Marine Commits Suicide Following Hazing

NBC Bay Area ^ | Tuesday, Aug 23, 2011 | Scott McGrew

[nickcarraway]

Santa Clara native was apparently prone to sleeping on guard duty; fellow Marines took to disciplining him.

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Harry Lew took his own life in his foxhole in Afghanistan after he was kicked and punched by fellow Marines, military officials tell NBC Bay Area news.

An investigation into the 21-year-old's April death says Lew "leaned over his M249 squad automatic weapon as it pointed to the sky, placed the muzzle in his mouth and pulled the trigger."

Lew wrote on his arm: "may hate me now, but in the long run this was the right choice I'm sorry my mom deserves the truth."

The suicide came moments after fellow Marines attacked Lew for repeatedly falling asleep on guard duty. An investigation shows Lew, from Santa Clara, was caught asleep at least four separate times in areas where "enemy attack was considered imminent." Military records show Lew, who was on his first tour in Afghanistan, was first counseled then disciplined by a sergeant for sleeping while on post.

At some point, Lew was forced to walk his rounds while carrying a single sandbag, symbolic of the weight of his responsibility to his fellow marines.

On April 3, Lew could not be raised by radio while standing post. A check of his foxhole found him asleep once again.

The unnamed sergeant then announced over the radio that "peers should correct peers," according to military documents. That led to what appears to be a sad series of events.

Fellow lance corporals [whose names have been redacted in the report] ordered Lew to dig a new foxhole as a punishment, then informed Lew he could go to sleep once the task was finished. Those corporals, however, did not inform the sergeant they had given Lew permission to sleep.

At 1:00 a.m., that sergeant, whose name has also been redacted from the report, "angrily confronted [Lew] about why he had again fallen asleep." Other Marines then demanded Lew to perform various physical tasks as punishment and would "stomp down" on Lew's back and legs if he failed to do an exercise properly.

"Towards the end of the physical training", the report says a "sandbag broke open at which point lance corporal [redacted] picked it up and poured the contents on Lew's chest and face as he lay with his back to the ground."

Convinced Lew was responding to his punishment with sarcasm and disrespect, fellow lance corporals then "kicked dirt on Lew, kicked him in the back of the helmet, punched him in the back of his helmet with a force that cut [his attacker's] knuckle."

At some point, a fellow Marine stepped in to stop the attack, saying he didn't "want it on his conscience if Lew killed himself" -- which is exactly what Lew did.

A sergeant is blamed in the report for giving responsibility for Lew's discipline to fellow marines.

"Further, he failed to intervene while those peers undertook inappropriate corrective actions." That sergeant faces court martial when the unit returns from Afghanistan, as does an unnamed lance corporal.

The military says unequivocally that Lew took his own life, though it the report does indicated more than one round was shot from Lew's SAW.

"This command mourns the death of Lance Corporal Lew" reads the final report. "His family and friends have my deepest sympathies" says his commanding officer.

Lew is a 2008 graduate of Santa Clara High School and was assigned to the 2nd battalion, 3rd marine regiment, 3rd Marine division.

His obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle says Lew wrote "Brand new Marine, feels good" on his Myspace page shortly after he joined the military.

[A_perfect_lady]

Certainly they were under great mental duress knowing this one guy could get them all killed, they probably couldn’t sleep and were critically deprived of sleep.

Well, I don't know what will happen during the court martial, but if you notice, most people on this thread DON'T hold the other marines of his paygrade responsible. We may disapprove, but the person most people are pointing at is the officer in charge. And sleeping on guard duty FOUR TIMES in a combat zone is definitely at the level where the Department Head, at least, should be aware of it.

[fabian]

He deserved punishments, but not humiliation and being whacked around in his helmet. Sorry, you sound cold hearted. They should have dismissed him from that area since it was so very important to have an awake watchman and then give him a demotion of rank or some such. Soldiers are not animals and are not to be treat as that. There is a big problem of suicides for troopers who serve after combat and there is an awesome service that is spreading throughout the military...www.copingstrategiescd.com.

[fabian]

He deserved punishments, but not humiliation and being whacked around in his helmet. Sorry, you sound cold hearted. They should have dismissed him from that area since it was so very important to have an awake watchman and then give him a demotion of rank or some such. Soldiers are not animals and are not to be treat as that. There is a big problem of suicides for troopers who serve after combat and there is an awesome service that is spreading throughout the military...www.copingstrategiescd.com.

[fabian]

He deserved punishments, but not humiliation and being whacked around in his helmet. Sorry, you sound cold hearted. They should have dismissed him from that area since it was so very important to have an awake watchman and then give him a demotion of rank or some such. Soldiers are not animals and are not to be treat as that. There is a big problem of suicides for troopers who serve after combat and there is an awesome service that is spreading throughout the military...www.copingstrategiescd.com.

