Posted on 06/07/2008 6:30:29 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
A missing case of military assault rifles has turned up on Hill Air Force Base, but officials still don't know who took them.
Whoever took them had a change of heart. He brought the weapons back for base officials to find this morning.
Maj. Shannon Smith, air base wing security commander, said, "What we think happened was this was a crime of opportunity."
An early-morning phone call led base officials to the missing M-16 rifles. Smith said, "We think that he saw some of these news reports and decided the best thing to do was bring the weapons back."
Whoever it was, that person returned to the base and left the case at the horse stables, about a half mile from the Roy Gate. The man called the base at 5:45 this morning from a pay phone in Layton.
"He brought them out there because he thought that was a place he could drop them off, be undetected and get off base, and then a couple hours later, call us up and let us know where they were at," Smith said.
He left an apology note in the case.
Smith said, "The case was intact. All 12 weapons were intact. The serial numbers all matched the serial numbers of the missing weapons."
Base officials believe the man had the weapons for two days, that's when the case fell off a Humvee.
Members of the 729th Air Control Squadron were returning from a training exercise and left the tailgate down. Smith said, "We've had no incidents in any recent history of any lost weapons, so our procedures were sound. This was just a simple mistake."
He says anyone moving weapons will use a checklist to prevent this from happening again.
It's just one embarrassing mistake that's affected the Air Force's image. But officials say they're isolated incidents, and they're learning from them.
Air Base Wing Commander Linda Medler said, "As we look at each incident, we will make improvements, and we will move forward, and we will continue to be the best Air Force in the world."
Officials say this is still an ongoing investigation. They are trying to identify the man and urge him to come forward.
Based on his description, officials believe he's not a member of the military, but he has a credential to get on the base. He could face charges.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com E-mail: syi@ksl.com
BTTT
They fell off of a Humvee and no one noticed? They were taken off of the base and then returned to the base, and once again no one noticed.
SECDEF Gates doesn’t have enough time left to jerk the slack out of the Air Force.
I was wondering about that, too. A case of 12 M-16s has got to be fairly heavy. I would’ve thought that you’d hear the thump when they dropped.
--yeah, guess I better make myself a checklist. Might leave something at the range next time I go shooting---(snicker, giggle)
Remember, this was the Air Force.
The windows were up, the AC was on, and the stereo was on too loud.
Some truth in this, as in, why was I in the Air Force? So I didn't have to be in the Army. All the bases I was on had swimming pools but none had horse stables.
They do arms room checks all the time. That is how they know what is missing.
Adding this mishap to the list of recent Air Force mistakes (warhead detonators mistakenly shipped to Taiwan, unkowingly flying nuke tipped missiles across the US on a B-52) is not making a good case for their command structure.
I know crap happens, but this is becoming ridiculous for a military organization. Maybe the Marine Corps should take over running the Air Force- I’ll bet the number of boo-boos would drop significantly.
“none had horse stables.”
You just never took the time to find out if they had stables.
Every stateside base and most overseas bases have stables, paid for and maintained by the owners of the animals. It is called recreation services or something similar (AF calls it morale and welfare services).
Even Tooele Army Depot, in Utah, with about 10 military I am guessing, has a stable.
.....Bob
I’m in love with your nice ... err .. niece.
This is the same base where about 14 years ago a sergeant tried to steal an F-16 engine from the depot.
She’s not my niece, I stole the image on google.
He could face charges.
I hope he isn't stupid enough to come forward. Of course, it appears that the 'officials' don't want to know who he is. If they wanted to catch him, they'd urge him to come forward to collect a reward, and then arrest him.
Probably best for the both of us.
Yeah, this guy is going to turn himself in (not). From what I’m hearing from my co-workers, having possession of an illegal machine gun gets you 10 years in federal prison on each count, so this dude is facing a life sentence. They’re going to have to catch him, and they probably will. Between his handwritten apology letter and whatever fingerprints he left on the case, they’ll find out who this dude is. The only chance in hell this guy has of not going to the clinker for a real long time is that he gave the rifles back.
If he lawyers up quick enough, the story should be that he found the box and took it home, but was busy and didn’t open it right then. When he heard the news, he found out what he had, and gave it back as quick as he could, but was too scared to turn them in to the cops.
Of course, if it turns out its the guy driving the truck, that probably wouldn’t work.
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