Posted on 03/16/2012 3:53:49 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater
Senior US officials told the BBC the name of the suspect as he was heading back to the US to face charges. He is being flown to Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas, from Kuwait. His lawyer, John Henry Browne, said on Thursday that the suspect was a 38-year-old man who had been injured twice while serving in Iraq. He also said the accused had witnessed his friend's leg blown off the day before the killings. That incident has not been confirmed by the US Army. The Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of Sunday's deadly rampage - in which men, women and children were shot and killed at close range. The US has stressed it remained committed to Afghan reconciliation. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also reacted angrily to the killings. He told the US it must pull back its troops from village areas and allow Afghan security forces to take the lead in an effort to reduce civilian deaths. On Friday he said the US was not fully co-operating with a probe into the killings.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I served with Bales for three years as his Platoon Leader. He is an absolutely outstanding Soldier, and what has transpired here is so out of character, I don't even know where to start. Please keep his wife and two young kids in your thoughts and prayers. He needs help. Hopefully he'll get it.
This man is a victim of the policies originating in the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and in the White House.
To my knowledge they are. Part of the delay in releasing his name was getting his family relocated to a secure area so as to protect them from possible repercussions from ROP types or even would-be liberal “do-gooders” (you know, teach us baby-killers a lesson, right?).
Just a terrible situation. Will pray for his family. Thanks for letting us know.
Heartwrenching. I hope he gets a fair trail and the medical help he deserved BEFORE he was shipped out for a fourth tour! just can’t imagine the horror.
Wonder how much of his foot was lost? also, conflicting stories on the brain injury..”During the suspect’s time in Iraq, Browne said, the soldier was injured twice. A battle-related injury required surgery to remove part of one foot, the lawyer said.
But Browne and government officials differ in their portrayal of a second injury, to the soldier’s head, in a vehicle accident.
A government official said this week that the accident was not related to combat. But Browne said the man suffered a concussion in an accident caused by an improvised explosive device.
Browne also said his client was “highly decorated,” but did not provide any specifics
When you have an illegitimate Commander-in-Chief who is most certainly a Moslem who single-handedly destabilized Libya and established the Moslem Brotherhood as the de facto government, and is in the process of doing the same thing in Syria, you can pretty much expect stuff like this.
They were all with the 3d Stryker Brigade Combat Team. That's the Army's first ever Stryker Brigade. He went with them on their first deployment to Mosul in Northern Iraq. That one BDE relieved the entire 101st Airborne Division. Not only that, but Strykers had never been used in combat, so they had to figure that all out on the fly as well.
I got to the company right as they came back from Iraq. I can tell you for certain, Bales stood out immediately as a go-to guy. He was an E-4 (Specialist) at the time but quickly got promoted to Sergeant and took over my 1st Squad, Alpha Team. He is VERY smart, very intense, and was just everything you could want in a Team Leader. He knew when to be relaxed, and he knew when to be hard. He could joke around with guys during down-time, then be 100% business on a mission.
He saved my Stryker during one particular engagement. We had been in Mosul for months (this was his second deployment, my first). When you're in an area for that long, you can easily let your guard down when you NEVER take contact. Bales, however, was always on his game. We were checking out an area in a fairly tight alleyway, and he pulled security directly to the rear of the vehicle from his hatch. I was talking to my commander over the radio when I heard Bales yell "RPG!" and then immediately open fire. By the time I had even dropped into my hatch, he had shot the RPG shooter, causing the RPG to fly high and miss my vehicle. They caught the guy later that day getting treated for a GSW in an Iraqi hospital.
That second deployment was hell. It was Jul 2006-Sept 2007, 15 months, during the height of the insanity in that country. We got bounced around all over the country after we left Mosul. Constant stress, always waiting to be blown up or ambushed--AQI, Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, who knew? In our last three months, we were in a neighborhood called Dora. Just in the first week we had six Strykers destroyed and over 40 people wounded. Bales was rock-solid the entire time.
Bales was frequently the lead guy in the door whenever we conducted a raid (we did about 50 of them). He never complained, he wanted to be there for his guys. A tremendous NCO.
I honestly don't care what comes out of this, b/c I know who he is. I just hope that you all will keep this in mind when you see the inevitable character assassination on TV news.
Thanks for your report.
He is in my prayers as well as he family. Very sad.
Thanks so much for letting your FReeper family know about this. I just printed your post out for my husband (Viet Nam vet) to read. He has tears.
We will.
Soldiers are expendable.
bump
Thanks for the info
I think that is the kind of info we need, thanks you for that. and thanks for your service
Thanks for your firsthand perspective. I’m just praying that his family was placed in some sort of witness protection program before the idiots released his name.
Be a cold day in hell before I believe any slams against this man...he wasn’t highly decorated for nothing. It shows that he was no slouch to have been promoted that fast but later he was court martialed..wonder why?
It infuriates me when people label him before the truth is all out...please dont let them execute him.
Once again...thank you so much and also very sincerely for your service.
I am just heartsick over this
He is. I put him in for some of those awards personally. He deserved every one of them.
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