[beagleone]

During basic training near Shechem in Israel I remember guarding in an isolated watchtower with another recruit. He unapologetically went to sleep during our shift and invited me to take turns with him. I declined and resented him putting the both of us at greater risk of attack. I didn’t rat on him but to this day I am upset he did that,

[cva66snipe]

Different missions.

Not really. One screw up you can die and sink the ship. Same with working in The Hole on any surface ship. That's why we did 4 and 4's or 6 and 6 depending on where we worked. Starting at 0800 it could go 4 hours work, followed by 4 hours watch, 4-6 more hours work, the sometime that night you stood another 4 hours watch meaning broken sleep and everyone was in the shop by 0700 to start the work day.

Most of us got six hours rack time on most nights except for ORE's off GITMO which was 30 days about every 18 months or so. The at sea working conditions? About 115-125 plus degrees in 100% humidity. Those were the at sea hours. In port which averaged at the most 90 days a year it was a 0700-1530 work day.

I did quite a few all nighters working on critical gear and usually my senior NCO above me gave at least 4 of the work hours off the next morning if he came in and the gear was back up. My shop at times had a total of everyone standing 12 hours of watch in four hour shifts in 24 hours if we were short usally due too training someone. If fully manned we generally had a total 8 hours of watch in 24 and 4 of that was in sleep time at night. Our watches were roving ones. The gear still had to run too in off watch hours.

...and I would add that the mind can also do amazing things with serious motivational factors involved. For instance, a veteran Taliban wants to cut your throat while you sleep.

True but for only so long and that is the point being missed in this thread. How about 1200 PSI super heated steam where a pin head leak can cut your head off? Dangerous enough? BTW you can't see it you can't hear it. One wrong move a limbs gone. A 1200 PSI boiler {8 per carrier on the old conventionals} exploding one could have disintegrate a ship. Ever see what a simple exploding hot water heater can do to a house?

There needs to be an avenue for getting the liability out of the field asap or people will do what they have to do, to survive.

That has been an issue for decades. It is becoming far more an issue now because a very limited number of troops are doing the patrols etc meaning less patrol rotations in combat and more time in country as well. This was that guys first time in country. How much more so is it possible for a third or forth tour member too snap?

The sad thing is that they will punish the enlisted grunt for assaulting this guy, when the person who is responsible is the person who had the authority to get him out of the field...and didn’t.

First offense should have brought serious NJP by the unit C.O. and if warranted an extensive medical work up. Again by a neurologist and not by a Medic. Second offense without medical cause? Court Martial and/or out of service. The fact he was there a fourth time says break down in the chain of command likely brought on from the fact there are simply not enough active duty and reservist to do the job any more.

We are operating a military at war on 1996 End Troop Strengths with a record low. Everyone wants too hang a sleeping Marine and seem to say Oh Well He Offed Himself.

Until the conditions which are causing these issues too develop are addressed by Congress in the form of more troops or get out of a two-three nation war at current End Troop Strengths it will not go away.

[fabian]

He deserved punishments, but not humiliation and being whacked around in his helmet. Sorry, you sound cold hearted. They should have dismissed him from that area since it was so very important to have an awake watchman and then give him a demotion of rank or some such. Soldiers are not animals and are not to be treat as that. There is a big problem of suicides for troopers who serve after combat and there is an awesome service that is spreading throughout the military...www.copingstrategiescd.com.

[fabian]

He deserved punishments, but not humiliation and being whacked around in his helmet. Sorry, you sound cold hearted. They should have dismissed him from that area since it was so very important to have an awake watchman and then give him a demotion of rank or some such. Soldiers are not animals and are not to be treat as that. There is a big problem of suicides for troopers who serve after combat and there is an awesome service that is spreading throughout the military...www.copingstrategiescd.com.

[fabian]

He deserved punishments, but not humiliation and being whacked around in his helmet. Sorry, you sound cold hearted. They should have dismissed him from that area since it was so very important to have an awake watchman and then give him a demotion of rank or some such. Soldiers are not animals and are not to be treat as that. There is a big problem of suicides for troopers who serve after combat and there is an awesome service that is spreading throughout the military...www.copingstrategiescd.com.

[A_perfect_lady]

I really think the Navy handles these things better. We weren’t as macho, but... it’s like the two cops in Colors. We aren’t the Sean Penn character. We’re the Robert Duvall character. ;^)

[A_perfect_lady]

Not really. One screw up you can die and sink the ship.

I served with this guy named Weldon. He was a likable fellow... a little grubby and weird, but bizarre sense of humor and no malice in him at all. He re-enlisted for orders to the USS Iowa. He died in the gun-turret explosion.

[Mr Rogers]

"Driving a sick man to suicide is kind of a heavy duty insurance policy for coddling malingerers."

