posted 07-27-2002 05:24 PM            

Army Grapples With Domestic Violence
ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT BRAGG, N.C.- A soldier's life is filled with challenges and difficulties, from basic training to the battleground. But it's rare that those stresses have the deadly consequences that have shaken the Army at Fort Bragg.

Since June 11, two Fort Bragg soldiers have killed their wives and themselves. Two other soldiers are charged with murdering their wives.

In three of the killings, the men involved were Special Operations soldiers recently returned from duty in Afghanistan. The fourth soldier hadn't been deployed.

In the two years leading up to these killings, there had been no domestic violence deaths at Bragg, said Col. Tad Davis, the post's garrison commander.

He said anxiety over the war in Afghanistan probably is no more cause for a deadly outcome than deployment anywhere else, especially if a soldier's marriage is already troubled.

"We've got thousands of soldiers deployed in 30 countries around the world," Davis said. "In many cases, those situations are as stressful as Afghanistan."

But it's not just assigment to Afghanistan, said one expert. Stress and anger management sessions have increased at the post since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, said Henry Berry, manager of family advocacy programs at the post.

"Change brings about a degree of stress," Berry said. "The military community requires its members to adapt to ongoing change within life and work."

Defense Department spokesman Jim Turner said Saturday he was not aware of any similar pattern at any other U.S. military installation.

More than 50,000 soldiers are stationed at the base, including elite Special Operations troops and paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division.

Before Sept. 11, as many as 5,000 of the post's soldiers were on deployment on any given day. Since then, Bragg has sent that many or more additional troops into the field, although officials wouldn't release exact numbers.

The husbands of the four slain women all were senior noncommissioned officers. Domestic violence usually occurs in the ranks of younger soldiers who have young children and little money, said Dennis Orthner, a professor at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Orthner has studied military families for 25 years and agrees with the military that the most stressful times for soldiers are just before, during and just after deployment.

"When the soldier is gone they often have an unrealistic expectation of what it's going to be like when they come home. The wife has had a period of time where she's been independent," he said. "When they come back, there is a time of tension and they have to restructure how they operate."

All four killing occurred off the base.

The first occurred June 11. Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves - a soldier in the 3rd Special Forces Group who had been home from Afghanistan just two days - shot his wife, Teresa, and himself in their bedroom, Fayetteville police said. Officials say Nieves had requested leave to resolve personal problems.

On June 29, sheriff's investigators said, Jennifer Wright was strangled, about a month after her husband, also with the 3rd Special Forces, returned from Afghanistan.

Master Sgt. William Wright, who had moved out of the house and was living in barracks, reported his wife missing July 1. On July 19, he led investigators to her body and was charged with murder.

On the same day that Wright was arrested, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd shot his wife, Andrea, and himself in their home in Stedman, authorities said.

The Fayetteville Observer reported that Floyd was a member of Delta Force, the secretive anti-terrorism unit based at Fort Bragg, but post officials wouldn't confirm it. He had returned from Afghanistan in January, officials said.

In the fourth case, Sgt. Cedric Ramon Griffin is charged with stabbing his estranged wife, Marilyn, at least 50 times and setting her home on fire on July 9. Griffin, assigned to the 37th Engineer Battalion, had not been deployed to Afghanistan.

Jennifer Wright had said her husband seemed full of rage since he returned from Afghanistan, and she was becoming afraid of him, said her mother, Wilma Watson, of Mason, Ohio.

Wright had been to Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Haiti before going to Afghanistan, Watson said.

"And she told me, 'Every time he goes off to war, he's like a different person when he comes back,'" she said of her daughter.

The four slayings are among 14 domestic violence killings in all of North Carolina since May 4, when the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence began keeping a count.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/jul/27/072708387.html

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Today: July 27, 2002 at 10:05:23 PDT

Army Wives' Slayings Spurs Review

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - The slayings of four Army wives at fort Bragg in the past six weeks, all allegedly by their husbands, has prompted the Army to re-evaluate the base's family counseling program.

"We're going to evaluate everything we do," Col. Jerome Haberek, chaplain for the Special Operations units at Fort Bragg, said Friday.

