At least 44 Fort Bragg soldiers died stateside in 2020 — several of them were homicides. Families w

[rangerrebew]

 

 At least 44 Fort Bragg soldiers died stateside in 2020 — several of them were homicides. Families want answers. But the Army isn’t giving any
 
By Seth Harp
April 18, 2021

 

Three weeks before Christmas, in the piney woods outside of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a deer hunter came across the fallout from a firefight that, to date, no one has been able to explain. A tricked-out Chevy Colorado with matte-black wheels and racing tires was stuck in a rut on a dirt road near Lake MacArthur. In the bed of the truck and on the ground beside it were two dead men. Both had been killed by gunshots, and according to news reports, shell casings were scattered on the ground. Yet there were no firearms to be found at the scene, and no trace of the third man, the surviving shooter. There had to have been at least one.

The man on the ground, who had been dropped by a single bullet to the right temple, was 44-year-old Timothy Dumas. People who knew him tell me that in life, he fit a certain kind of American archetype: the wannabe special-forces guy, a fake operator who, in order to impress people or intimidate them, passed himself off as an ex-commando. He had served 19 years in the Army, including time in the 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, but as a property book officer, a glorified supply sergeant.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/fort-bragg-murders-1153405/

[sneakypete]

I can tell you that none of this makes sense to me. ESPECIALLY not the part about the Fayetteville police ignoring crimes committed by GI's from Bragg.  Ask any former soldier you know that was ever stationed at Bragg about that.

This was especially true for felonies. LOTS of turf wars between the Fayetteville PD and the MP's on Bragg.

Yeah,there WAS some heavy drinking and some drug use by Special Operators. OCCASIONAL heavy drinking and drug use. Anyone who drank a lot or got high a lot got the boot by his teammates. You can NOT have anyone on your team that you can't rely on.

I will grant that Special Operations like Delta and especially SOG were so rare they were virtual rumors amongst SF personnel,never mind the regular army. Even if you had a Top Secret Clearance,which all operators had as a requirement,information about them,including the names of the operators was strictly on a "need to know basis". You would know one of your friends was in Delta by his vague answers when you would ask him what he was doing. The vague answers were  enough to tell you to stop asking questions.

Yes,there IS a fine line between "Out there",and "OUT THERE!",but very few crossed it,even in the early days when it was really wild and there were no rules other than the ones the Team Daddy made.

Occasionally someone would be given the boot from Special Operations because of out of control drinking,but usually what happened was these people were bright enough to see they were in trouble,and went to the SGM and told him "I quit". That was all you needed to do,and you would be sent back to a regular Special Forces assignment with no black marks on your book,and no shame attached. You did it for your own sanity,as well as for the safety of your team members. Anyone that conflicted and confused is a danger to himself and his team,so you MUST  be man enough to step up to the plate and declare "ENOUGH!" when that time comes.

Lots of guys did that and remained as support personnel in the rear,working jobs like medic,supply,S-1,S-2,etc,etc,etc. Nobody that I know of ever had a critical word to say about them. Everybody has a point where their own inner self tells them "This far and no further!",and when you reach that point you MUST be man enough to step up to the plate and say "I quit!".

I will say that I met some senior SF NCO's whose conduct and attitudes shocked me the last time I worked as an advisor for SF Training Group,back in the 80's. They were the ones that convinced me I no longer belonged there,and due to their conduct caused me to quit doing the work.

Still,this stuff is awful hard to believe. Yeah,it can happen to a few people in any group you care to mention,but being accepted as common behavior is hard to believe.

Especially in the SF of today,which has been taken over entirely by the Pentagram careerists. Used to be if an officer decided on SF as his career branch,there was no hope at all of him ever getting promoted to General because there was only ONE General officer in all of SF. Now there seems to be 2 and 3 star General Officers all over the place,most of whom spent most of their careers in the conventional army.

Can't speak for the SEALS or Force Recon,but the few Force Recon guys I worked or trained with in the army were some serious freaking professionals,and  I can't imagine the USMC letting them get away with crap like that.