100 soldiers under house arrest since January 4 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State. Virtually all of them are innocent of any misdeed, but military investigators are trying to pressure them to "narc" on whoever stole around $600K in military gear. My suggestion to investigators: You'd have more luck looking for the gear on eBay rather than imposing collective punishment in contravention of the UCMJ.
UPDATE: The more I read on this thing, the more it stinks. The stuff was stolen from an unlocked room *outside* the locked alarmed area where it was supposed to be stored? Who gave the order to move the stuff there? It wasn't a grunt, that much is for sure! And the equipment stolen wasn't stuff that could be hawked on eBay, it is stuff that can only be hawked by someone with connections -- someone likely *not* a grunt. This is sounding more and more like the USS Iowa turret explosion incident where the officers involved covered up their own malfeasance by blaming it all on the (conveniently dead in the Iowa case) grunts.
UPDATE#2: According to Public Affairs, as of 5:45PM today the lockdown is now lifted. Hmm...
-- Badtux the WTF Penguin
I'm sure those officers would give you a big, fat lecture about responsibility, and how you can look to them as examples, yada-yada.
ReplyDeleteBut are they taking responsibility for this?
Oh, and how come no one is under any kind of arrest for the billions missing in Iraq?
As a "retired" Spec 4, I say ALWAYS suspect officers and NCOs.
ReplyDeleteCollective punishment is part of military life; it begins in basic training when the whole platoon is punished for one guy's messy footlocker. Promotes group solidarity/responsibility and all that. Beatings, too.
ReplyDeleteCertainly the material was not stored properly, and worse yet was the kind of valuable portable stuff that would fetch much $$$ on the outside (and probably not through eBay, more likely fenced to a trustworthy surplus store owner/distributor).
It might even have been missing for some time, occasionally when a new supply NCO comes in he will just sign for whatever was supposed to be there without checking - such types ought not to last long in that rank or capacity.
Just wait until the U.S. finds out about how much explosives were stolen by soldiers. Which people won't even begin to notice until roadside bombs and other boom-boom deaths mount when law and order break down in the Collapse. Implosion followed by explosions...
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