Three of the men were special operations soldiers who had just returned from Afghanistan; the fourth was from an airborne unit and had not been sent into action. The slayings included two apparent murder-suicides.

"It's mind-boggling," said Henry Berry, manager of family advocacy programs at Fort Bragg. "To be absolutely honest, I was completely caught off guard. We're going to look at these cases to prevent them from happening in the future."

Counselors are available in the field for Special Operations troops, and soldiers are counseled before they leave on assignment and before they return home, Haberek said.

Until the recent murders, base officials said no domestic abuse deaths involving base personnel had occurred in the past two years.

The string of family deaths, which all occurred off the base, started June 11 when Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves fatally shot his wife, Teresa, and himself in their Fayetteville bedroom. Nieves, who had been back from Afghanistan just two days, had recently requested leave to resolve personal problems, officials said.

Sheriff's investigators said Jennifer Wright was strangled June 29. Her husband, Master Sgt. William Wright, reported her missing two days later. On July 19, he led investigators to her body, buried in a shallow grave in a field near Fayetteville, and was charged with murder.

Wright, who had been back from Afghanistan for about a month, had recently moved out of the family's house and was living in the barracks.

"He was like my own child," Jennifer Wright's mother, Wilma Watson, said from her home in Mason, Ohio. "Until he came back from Afghanistan, I didn't worry about violence. He was getting these attacks of rage. She was afraid of him. I begged her to come home. She still loved him."

On the same day that Wright was arrested, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd shot his wife, Andrea, then killed himself in their Stedman home.

The Fayetteville Observer reported that Floyd was a member of Delta Force, the secretive anti-terrorism unit based at Fort Bragg. He returned from Afghanistan in January.

"I truly in my heart believe that his training was such that if you can't control it, you kill it," Penny Flitcraft, Andrea Floyd's mother, told The Review of Alliance, Ohio.

In the fourth case, Sgt. Cedric Ramon Griffin was charged with stabbing his estranged wife, Marilyn, at least 50 times and setting her home on fire July 9. Griffin was in an engineering battalion.

Fort Bragg is the Army's headquarters for Special Forces and Special Operations soldiers. It has sent hundreds of soldiers into the fight against terrorism, though Haberek said he does not believe Special Operations troops are under any more stress than anyone else.

Maj. Gary Kolb, a spokesman for the Army Special Operations Command, said it would be a reach to link the family killings to Afghanistan.

Yvonne Qualantone, president of the 3rd Special Forces Group's Family Readiness Group, said more families than usual have called the counseling group since the killings.

Some women who have had problems with their husbands have called, asking about someone to talk to before things get worse, she said.

posted 07-27-2002 05:30 PM            

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that these gentlemen were definitely repatterned and meticulously conditioned and most likely were exposed to psychotronic stimulation, as well as possibly implants and 'lobotomizing' modifications.

It truly is a shame. I wonder what any of you that are in the service think about these reports?

posted 07-31-2002 08:57 PM            

Army Wife Charged in Officer Death

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.- The wife of an Army Special Operations officer has been charged in his shooting death, and police sought to arrest a teenager, in the latest in a string of domestic violence cases that have shaken Fort Bragg.

Joan Shannon, 35, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the July 23 fatal shooting of Maj. David Shannon, 40.

"We believe financial gain is one of the primary motives of the crime," said police Lt. Tom Guilette. He did not elaborate.

Police issued a petition charging a 15-year-old in the slaying. The teen had not been arrested by early Wednesday, police Sgt. Alex Thompson said. The juvenile's identity was not disclosed.

Shannon's slaying is the fifth domestic-related slaying linked to the base since June 11. Four Fort Bragg wives have been killed, allegedly by their husbands, and Fort Bragg officials say they are looking at the cases to determine if the stress of military life was a contributing factor.

In the Shannon slaying, three of his four children and a teen-age friend were at home when the soldier was shot in the chest and head as he slept, police said.

Joan Shannon told police she awoke to gunshots about 3 a.m. and saw an intruder, and followed him from the bedroom down a hallway. She was unable to give police a description.

Thompson said the alleged financial gain involved military and insurance money. He did not give an amount.

