial plea in May, Radcliffe was a civilian employee of defense contractor KBR in Afghanistan.
Radcliffe was also initially charged with mail and wire fraud, but those charges will be dropped as part of his plea agreement.
He is free on bail secured by property, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Honolulu said. Sentencing was set for February 8.
The prosecution stemmed from an investigation by the Army and FBI officials. (click HERE for the original article)
FORT GORDON, GA – According to the Fort Gordon Public Affairs Officer Marla Jones, a soldier with the 67th Signal Battalion died in Iraq on September 29th in a non-combat related incident.
Specialist Ross Eugene Vogel III, 27, of Company B, 67th Signal Battalion, deployed to Iraq with the unit in August. He was found unconscious in his room at Camp Delta, Iraq, near the city of Kut, and was taken to a medical facility.
The cause of death is unknown and it is currently under investigation.
Specialist Vogel enlisted in the Army in 2001, and has spent most of his career at Fort Gordon, with the 35th Signal Brigade, first with the Headquarters, 67th Signal Battalion, then the 518th Tactical Installation Networking Company, and a second assignment to the 67th Signal Battalion.
His job with the Signal unit was switch system operator-maintainer.
He is from Red Lion, Pennsylvania. SPC Vogel was married and leaves behind two children. (click HERE for original post)
My most sincere condolences to the friends, family and co-workers of this soldier. I do hope this is not another electrocution death. If you have any information regarding the cause of death please email me by clicking HERE
Senate Democrats charge that KBR failed to protect troops in Iraq from “deadly poison”
by Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian
Monday August 03, 2009, 6:54 PM
Senate Democrats say the Army and the nation’s largest war contractor failed to protect troops from a “deadly poison” in Iraq and are demanding further investigation.
The statement came after a former Oregon Army National Guardsman and three other combat veterans testified Monday that since being exposed to hexavalent chromium in 2003, they have been chronically ill and that some of their fellow soldiers have died.
“Before my service to Iraq, I was physically fit. I used to run several miles without much effort,” said 42-year-old Rocky Bixby of Hillsboro, who struggled to speak between raspy coughs. “Now I have trouble walking from my house to my car. I simply run out of breath.”
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, called the Army’s investigation so far into the exposure “tragically inadequate,” and likened it to the government’s mishandling of Agent Orange after Vietnam. “The Defense Department failed to protect our troops,” Dorgan said. “And I believe they are downplaying this in part because it is an embarrassment to them.”
The Army has defended its actions and last year the Defense Health Board, an independent review body, agreed with the Army. Defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root has maintained in statements that its actions have not harmed troops.
The Houston firm provides almost all basic services for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they have been the frequent target in 20 oversight hearings conducted by Dorgan.
Last week the Defense Department’s inspector general found the company that KBR’s shoddy electrical work failed to protect a Green Beret electrocuted in the shower. Last spring the inspector general found KBR provided wastewater for bathing at one U.S. base in Iraq, causing skin infections and diarrhea. U.S. taxpayers have paid KBR millions in bonuses to restore Iraqi oil production.
Workers — civilians as well as U.S. troops — were exposed to hexavalent chromium as KBR raced to repair a water treatment plant near Basra to get the oil flowing again in 2003.
But the troops’ exposure to the cancer-causing chemical didn’t come to light until a June 2008 oversight hearing. Ed Blacke, a fomer KBR safety official testified that he was sent home from Iraq in 2003 after raising concerns about the reddish-orange powder piled at the plant.
Blacke told Dorgan’s committee that in addition to KBR employees, hundreds of U.S. troops were surrounded by the toxic powder as they slept, ate and patrolled at the Qarmat Ali plant between April and August 2003.
Among them: members of the 1st Battalion-162nd Infantry, the first Oregon Guard members into Iraq, as well as their Indiana and West Virginia counterparts.
The troops learned of the toxin when the state military departments and the Pentagon sent notification letters out earlier this year. At the Monday hearing, the four veterans say they recalled the reddish dust that spilled from100 pound bags that they used for protection from snipers — and for furniture.
They recalled wind storms that made the soldiers look like “orange powdered donuts.” They recalled the constant metallic taste that one veteran described like “a mouthful of pennies.”
But they were never told to use masks and other protective gear they had carried into combat. Their constant nose bleeds, skin sores and headaches were written off by KBR officials and Army medics as allergies to desert dust.
“Within two months, you could shine a light into my nasal cavity through a hole that had eaten through to the outside of my nose,” testified Russell Kimberling, a former Indiana National Guard commander who was medically evacuated to Germany after two months. Kimberling returned to guarding the plant in June 2003 until in August, when KBR employees showed up in full personal protection suits.
“They did not see fit to inform us that for safety purposes, we should’ve been doing the same,” he said. The Indiana Guard commander escort KBR is currently in hospice care with terminal lung cancer.Still, Kimberling testified that KBR officials downplayed what they found, describing the chemical, used as a corrosion fighter, as a “mild irritant” and that one would “literally have to bathe” in it for harm to occur. Experts told Dorgan’s committee last year that exposure to a grain of sand’s worth of hexavalent chromium over a cubic meter would greatly increase the risk of cancer.
In September 2003 the plant was shuttered, and eventually cleaned up. In October the Army administered 137 blood tests. The men never received any written results.
At Monday’s Senate’s Democratic Policy Committee hearing, an epidemiologist and the Environmental Protection Agency’s foremost expert on hexavalent chromium testified that the toxin would have largely been out of the troops’ bodies by the timing of tests. Herman Gibb, who spent his career at the EPA, likened it to “giving a breathalyzer to a person three days after they were pulled over for erratic driving.”
Gibb said further study, based on the military’s medical records, was needed, as well as ongoing medical evaluation and care. Congress is looking at a national registry for exposure.
Meanwhile, the Oregon Legislature has tried to provide some care. This summer the Legislature, led by Rep. Chip Shields of Portland, approved funds for soldiers who develop cancer as a result.
Some soldiers are also going to court. Bixby is one of five current or former Oregon Army National Guard suing KBR, as are dozens of soldiers in other states.
Bixby, who still works as a public safety officer at Oregon Heath & Science University, told the senators that after receiving his notification from the Guard earlier this year, the non-smoker finally had a chest X-ray.
“The doctors discovered I have a node on my lung.” (click HERE for the original article)
