Pat Tillman all over again
hippiemom
Posts: 3,326
This article revolves around yet another family being misled about the cause of their son's death, but it jumped out at me for a different reason after a conversation I had with my daughter and her husband last night. This story is about a Marine who was apparently murdered by a fellow Marine who had been repeatedly chastised for mishandling weapons.
One of the soldiers who served under my son-in-law is now back in Iraq. He is serving with a guy who has mishandled weapons and is apparently known to be a real hot-head, most of the platoon thinks he's cracking up. Last week, my son-in-law's friend got into an argument with the hot-head, who drew a loaded weapon with the safety off and held it to his head. There were witnesses. It was reported. This guy has not been removed from active duty. He's still running around fully armed. Tell me again how we're doing "everything we can" to prevent accidental deaths over there. We're not even protecting our own.
Anger Joins Grief as Marine’s Family Feels Misled
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: November 5, 2006
The New York Times
DAGSBORO, Del. — When Tricia and Gregg White were told by the Marines in 2004 that their son, Lance Cpl. Russell White, had been killed in Afghanistan in a gun-cleaning accident, their hearts went out to the marine who had been holding the gun.
Corporal White’s brother Adam memorized a prayer of forgiveness, the Whites said, and headed to Camp Lejeune, N.C., to visit the marine, Lance Cpl. Federico Pimienta. The Whites had been told he was on a suicide watch.
“I immediately put myself in his parents’ position, and I just couldn’t imagine,” Mrs. White said. “We didn’t want two people to die because of what we thought was an unfortunate accident.”
But their outpouring of forgiveness came months before they learned that, whatever had happened, their son’s death did not result from a gun-cleaning accident. It was before they learned that Corporal Pimienta had lied to investigators and that he had been repeatedly chastised for mishandling weapons. It was before he failed to appear at his court-martial, having fled to Europe.
And it was before persistent questioning, guided by intimations of a darker explanation from their son’s platoon mates, enabled the Whites to piece together a picture of what had happened at Bagram Air Base on June 20, 2004, when Corporal White, 19, was killed by a single shot to the head.
What they learned did not, to their minds, add up to a simple accident. But it did leave them feeling alone, forsaken by military authorities, and incredulous at what they say was the incompetence of the initial investigation into Corporal White’s death.
“I had lost faith in the entire system,” Adam White said at Corporal Pimienta’s June court-martial on unauthorized absence charges. “I figured we were never going to receive any justice.”
The Marines say that there was no attempt to mislead the Whites and that the investigation and the prosecution were appropriate.
More than a dozen families have publicly said they were misled or overtly lied to about the cause of their loved one’s death in Afghanistan or Iraq. These families — about half from the Marines and half from the Army — said the military was slow to investigate or take possible violations seriously, or that the information they did receive was riddled with contradictions. What should be the military’s most careful duty, these families say, has for them been a painful ordeal.
The best known such case was in 2004, when Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former professional football player, died in what the Army first said was a heroic firefight. A month later, officials told the family that he had actually been accidentally shot by members of his own platoon. The Defense Department is now completing the fourth investigation of his death, this time examining the possibility that a cover-up followed.
But cases like Corporal Tillman’s are not unheard of. A recent study by the Army shows that the families of seven soldiers were misled about their deaths.
The Whites said they had expected better treatment from the Marines, a smaller, select force that goes out of its way to welcome the families of recruits into the fold.
“They started out real good, and then they stopped — they stopped giving me information,” said Gregg White, a construction contractor in Dagsboro. “The door kept shutting, and I was like, No, you’re not going to slam the door on me.”
Lt. Col. Curtis L. Hill, the chief spokesman for the Second Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, said in an e-mail message that there was no intent to provide inaccurate information to the Whites or to the medical examiner, who was also told the death had resulted from a gun-cleaning accident.
“When a unit loses a marine, there is a flurry of activity as they make every attempt to gather as much information as possible in order to release a message back to casualty branch at Headquarters Marine Corps,” Colonel Hill said, adding that initial assumptions sometimes proved false.
“Although I normally don’t speculate,” he said, “I believe that it would have been a valid assumption made at the time that a negligent discharge of a weapon could have been tied to weapons cleaning.”
After complaints from parents and publicity over the Tillman case, the Army recently revised its casualty notification procedure, adding safeguards like an accuracy check of the casualty report and a requirement that the unit commander call the family within seven days.
