A12 From Page One
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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
Under a watchful eye after a tough deployment Soldiers linked to violent acts were from a brigade the Army was scrutinizing for signs of post-combat stress
BY CRAIGWHITLOCK AT JOINT BASE
LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH.
close eye on the 5th Stryker Com- bat Brigade long before soldiers from the unit were charged with atrocities committed in Afghani- stan. The 3,800-member brigade
A
had trained for more than a year under the assumption that it would go to Iraq. In February 2009, however, it received orders togotoAfghanistaninstead.With only a fewmonths to prepare, the brigade — named for the Army’s eight-wheeled Stryker combat ve- hicles—arrived in July 2009 and was thrust into thewar’s toughest fighting in southernAfghanistan. It also paid a steep price: 35 of
its soldierswere killed in combat, sixothersdiedfromaccidentsand other causes in Afghanistan, and 239 were wounded during its year-long deployment. Army officials at Joint Base
Lewis-McChord, the military in- stallation in the shadowofMount Rainier that servedashome to the 5th Stryker Brigade, said they took unprecedented measures to prepare for the unit’s return this summer. They expanded health and reintegration programs de- signed to screen and monitor ev- ery soldier for potential brain in- juries, post-traumatic stress dis- order, depression, drug abuse, do- mestic discord and behavioral problems. Base officials said the return of
the 5th Stryker Brigade was part of a larger influx of 18,000 troops coming back to Lewis-McChord fromIraq andAfghanistan. “The Army senior leadership
knew that this was the largest redeployment we’ve had out here in the northwest since theKorean War,” saidArmyCol.ThomasBrit-
rmy officials, concerned about the aftereffects of combat, were keeping a
thebest times Iever spentwithmy brother,” he said. On Aug. 19, however, Shane
Barrett saidhereceivedacall from a colleague at the Tucson Police Department who told him the Armywas looking for his brother. TheArmy told Tucson police that, in addition to being AWOL and facing drunk-driving charges, Brandon Barrett had been send- ing alarming text messages to members of his platoon, such as one that read, “You can’t mess with soldiers returning from de- ployment,” ShaneBarrett said. He said the Tucson police ran a
database check but found nowar- rants forhis brother or any record of the DUI. As soon as Brandon Barrett learned the Army was looking for him, however, he took off.
He wasn’t seen again until a
week later, when he appeared in Salt Lake City. Army officials said he had been in touch with his platoon and an Army chaplain after he left Tucson, reassuring themthat hewas on hisway back to Lewis-McChord. Around Aug. 25, however, he
JULIE JACOBSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lt. Col. Jeffrey French talks to soldiers in the 5th Stryker Brigade in April, urging them to stay focused during their Afghanistan deployment. an.
tain, the joint base garrison com- mander. “I thinkwewereverywell prepared for it.” But as in the case of the alleged
atrocities, Army officials are fac- ingaccusations that theydidn’tdo enough and ignored signs of trou- ble.
On Aug. 27, a soldier from the
5thStrykerBrigadewhohadgone AWOL shortly after his return fromAfghanistan surfaced in Salt Lake City. There, hemarched into the Grand America — a high-rise hotel and local landmark — dressed in battle gear and carry- ing an AR-15 rifle, two handguns
and almost 1,000 rounds of ammunition. The soldier, Spc. Bran-
don S. Barrett, 28, died in a shootoutwith Salt Lake City police. One officer was shot inthe leg,butno bystanderswerehurt.Po- lice said they were fortu- nate to have averted a massacre. Barrett had been reported
Barrett’s family, how- B. Barrett
AWOL by his unit on July 20. On Aug. 19, the Army listed him as a deserter and issued a federalwar- rant for his arrest, saidMaj.Kath- leenTurner, anArmy spokeswom-
U.S. soldiers accused of killing Afghanistan civilians for sport
stryker from A1
filed, citing the ongoing investi- gation. But a review of military court
documents and interviews with people familiar with the investi- gation suggest the killings were committed essentially for sport by soldiers who had a fondness for hashish and alcohol. The accused soldiers, through
attorneys and family members, deny wrongdoing. But the case has already been marked by a cycle of accusations and counter- accusations among the defen- dants as they seek to pin the blame on each other, according to documents and interviews. The Army has scheduled pre-
trial hearings in the case this fall at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, homeof the Stryker brigade. (The unitwasrenamedthe2ndStryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, when it returned from Afghani- stan in July.)Military officials say privately that they worry the hearings will draw further atten- tion to the case, with photos and other evidence prompting anger among the Afghan civilians whose support is critical to the fight against the Taliban.
