A Soldiers Story – Ms Sparky

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12 Turkish ISAF service members & 4 Afghan civilians die in helicopter crash

By Forseti | Filed in A Soldiers Story

Allen Expresses Condolences Over Helicopter Crash

International Security Assistance Force Joint Command - WASHINGTON - March 16, 2012 – The commander of the International Security Assistance Force, Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, expressed his condolences over the crash of an ISAF helicopter in the Bagrami district of Afghanistan’s Kabul province today, military officials reported.

Twelve ISAF service members, all of whom were from Turkey, died as a result of the crash, officials said. Four Afghan civilians also died in the crash.

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Tags: Afghanistan, ISAF

Military Flies Shooting Suspect Out of Afghanistan

By Forseti | Filed in A Soldiers Story, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests

A congressman asked the Pentagon on Tuesday to explain why the soldier accused in the massacre of 16 Afghan villagers was sent back into combat after earlier suffering a traumatic brain injury in Iraq, as lawmakers questioned how seriously the military deals with the mental health of troops. ~Lawmakers press Pentagon on massacre suspect’s brain injury

Lisa Daniel – (American Forces Press Service) – WASHINGTON – March 14, 2012 – The military today airlifted out of Afghanistan the U.S. soldier accused of going on a shooting rampage targeting Afghan civilians earlier this week, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Navy Capt. John Kirby, in an interview with Fox News at the Pentagon, confirmed that the soldier was flown out of Afghanistan. He declined to say where he is being held.

The soldier, whom the military has yet to identify, was taken out of Afghanistan because there was no appropriate place to detain him there, Kirby said.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Civilian Deaths, PTSD

PTSD diagnoses at Lewis-McChord reexamined

By Forseti | Filed in A Soldiers Story, Reports & Investigations

It is home base not only of the soldier accused in this weekend’s shooting of civilian women and children in Afghanistan, but also Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who was recently convicted of killing Afghan civilians for sport.

It’s also the base of Iraq War veteran Benjamin Colton Barnes, the suspect in the killing of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger on New Year’s Day. (Barnes’ body was later found in the park.) “Beltway Sniper” John Allen Muhammad – executed in 2009 for killing 10 people around Washington, D.C. – was also stationed at Lewis-McChord.

(CBS/AP) – March 12, 2012 – Diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder at an Army Medical Center located at the home base of the soldier accused of fatally shooting 16 Afghan civilians has been under scrutiny by Army investigators.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Benjamin Colton Barnes, Civilian Deaths, John Allen Muhammad, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Kandahar, Madigan Army Medical Center, PTSD, SSG Robert Bales, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs

Recent developments in the Dover Mortuary scandal

By Forseti | Filed in A Soldiers Story, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Reports & Investigations

Here are the most recent articles on the scandal at Dover Mortuary, including the final report (PDF) from the Office of Special Counsel. ~Forseti

Dover Air Base mortuary supervisor resigns
(Washington Post) – March 2, 2012 – A mortuary supervisor at the heart of the Dover Air Force Base scandals has resigned, sparing the Pentagon from a decision on whether to fire him for allegedly lying to investigators, mutilating a corpse and retaliating against whistleblowers.

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Tags: Dover Air Force Base, Dover Mortuary, Gen. John P. Abizaid, Lt. Col. John L. Dorrian, Quinton "Randy" Keel, Secretary Leon Panetta

Court Revives Suit Over Electrocuted Guardsman

By Ms Sparky | Filed in A Soldiers Story, Chris Everett-US Army, Electrocutions/Shocks, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Larraine McGee vs KBR/Arkel, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR

Larraine Mcgee holding a photo of her son SSG Chris Everett during a hearing about Iraq electrocutions

Cameron Langford – (Courthouse News) – March 1, 2012 – A defense contractor may be liable under Iraqi law for the electrocution death of a National Guardsman, the 5th Circuit ruled.

Sgt. Christopher Everett of the Texas Army National Guard was electrocuted at Camp Taqaddum in Iraq on Sept. 7, 2005, while using a power washer to clean a Humvee.

The Army attributed the 23-year-old’s fatal accident to an improperly grounded wire on the generator that supplied the power washer with electricity. It relayed these conclusions to Everett’s parents, Larraine McGee and Patrick Everett, in December.

Everett’s parents filed suit in Texas state court against contractors Arkel International, KBR Technical Services and Kellogg, Brown & Root Services in August 2008. They claimed to have only learned four months earlier about the alleged involvement of Arkel, a Baton Rouge-based company that maintained the generator at Everett’s base.

By September 2008, the couple filed identical claims in Louisiana state court.

Both cases were removed to federal courts, but the Louisiana case was stayed pending a ruling in the Texas proceedings.

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