Posted on 08/23/2011 5:05:54 PM PDT by 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.
Blood sugar irregularities as well as blood pressure problems can do that ~ we are talking about younger men in this situation so it’s likely any problem like that simply wasn’t caught by the medics.
“Hazing” hell !! Sleeping on guard duty is a case of “deriliction of duty” and subject to a general court or “such less punnishment as his commander may reccommend.
From the way the story reads it appears his fellow squaddies tried to deal with a serious infraction without resorting to steps that would/could have resulted in a “DD”.
But the sniveling twerp showed them !! >PS
Who said he should be subject to summary execution? You wrote something foolish and now you are making things up. The soldier committed suicide. He was his own judge, jury, and executioner.
The issue is whether we ought to feel terribly sorry for this sleeping-on-guard-duty-in-a-combat-zone recidivist. If there is anything to criticize, it is that after the first incident he wasn’t court-martialled and sent to Leavenworth. He repeatedly betrayed every last man in his unit in a way that could have gotten them all killed. The Marines that “hazed” him were justifiably P.O.ed.
Perhaps he just needed a babysitter.
Even in this case here not everyone was asleep ~ that just doesn't happen.
What you don’t understand is a fairly given “blanket party” does wonders for self discipline.
Yes its ok for some of them to fall asleep, after all someone else is awake and will notice the terrorists sneaking into the camp. No big deal
“Who ordered the “Code Red”?
You can’t handle the truth, dfwgator!
Well, it’s a little bit clearer. Basically, what you’re saying is that soldiers do not want to be perceived as complainers or whiners(sort of like hitting the abuse button here) and so usually take care of the problem themselves. And in the old days that was fairly accepted.
Better him than the whole platoon...what a dumb and mean remark. Obviously, the thing to do is replace the soldier with one that can do the job! Not beat him up and humiliate him...which did not correct the problem..but just wound up with one over reacted and dead marine! What a waste. I hope he is in heaven now.
The officers who left this determination up to the enlisted personnel should be removed before they get someone hurt.
None of those punishments are relevant until a trial is held.
You can't have it both ways ~ everybody asleep but the sleeper ~ just doesn't happen.
repeated blanket parties should indicate to the sgts that
the kid had a problem that peer pressure was unable to address, and he should have been evacuated to a medical facility. very definite failure of the leadership.
“blanket parties” are, in general, a serious violation of orders.
BTW, if they had proof he was sleeping on guard why didn't his superiors court martial him and have him shipped out?
He decided to kill himself. He is responsible for that. He had many other options (starting with not falling asleep on guard duty). Obviously, he had some sort of personality instability.
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