5 Soldiers Implicated in Afghan Killings

[Richard]

And so it goes...

Richard

5 GIs Implicated in Afghan Killings
AP, 8 June 2010

Five U.S. Soldiers from the same unit have now been implicated in the killing of three Afghan civilians, an Army spokeswoman said Monday.

The Army said Friday that Spc. Jeremy Morlock had been charged with three counts of premeditated murder and one count of assault.

On Monday, Lt. Col. Tamara Parker, a Joint Base Lewis-McChord spokeswoman, said "there is enough evidence to say that five may be charged," although Morlock is the only one charged so far.

A second Soldier is being held in confinement in Kuwait, and the other three remain with their unit in Afghanistan, she said.

Like Morlock, 22, the others are assigned to the Washington state-based B Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Morlock deployed in July 2009 with his unit in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He returned to the Washington state base Thursday, was charged Friday and has been placed in pretrial confinement.

The charges against Morlock involve three separate events alleged to have occurred between January and May at or near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Afghanistan, Parker said. She said she had no further details on the victims or circumstances.

Parker said she could provide no additional information on the other four Soldiers because they are not under Fort Lewis jurisdiction.

"Because they are from the same unit, we anticipate the others may return here but we don't know," she said.

A senior military official said last month that about 10 members of an Army unit based at Fort Lewis have been under investigation for as many as three civilian deaths in Afghanistan.

The official did not have details of the investigation but confirmed that the 5th Stryker Brigade was under scrutiny.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of an investigation being conducted in Afghanistan.

The maximum penalty for conviction for premeditated murder would be life in prison or the death penalty, Parker said. Army prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in Morlock's case.

Parker said she has asked whether Morlock's Army trial defense counsel wants to make a statement on Morlock's behalf but has not yet received a reply.

http://www.military.com/news/article...ESRC=army-a.nl

[Richard]

Update.

Richard

G.I.’s Accused in Deaths Were Isolated From Officers
NYT/IHT, 15 Oct 2010

Soldiers in an American Army platoon accused of murdering Afghan civilians for sport say they took orders from a ringleader who collected body parts as war trophies, were threatened with death if they spoke up and smoked hashish on their base almost daily.

Now family members and the military are asking a central question: How could their commanders not know what was going on?

But interviews in recent days and hundreds of pages of documents in the case offer a portrait of an isolated, out-of-control unit that operated in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan with limited supervision and little oversight from senior commanders.

There are indications of missed warnings among Army officers who saw trouble with some platoon leaders but did not dig deeper — let alone suspect the extent of the problem — until investigators began asking questions in early May, nearly four months after prosecutors say the first of three murders of Afghan civilians occurred.


(cont'd)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/wo...6military.html

[Para]

Originally Posted by Richard

Now family members and the military are asking a central question: How could their commanders not know what was going on?


There are indications of missed warnings among Army officers who saw trouble with some platoon leaders...

My question is where were the NCO's? I am not referring of the ones who are Specialists wearing stripes and rockers.

[greenberetTFS]

Soldiers,my ass!............... They are nothing but common "murders" wearing uniforms that they are disgracing........

Big Teddy

[akv]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

The NCO corps is not what it used to be

Is this really the case? In contrast to this instance is the recent The Last Patrol thread posted by TR. It was very humbling to see the tradition of dedication to duty, courage and sacrifice young American NCO's are continuing under grim circumstances in Afghanistan. Are these civilian killings in this specific instance simply some bad apples combined with leadership failure in these units, instead of a broader trend?

[Para]

Originally Posted by akv

Is this really the case?

I have had the pleasure of experiencing two different NCO Corps because of a break-in-service. When I first came in almost all of the Senior NCO's were Vietnam Vets; crusty, tell it like it is and get the job done. I watched a Platoon Sergeant sit a brand new PL down and explain to him that this was his platoon and he was the man who would provide guidance to the new LT. If this fresh PL straight out of OCS thought he knew better and intended on micro-managing the platoon, well he was destined to failure. While I never had the fortunate pleasure of serving with him, the stories of CSM Purdy come to mind.

