Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the massive military base in Washington state, has been reeling amid scrutiny over the widening cases of violence and suicide among soldiers...
The staff sergeant accused of murdering 16 Afghans served most of his career, when not deployed, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord....
In another recent scandal, Lt. Col. Robert E. Underwood of the 191st Infantry Brigade was charged with harassment. He is accused of threatening his estranged wife, girlfriend and another lieutenant colonel at the base.
“I can confirm that a soldier from JBLM has been arrested and is being held in the Pierce County Jail after he allegedly threatened to blow up the state Capitol in Olympia and pay a hit man $150,000 to kill his wife and a fellow officer,” Maj. Christopher Ophardt said.... “The post is catching up. We have 32 different services, from alcohol abuse counseling to financial problems,” he said. “And the second part of that is making sure that they know that it is OK to get help.…We’re telling them, put your machoism aside and get to that help so the professionals can make the determination of what is the right kind of help.”
The base has earned an
infamous reputation.
One soldier murdered his wife and stuffed her body into a storage crate.
Another allegedly set his wife
on fire.
Another was convicted of waterboarding his own young daughter for
failing to know her ABCs.
The
Afghan kill team that perpetrated a three-month murder spree against innocent Afghan civilians came from Lewis-McChord.
The former Army private who shot and killed a National Park Service ranger at Mount Rainier National Park on New Year’s Day was from Lewis-McChord.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-lewis-mcchord-services-20120313,0,1946526.story http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/0...#storylink=cpy
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...army-base.html
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