Police arrested Shannon based on evidence at the scene and "admissions and omissions that were given" during the investigation, Thompson said.

David Shannon had served in the Army since 1987 and was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. He had been at Fort Bragg two years. The family lived off the base.

His wife worked for about a year as a loan receptionist at the Fort Bragg Credit Union, said her supervisor, Mae Davis. Davis said workers there raised about $500 for her and her family after her husband's death.

posted 08-08-2002 02:25 AM            

Today: August 07, 2002 at 19:55:08 PDT

Soldiers Charged in Musician's Death

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT HOOD, Texas- Three soldiers at the Fort Hood Army post will be tried in military court on charges they shot a man to death outside his home in April. The three will be court-martialed on charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to purchase drugs in the death of rap musician Eric Davis, 20, of Killeen, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Fisher said.

Spc. Christopher M. Reyes, Pvt. Gregory Payton and Spc. Vance Rogers also were charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to kill a Fort Hood soldier and his wife at their home later that evening, authorities said.

Reyes faces additional charges for allegedly raping and sodomizing a soldier Jan. 9 at her barracks at Fort Hood.

Army investigators said they linked Reyes to the rape while investigating the shootings. Fisher said he did not know if the three had been assigned government-appointed lawyers or had retained their own attorneys.

Although the killing occurred off the post, the Army asked local authorities for jurisdiction. Payton's trial was scheduled for Aug. 23.

Trial dates for Reyes and Rogers will be announced later, Fisher said. Reyes remained at the Bell County Confinement Facility, while Payton and Rogers were restricted to their post.

Authorities allege that Davis was killed after the three intoxicated soldiers began talking to him outside his home. Police said Reyes shot Davis in the arm and the bullet traveled to his chest. Davis didn't know the soldiers, police said.

All three soldiers were assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood.

posted 09-01-2002 10:52 PM            

Army Base Killings Bring Worry

By ALLEN G. BREED

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.- The killings of four soldiers' wives at Fort Bragg in just six weeks have forced the Army to take a hard look at the culture of its elite soldiers that considers revealing any hint of domestic problems to be a sign of weakness.

In every case, the husband was the suspect and there was marital discord. Three of the men, including two who took their own lives, had returned from Afghanistan as part of the Special Forces.

One Special Forces veteran fears there will always be a potential for domestic violence among special operations soldiers because the unwillingness to seek help is deeply ingrained.

Special operations soldiers "aren't allowed to have problems. You take care of it yourself," says Eric Haney, 50, an early member of the ultra-secret Delta Force who recently wrote a book about life inside the anti-terrorism unit.

The Defense Department has sent a 16-member team to Fort Bragg to examine "a broad array of behavioral health-related issues that could have led to the slayings."

The Pentagon also announced this past week that soldiers in Afghanistan would undergo mental screening before returning home.

Speculation about the causes of the killings has run the gamut from the stress of combat to psychotic side-effects from the anti-malaria drug Lariam, which is given to soldiers in Afghanistan. But not all of the soldiers involved in the killings at Fort Bragg saw combat, and thousands of other soldiers at other bases have taken Lariam and not killed their wives.

Studies of the violence rate in military families are inconclusive. Some put the rate at two to five times that of the civilian population, while others found the two rates closer to equal when the racial and age makeup of military families is considered.

Fort Bragg's killings began June 11, when a Special Forces soldier shot his wife and then himself two days after he returned from Afghanistan. Later that month, police allege, another Special Forces soldier killed his wife; weeks later, he led authorities to her body.

On July 19, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd, reportedly a member of Delta Force, shot his wife Andrea and then himself.

A fourth soldier, a member of the 18th Airborne Corps who had not been to Afghanistan, is charged with stabbing his wife to death in July.

What is most disturbing to Crystal Black, a Cumberland County counselor who holds weekly meetings at the base, is that none of the families was even on her radar screen. None had any reported history of domestic turmoil.

"We need to come up with some kind of program or something to get rid of the myth" that soldiers don't need help like other people, Black says.

Andrea Floyd's mother, Penny Flitcraft, says she's not surprised that domestic problems are kept hushed up.