I saw the change beginning to happen in the early-90's when I got out. There were stories from the older NCO's of how the promotion boards back in the day wanted to see in your records that you could stand up to the Officers, in some case even if it meant an Article 15. Then the change happened, anything negative in your records and you were done. All the NCO's who thought they had done the right thing early on in their careers became stagnant.

When I came back in 9 years later, it was as if the NCO Corp had been neutered. No one seems to be willing to fight the good fight. Just do what you need to do to get promoted and move on out. I am constantly amazed at the number of would-be leaders who just roll over and do not even offer a voice of reason when they know something is FUBAR'd. Anymore these days, god forbid if you do, because it may just cost you your career or at the very least set you back a few years.

You are correct that it is a few bad apples with a leadership failure. What I am saying is that a bad apple in a leadership position should not be able to bring such a disgrace to the service without the silent complicity of the NCO Corp. If the Platoon Leader is to blame as the article might suggest, you have a Platoon Sergeant, four Squad Leaders and eight Team Leaders who all failed to perform the duties which were entrusted upon them. Yes, there are some good NCO's out there doing their duty, taking the fight to the enemy. God Bless the Paratrooper! But I have to wonder, personal courage is one thing in the face of the enemy, how many of them would have stood up when the fight was internal with their own leadership?

At the end of the day the character of a man is made in the small moments and manifested in the great ones.

[alelks]

Unfortunately in so many ways the military is a microcosm of society as you have good and bad in both.

I agree "Where were the NCO's"?

Brush Oakie,

What you posted definitely rings true. All I wanted to do in my career was to make it to E8 and become a team sergeant. I had no desire to become a SGM as I don't play politics well and I tend to tell both senior enlisted as well as officers what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. In my opinion that's one of the NCO's most important jobs.

[rdret1]

People do things, good and bad, under such extraordinary circumstances. One example, Lt. William Calley. There have been many examples throughout history. It doesn't have to be during an armed conflict. Other examples include instances of overt police brutality. It makes my blood boil to see several officers on a scene obviously doing things they should know better than to do. I think it comes down to personal character and strength. If you have one overriding personality which can control the others in his group, you may wind up with a situation like this. It is no more a reflection on the current NCO corps than it would be on the Army as a whole.

[Hooligan]

There are indications of missed warnings among Army officers who saw trouble with some platoon leaders but did not dig deeper — let alone suspect the extent of the problem — until investigators began asking questions in early May, nearly four months after prosecutors say the first of three murders of Afghan civilians occurred.

So someone along the way had ideas what these guys were up too but left it at that or didn't want to know or deal with it....

No one looked into the Morlock's feasting on the Eloi....

Sounds like several people failed thier ethics challenge.

IMO, kinda like the PR fiasco when Abu Ghraib broke, they will go after these POS but not take a hard look at how this was allowed to occure..

[Richard]

And so it goes...

Richard

U.S. Soldier Gets 24 Years For Murdering Afghans
Reuters, 23 Mar 2011

The first of five U.S. soldiers charged with killing unarmed Afghan civilians last year was sentenced Wednesday to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of premeditated murder.

The guilty plea and sentencing of Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, of Wasilla, Alaska, marked a turning point in the most serious prosecution of alleged U.S. military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

Under questioning by the judge, Morlock recounted his role in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan villagers whose slayings by grenade blasts and rifle fire were staged to appear as legitimate combat casualties.

"I knew what I was doing was wrong, sir," he said, adding that, contrary to his lawyers' suggestions, his judgment was not impaired by drugs. He admitted smoking hashish three or four times a week during his deployment in Afghanistan.

German magazine Der Spiegel this week published several photos related to the killings, one showing Morlock crouched grinning over a bloodied corpse as he lifted the dead man's head by the hair for the camera.

The existence of such photos, among dozens seized as evidence by investigators and ordered sealed from public view by the Army, has drawn comparisons with the pictures of Iraqi prisoners taken by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq that were made public in 2004.

The judge presiding over the case, Lieutenant Colonel Kwasi Hawks, accepted Morlock's plea deal with prosecutors at the end of a daylong proceeding at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, and handed Morlock a 24-year prison term.