The ‘kill team’ According to statements given
to investigators, members of the unit — 3rd Platoon, Bravo Com- pany, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment — began talking about forming a “kill team” in Decem- ber, shortly after the arrival of a new member, Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs, 25, of Billings,Mont. Gibbs, whom some defendants
have described as the ringleader, confided to his new mates that it had been easy for him to get away with “stuff” when he served in Iraq in 2004, according to the statements. Itwashis second tour in Afghanistan, having served there from January 2006 until May 2007. The first opportunity present-
ed itself Jan. 15 in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province. Members of the 3rd Platoon were providingperimeter security for a meeting between Army officers and tribal elders in the village of LaMohammed Kalay. According to charging docu-
ments, an AfghannamedGulMu- din began walking toward the soldiers. As he approached, Cpl. JeremyN.Morlock, 22, ofWasilla, Alaska, threw the grenade on the ground, records show, to create the illusion that the soldiers were under attack. Pfc. Andrew H. Holmes, a 19-
year-old from Boise, Idaho, saw the grenade and fired his weapon
at Mudin, according to charging documents. The grenade explod- ed, prompting other soldiers to open fire on the villager as well, killing him. In statements to investigators,
the soldiers involved have given conflicting details. In one state- ment that his attorney has subse- quently tried to suppress, Mor- lock said that Gibbs had given him the grenade and that others were also aware of the ruse be- forehand. But Holmes and his attorney said he was in the dark and opened fire only because Morlock ordered him to do so. “He was unwittingly used as
the cover story,” said Daniel Con- way, a civilian defense attorney forHolmes. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Morlock, Holmes and Gibbs
have each been charged with murder in the shooting. Attor- neys for Morlock and Gibbs did not return phone calls seeking comment.
A father’s warning On Feb. 14, Christopher Win-
field, a formerMarine from Cape Coral, Fla., logged onto his Face- book account to chat with his son, Adam, a 3rd Platoon soldier who was up late in Afghanistan. Spec. Adam C. Winfield confided that he’d had a run-in with Gibbs, his squad leader. He also typed a mysterious note saying that some
Calvin Gibbs, from the 1999- 2000 Billings SeniorHigh School
yearbook.
people get away with murder. Whenhis father pressedhimto
explain, Adam replied, “did you not understand what i just told you.” He then referred to the slaying of the Afghan villager the month before, adding that other platoon members had threatened him because he did not approve. In addition, he said, they were bragging about how they wanted to find another victim. “I was just shocked,” Christo-
pher Winfield said in a phone interview. “He was scared for his life at that point.” The father told his son that he
would contact the Army to inter- vene and investigate. It was a Sunday, but he didn’t wait. He called the Army inspector gener- al’s 24-hour hotline and left a voice mail. He called the office of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and left another message.He called a ser- geant atLewis-McChordwhotold
him to call the Army’s criminal investigations division. He left another message there. Finally, he said, he called the
Fort Lewis command center and spoke for 12 minutes to a sergeant on duty. He said the sergeant agreed that it sounded as if Adam was in potential danger but that, unless he was willing to report it to his superiors in Afghanistan, therewaslittle theArmycoulddo. “He just kind of blew it off,”
Christopher Winfield said. “I was sitting there with my jaw on the ground.” Winfield said he doesn’t recall
thenameof the sergeant he spoke with. Billing records that he kept confirm that he called Army offi- cials; he also kept copies of tran- scripts of Facebook chats with this son. He said he specifically told the sergeant of his son’s warning that more murders were in the works. Army investigators have since
taken a sworn statement from Christopher Winfield, as well as copies of his phone and Internet records.