"These are superhumans, you have to remember," she says. "They don't have to have help - supposedly." Flitcraft, who is now caring for her three orphaned grandchildren at Alliance, Ohio, says it's "like an unspoken rule that you do not exhibit any inability to be in control of every aspect of your life."

She feels equally sad for her son-in-law.

"He was overtrained and underhelped," she said through sobs.

One soldier's wife, Janice Burton, says she's tired of seeing the Special Forces beaten up in public. She wishes people could see the men who came to her family's aid when her husband, Staff Sgt. John Burton, was injured in a motorcycle wreck last summer.

"His room was filled every day to overflow with people coming to check on him, to see if he's OK," she says. "I went home to take a shower one day, and there were a bunch of guys mowing my yard, cutting my bushes and cleaning my gutters. "They take care of their soldiers. They take care of their family."

That may be part of the problem, says Black. "They're very good at taking care of the problems and helping out families," says Black. "But there are some problems that they may not have the training to know that they need to be handled by somebody else."

The team sent to investigate the problem at Bragg may offer some recommendations, but Haney, the 20-year veteran, says it's all just window dressing if some fundamental changes aren't made.

"I don't believe they're going to do a blessed thing other than go through the motions," he says. "They'll go overboard with it for six months, and there'll be mandatory classes for every returning special operations soldier on not killing your wife. "I mean, it's just the military way of doing things."

---

posted 09-02-2002 05:02 AM            

"British soldiers die in Kabul shoot-out after row

Richard Norton-Taylor
Monday August 19, 2002
The Guardian

Two British soldiers on peacekeeping duties in Kabul died in a shoot-out during an argument at a party on a military base in the Afghan capital, it was reported last night.
Military police are investigating the incident in which Sergeant Robert Busuttil and Corporal John Gregory, both 30, were killed. They are said to have been drinking on the Souter Camp base when one pulled a pistol, prompting the other to retaliate.

Both men, of the Combat Service Support Battalion, based at Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, suffered fatal wounds during the struggle in the early hours of Saturday. They were on a six month tour of duty in Kabul. Sgt Busuttil was married. Cpl Gregory was single.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said yesterday that no one else was involved in the incident, but could not comment on the circumstances. A coroner was flying to Kabul. However, army sources did not deny the account. They said that boredom was a serious problem for troops confined to the camp. Hot weather and a lack of entertainment led to tensions.

A spokesman for the commanding officer of British forces in Kabul said a police investigation was under way and a coroner's court would be convened in England.

"I would once again like to express, on behalf of all British service personnel in Kabul, our deepest sympathies to both families," he added.

The deaths bring the total number of fatalities involving British troops in Afghanistan to three. In April, 23-year-old Lance Corporal Darren George, of the Royal Anglian Regiment, was killed by "friendly fire" while on patrol.

posted 09-02-2002 06:58 PM            

Former Allied Force/Southern Watch Veteran.
USN

posted 09-03-2002 04:40 PM            

Granted, there are some disturbed people in the military who already had these issues before they joined and military life perhaps amplified their psychological problems.By no means does it give them a license to kill. But, if your brain chemistry is hacked chances are Military or no Military you will either "go postal" or "take a dive".Mental illness is more pevelant now than at any other time in history and ,gee no wonder why, just look outside.

I'm sorry, i'm just tired of seeing people rip on people who CHOOSE to fight for their country. There are legitimate reasons to oppose our leaders military strategy. That is one of the main reasons I joined, here in the U.S. Constitutional rights and their defense of and to help pay for college.I served 4 years and learned a lot from it.

Mech

posted 09-03-2002 06:42 PM            

1. relation to the afghan conflict
2. knowledge of sensitive information
3. per number 2 a national security liability
4. syntel
5. per number 4 assassination via covert control

posted 09-04-2002 01:04 PM            

The best thing that could have prevented this from happening is a psychological profile and transitioning classes before they made it back home.

posted 09-04-2002 11:58 PM            

1. chemical exposure/intake
2. electromagnetic stimulation
3. EXTREME guilt and RESENT which could potentially result from participating in hideous or inhumane wrongdoing.