The Marines have made no such changes, said Bryan J. Driver, a spokesman for the Marine Casualty Branch. “No one that we’ve heard of is having a problem — it’s all Army, not Marines.
(continued here)
One of the soldiers who served under my son-in-law is now back in Iraq. He is serving with a guy who has mishandled weapons and is apparently known to be a real hot-head, most of the platoon thinks he's cracking up. Last week, my son-in-law's friend got into an argument with the hot-head, who drew a loaded weapon with the safety off and held it to his head. There were witnesses. It was reported. This guy has not been removed from active duty. He's still running around fully armed. Tell me again how we're doing "everything we can" to prevent accidental deaths over there. We're not even protecting our own.
Anger Joins Grief as Marine’s Family Feels Misled
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: November 5, 2006
The New York Times
DAGSBORO, Del. — When Tricia and Gregg White were told by the Marines in 2004 that their son, Lance Cpl. Russell White, had been killed in Afghanistan in a gun-cleaning accident, their hearts went out to the marine who had been holding the gun.
Corporal White’s brother Adam memorized a prayer of forgiveness, the Whites said, and headed to Camp Lejeune, N.C., to visit the marine, Lance Cpl. Federico Pimienta. The Whites had been told he was on a suicide watch.
“I immediately put myself in his parents’ position, and I just couldn’t imagine,” Mrs. White said. “We didn’t want two people to die because of what we thought was an unfortunate accident.”
But their outpouring of forgiveness came months before they learned that, whatever had happened, their son’s death did not result from a gun-cleaning accident. It was before they learned that Corporal Pimienta had lied to investigators and that he had been repeatedly chastised for mishandling weapons. It was before he failed to appear at his court-martial, having fled to Europe.
And it was before persistent questioning, guided by intimations of a darker explanation from their son’s platoon mates, enabled the Whites to piece together a picture of what had happened at Bagram Air Base on June 20, 2004, when Corporal White, 19, was killed by a single shot to the head.
What they learned did not, to their minds, add up to a simple accident. But it did leave them feeling alone, forsaken by military authorities, and incredulous at what they say was the incompetence of the initial investigation into Corporal White’s death.
“I had lost faith in the entire system,” Adam White said at Corporal Pimienta’s June court-martial on unauthorized absence charges. “I figured we were never going to receive any justice.”
The Marines say that there was no attempt to mislead the Whites and that the investigation and the prosecution were appropriate.
More than a dozen families have publicly said they were misled or overtly lied to about the cause of their loved one’s death in Afghanistan or Iraq. These families — about half from the Marines and half from the Army — said the military was slow to investigate or take possible violations seriously, or that the information they did receive was riddled with contradictions. What should be the military’s most careful duty, these families say, has for them been a painful ordeal.
The best known such case was in 2004, when Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former professional football player, died in what the Army first said was a heroic firefight. A month later, officials told the family that he had actually been accidentally shot by members of his own platoon. The Defense Department is now completing the fourth investigation of his death, this time examining the possibility that a cover-up followed.
But cases like Corporal Tillman’s are not unheard of. A recent study by the Army shows that the families of seven soldiers were misled about their deaths.
The Whites said they had expected better treatment from the Marines, a smaller, select force that goes out of its way to welcome the families of recruits into the fold.
“They started out real good, and then they stopped — they stopped giving me information,” said Gregg White, a construction contractor in Dagsboro. “The door kept shutting, and I was like, No, you’re not going to slam the door on me.”
Lt. Col. Curtis L. Hill, the chief spokesman for the Second Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, said in an e-mail message that there was no intent to provide inaccurate information to the Whites or to the medical examiner, who was also told the death had resulted from a gun-cleaning accident.
“When a unit loses a marine, there is a flurry of activity as they make every attempt to gather as much information as possible in order to release a message back to casualty branch at Headquarters Marine Corps,” Colonel Hill said, adding that initial assumptions sometimes proved false.
“Although I normally don’t speculate,” he said, “I believe that it would have been a valid assumption made at the time that a negligent discharge of a weapon could have been tied to weapons cleaning.”
After complaints from parents and publicity over the Tillman case, the Army recently revised its casualty notification procedure, adding safeguards like an accuracy check of the casualty report and a requirement that the unit commander call the family within seven days.
The Marines have made no such changes, said Bryan J. Driver, a spokesman for the Marine Casualty Branch. “No one that we’ve heard of is having a problem — it’s all Army, not Marines.
(continued here)
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
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