The judge also ruled Morlock's incarceration would be reduced by nearly a year for time already served. He will be eligible for parole in about seven years.

Morlock, who will be dishonorably discharged from the Army, stood facing the judge and showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

'I LOST MY MORAL COMPASS'

Earlier, he read a statement apologizing to the victims' families and the "people of Afghanistan," adding, "I've spent a lot of time reflecting on how I lost my moral compass."

Speaking under oath at the hearing, Morlock also implicated the four other members of his infantry unit's so-called "kill team" and agreed to testify further against them if called as a prosecution witness for their courts-martial.

The Army recently completed a top-to-bottom review of Morlock's combat unit, the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, in conjunction with the criminal investigation, although the 500-page report has not been entered as evidence.

Civilian attorneys for Morlock and other defendants, all enlisted men, have suggested the Stryker Brigade suffered from a breakdown in command and that higher-ranking officers bore some responsibility for the misbehavior of their troops.

The first of five soldiers charged in the case, Morlock was described by prosecutors as the right-hand man to the accused ringleader of the rogue platoon, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs. They alone were charged with killing all three victims, whom Morlock testified were chosen at random by Gibbs.

Seven other Stryker soldiers were charged with lesser crimes during the investigation, which grew out of a probe into hashish abuse by American GIs. Four of them already have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110324/...ldiers_crimes;

[RTK]

Originally Posted by greenberetTFS

Soldiers,my ass!............... They are nothing but common "murders" wearing uniforms that they are disgracing........

Big Teddy

You've nailed it.

I used to tell my students the following verbatim as part of my in-processing spiel; “I can teach you a lot in 94 days. I can teach you how to conduct reconnaissance, lead a tank platoon, utilize CAS, close with and destroy the enemy, and take care of your men. What I cannot do in those 94 days is instill the ethics, morals, and virtues that your previous life experience could not or did not afford you. I can do a lot in 94 days, but I can’t undo 22 years of bad parenting.”

This has to do with individually broken moral compasses possessed by ethically bankrupt individuals.

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by greenberetTFS

Soldiers,my ass!............... They are nothing but common "murders" wearing uniforms that they are disgracing........

Big Teddy

Times have damn sure changed, Bro.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Dusty

Times have damn sure changed, Bro.

How so?

Richard

[Richard]

And another Stryker Brigade member gets to join Chelsea Manning.

Richard

Soldier Gets Life In Prison For Afghan Massacre
USAToday, 23 Aug 2013

A military jury at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington sentenced Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales on Friday to life in prison without a chance of parole for a killing spree in 2012 outside a remote Afghanistan outpost that left 16 Afghans dead.

Bales, 40, pleaded guilty in June to premeditated murder and other charges in a deal to avoid a death sentence. A military jury was charged this week with determining whether Bales would have a chance for parole.

Bales apologized Thursday as he made his case for why he should someday have a chance at freedom. He did not recount specifics of the horrors but described the slaughter of villagers, mostly women and children, on March 11, 2012, as an "act of cowardice, behind a mask of fear, (expletive) and bravado."

"I'm truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away," he said. "If I could bring their family members back, I would in a heartbeat."

Defense attorneys John Henry Browne and Emma Scanlan sought a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years.

The defense followed two days of testimony from nine Afghans. Among them: Haji Mohammad Wazir, who lost 11 family members, including his mother, wife and six of his seven children.

He told the six-member jury Wednesday that the attacks destroyed what had been a happy life. He was in another village with his youngest son, now 5-year-old Habib Shah, during the attack.

Bales said at the plea hearing in June that he had been drinking contraband alcohol, snorting Valium and taking steroids before the attack. He was serving his fourth tour in a combat zone.

Bales said he had been taking the steroids to improve his fitness, and they "definitely increased my irritability and anger.''

The steroid stanozolol is a Class 3 controlled substance. Bales took it without a prescription or authorization.

The Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., was charged with 16 counts of premeditated murder in the shootings or stabbings of mostly women and children. He was accused of slipping away from his outpost at Camp Belambay early March 11, 2012, and attacking mud-walled compounds in two nearby villages.