Other killings Eight days after Winfield tried
to warn the Army, according to charging documents, members of the 3rd Platoon murdered some- one else. On Feb. 22, Marach Agha, an
Afghan civilian, was killed by rifle fire near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Kandahar province, where the 3rd Platoon was sta- tioned. The Army has released few details about the slaying but has charged Gibbs, Morlock and Spec.Michael S.Wagnon II of Las Vegas with murder. Wagnon has also been charged
with possessing “a skull taken from an Afghan person’s corpse.” He allegedly took the head some- time during January or February 2010, but court documents do not specifywhether it belonged to the Afghan he is charged with killing. An attorney for Wagnon, who
was on his second tour in Afghan- istan and also served in Iraq, did not return a call seeking com- ment. More mayhem followed in
March, when Gibbs,Wagnon and three other soldiers — Staff Sgt. Robert G. Stevens, Sgt. Darren N. JonesandPfc.AshtonA.Moore— opened fire on three Afghan men, according to charging docu- ments. The documents do not provide basic details, such as the precise date of the shooting, the identities of the victims orwheth- er they were wounded. Members of the 3rd Platoon
found their next victim onMay 2, documents show. Gibbs,Morlock
An Internet chat Christopher Winfield (using the Facebook account of his wife, Emma) and his son Adam. “I was just shocked,” Christopher said. “He was scared for his life at that point.”
and Adam Winfield — the son of the former Marine who said he tried to alert the Army three months earlier — are accused of tossing a grenade and fatally shootinganAfghancleric,Mullah Adahdad, near Forward Operat- ing Base Ramrod. Winfield’s attorney, Eric S.
Montalvo, said his client was or- dered to shoot but fired high and missed. He and Winfield’s par-
ents say they can’t understand why the Army has charged their son, given that his father tried to warn officials about the platoon. Military police caught wind of
the final killing a few days later, but only by happenstance. Re- cords show they were coinciden- tally investigating reports of hashish use by members of the 3rd Platoon. After word leaked that one sol-
FAMILY PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Army Spec. Adam C. Winfield on duty in Afghanistan.He and two other soldiers are accused of fatally shooting an Afghan cleric.
dier had spoken to military po- lice, several platoon members re- taliated, records show. They con- fronted the informant and beat himseverely—punching, kicking and choking the soldier, then dragging him across the ground. As a last warning, the documents state, Gibbs menacingly waved finger bones he had collected from Afghan corpses. However, the informant talked
to the MPs again and told them what he had heard about the slayings, according to court docu- ments. Some members of his unit, he
said in a statement, “when they are outatavillage,wanderoffand kill someone and every time they say the same thing, about a guy throwing a grenade, but there is never proof.” This time, the Army acted
quickly and made arrests.
whitlockc@washpost.com
Staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
FAMILY PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Emmaand Christopher Winfield with son Adam Winfield, center. Christopher Winfield says he warned the Army after his son told him via the Internet that members of his platoon were targeting civilians.
ever, said they knew ex- actlywherehewasduring most of that period — at home with them, in Tuc- son, where they assumed he was taking an autho- rized leave.Relatives said theArmynever contacted them until he was classi-
fied as a deserter. Turner said platoon members tried to call on July 22 but “were unsuccessful.” Army officials acknowledged
that Barrett was flagged by their screeningprocessuponhis return
from Afghanistan. They said he was referred for counseling after he was arrested for driving under the influence at Lewis-McChord on June 28 and also because he had told counselors that he was having “relationship concerns,” Turner said. But she added, “There was
nothing that pinpointed him as being so at-risk.” Barrett’s family said he came
home to Tucson on July 27. His brother, Shane Barrett, a Tucson police officer, said nothing seemed amiss. “They were probably some of
posted a Facebook message that indicated he was either “going to hurt himself or someone else,” Turner said.Militarypolice issued aBOLOalert—BeOntheLookout —for Barrett in several states and notedthathewas armed, she said. But they couldn’t find himuntil it was too late. Barrett’s family said that, as far
as they knew, he had never visited Utah before and knew nobody there. His mother has speculated that hewas attracted by the name and prominence of the Grand AmericaHotel. “She thinksmybrotherwas try-
ing to make a statement about how America treats its soldiers,” ShaneBarrett said.
whitlockc@washpost.com
Staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
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