How was anyone to know? The only suicide I knew reasonably well had an excellent career and a good family. He was well respected and liked. And one day he hung himself in the garage. No note. Some who knew him better than I said he sometimes worried he wasn't successful enough, but they didn't worry because everyone KNEW he was successful and respected. Everyone but him.

The 'abuse' this guy got was less than some of the punishment my 17 year old daughter took while going through boot camp at Parris Island. Why didn't she commit suicide? It is less than some of what I took going through survival school, so why didn't I commit suicide?

I had a chance to go thru MOUT training with the Army, and I took more abuse during that than this guy did. Heck, I got more abuse than this guy did as the new kid on the block every 1-1.5 years growing up as a military brat - why didn't I kill myself at 8?

I don't think people commit suicide very often for rational reasons. Their perception of reality is distorted, and they often are good at hiding it from those around them.

Military suicides are up, while civilian rates have remained flat. Why? No one knows. 1/3 of military suicides are people who have never deployed. Why did they kill themselves? We don't know.

But this guy was committing a very serious offense, one that cannot be tolerated. The military doesn't have the option of sending anyone who sleeps on guard duty back to the rear for a medical analysis. I talked with my daughter (former Marine, married to a former Marine) tonight. She knew of multiple cases of someone found sleeping on guard duty, and NONE of them went any higher up the chain than the person who caught the sleeper.

It is pretty well accepted that if you fall asleep on guard duty, you'll get your butt kicked. Or your face. Most small bases have no chaplain. No mental health professional. Trips from some of the small bases just back to Jalalabad often took a week to arrange - there aren't a lot of convoys, and travel by air is pretty limited. While I was at Sharana in 2007, it took the Brigade Commander a week to get out of Bagram back to his command. Heck, the very travel is more likely to kill someone than it is for the person to commit suicide.

You cannot apply peacetime military or civilian standards to combat zones.

A post near Pakistan that I visited:

Looking across the entire base - and it was NOT the smallest (BTW, these are 4 years old so not current photos):

[Georgia Girl 2]

Agreed. This kid was unfit for front line duty. The Sgt should have jerked him and sent him back to home base for scrutiny etc. You don’t let the grunts start handing out discipline. Poor chain of command.

[ottbmare]

The trouble is that once you get seriously sleep-deprived, the world looks very dark indeed. It’s easy to become depressed and hyperemotional when you haven’t slept. There must have been some kind of medical issue if he was falling asleep even when his life was at stake. And if he was being tormented and razzed, he might have just felt the world was ending. People crack when they’re sleep-deprived.

Somebody needs to have his career ruined for allowing this, but nothing is going to bring this kid back to his parents. Their lives are destroyed; they’ll never stop grieving.

[A_perfect_lady]

The 'abuse' this guy got was less than some of the punishment my 17 year old daughter took while going through boot camp at Parris Island. Why didn't she commit suicide? It is less than some of what I took going through survival school, so why didn't I commit suicide?

But I think that's our point. Something was obviously wrong with him. That he couldn't get it together even after FOUR TIMES.... even knowing that his punishments were just going to escalate... this is a failure of leadership.

[Mr Rogers]

Some great pictures of a small base in the Korengal Valley in 2008 - well worth a look. We’re no longer there, so this doesn’t give anything away:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/afghanistans_korengal_valley.html

[Mr Rogers]

We’re not talking a boat. He had been counseled once, and disciplined another time (using the system). It doesn’t seem to have worked.

There is also this:

“Convinced Lew was responding to his punishment with sarcasm and disrespect, fellow lance corporals then “kicked dirt on Lew, kicked him in the back of the helmet, punched him in the back of his helmet with a force that cut [his attacker’s] knuckle.”

It doesn’t sound like he was saying, “I’m sorry.” What happened that night took place over a few hours in one night. LOTS of things never rise to the ‘Department Head’ level, particularly on a small OP. Please look at the link I posted with pictures of the Korengal.

A few guys got pissed one night at Lance Corporal Harry Lew and tried to motivate him, using gentler techniques than my son-in-law saw & used during his tours in Iraq. Punching someone in the helmet is MUCH milder than a rifle butt in the face...

[Mr Rogers]

“There must have been some kind of medical issue if he was falling asleep even when his life was at stake. “

No. It happens. It is hard to understand the fatigue that goes with combat ops on the front lines. There is no requirement for some serious medical issue. Just fatigue.

[A_perfect_lady]

Doesn’t matter if it’s on a boat or on land. What matters is, this was the FOURTH TIME. This was not handled correctly. I never knew there to BE a fourth time in the Navy. Nor a third. And I strain my memory (it has been 20 years) to find a second. Normal people do not keep falling asleep on duty knowing it will get them beaten up or possibly killed.

[A_perfect_lady]

Nor do they blow their heads off over it, btw.