Bales described one of the killings, saying he "went to the nearby village of Alkozai. While inside a compound in Alkozai, I observed a female I now know to be Na'ikmarga. I formed the intent to kill Na'ikmarga, and I did kill Na'ikmarga by shooting her with a firearm. This act was without legal justification, sir."

Nine of the victims, five women and four men, were shot first, and their bodies were burned.

"I remember there being a lantern in the room,'' Bales said at his plea hearing. "I remember there being a fire after that situation, and I remember coming back ... with matches in my pocket."

He said he did not remember throwing the lantern on the bodies, but "I have seen the pictures, and it's the only thing that makes sense. "

After killing four people in the first village, he returned to his base, then went out again, he said. When the judge asked him what he expected to do, he said he expected to find people and, "Sir, I expected to kill them. "

Bales is with the Army's 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...bales/2692917/

[The_Mentalist]

Originally Posted by Para

I have had the pleasure of experiencing two different NCO Corps because of a break-in-service. When I first came in almost all of the Senior NCO's were Vietnam Vets; crusty, tell it like it is and get the job done. I watched a Platoon Sergeant sit a brand new PL down and explain to him that this was his platoon and he was the man who would provide guidance to the new LT. If this fresh PL straight out of OCS thought he knew better and intended on micro-managing the platoon, well he was destined to failure. While I never had the fortunate pleasure of serving with him, the stories of CSM Purdy come to mind.

I saw the change beginning to happen in the early-90's when I got out. There were stories from the older NCO's of how the promotion boards back in the day wanted to see in your records that you could stand up to the Officers, in some case even if it meant an Article 15. Then the change happened, anything negative in your records and you were done. All the NCO's who thought they had done the right thing early on in their careers became stagnant.

When I came back in 9 years later, it was as if the NCO Corp had been neutered. No one seems to be willing to fight the good fight. Just do what you need to do to get promoted and move on out. I am constantly amazed at the number of would-be leaders who just roll over and do not even offer a voice of reason when they know something is FUBAR'd. Anymore these days, god forbid if you do, because it may just cost you your career or at the very least set you back a few years.

You are correct that it is a few bad apples with a leadership failure. What I am saying is that a bad apple in a leadership position should not be able to bring such a disgrace to the service without the silent complicity of the NCO Corp. If the Platoon Leader is to blame as the article might suggest, you have a Platoon Sergeant, four Squad Leaders and eight Team Leaders who all failed to perform the duties which were entrusted upon them. Yes, there are some good NCO's out there doing their duty, taking the fight to the enemy. God Bless the Paratrooper! But I have to wonder, personal courage is one thing in the face of the enemy, how many of them would have stood up when the fight was internal with their own leadership?

At the end of the day the character of a man is made in the small moments and manifested in the great ones.

One of the reasons I got out was seeing the trend you described. When I arrived at Bragg, I had an incredible CSM. Charles W. Bunty. He could motivate any one and really stood up to the officers. No one would mess with him. We had a very tight unit at that time. From inception to full strength, he built the unit (along with an excellent Bn. Commander). Then, we had a change of command. Some puke Bn commander that had never been anywhere but the Pentagon. He needed a real command to get his bird. So, they sent him to us. His CSM was as big a pussy as the commander and unit cohesion started breaking down immediately. Morale went in the crapper. The good leaders were being pushed out by the brown nosers. Cliques were developing. Productivity went to shit because every one was worried about either kissing ass or watching their backside. Several guys were "professionally ambushed" because they were gone on TDY during the change of command and the jealous types started talking crap about them. They get back and went from being the preferred guys for doing their jobs well to being the ones disliked by command. I was one of those. A file full of awards and personal letters from Colonels up to 3stars all over the world to being treated like a shitbag new recruit. I still did my job and did it well but wanted out of that unit. All transfer requests were denied and they wouldn't reup me unless I chose to stay in my slot. (Treated like shit but they wanted to keep me? Makes one wonder). So, I just got completely out and went guard. Second drill, my new commander puts me in for OCS.

I would probably be very unhappy in today's military. I was raised by a Nam vet and taught old school. I saw too much going wrong with both the military and the country in general.