Did the Army do enough to prevent soldier’s death? (2007)

Tina PriestPfc. Tina Priest of Smithville died in Iraq on March 1, 2006 and her family is worried that the Army botched its care for her after a rape claim that was followed by her apparent suicide.

Investigations did not find sufficient evidence to continue the rape inquiry, but the family, skeptical of what it sees as holes in the Army’s information, is waiting for a final review by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.

Family members also say Army officials told them that the investigation was concluded in September, but their requests for the final report are being denied. A recent article in the Hartford Courant newspaper citing that final report has heightened the Priests’ anger.

“I need some closure,” said Joy Priest, Tina Priest’s mother. “I want to know. Why can a newspaper get a copy of that report and we can’t?”

An investigation conducted in Iraq by Fort Hood’s 4th Infantry Division, in which Priest served, was conducted after her death, and its findings — which the family was given — are an accurate portrayal of events, said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a spokesman for the division. He said the Criminal Investigation Command report will be the last one issued, “and we do still owe that to the family.”

Continue reading “Did the Army do enough to prevent soldier’s death? (2007)”

MA1 Jennifer Valdivia, US Navy, Died in a Non Combat Related Incident in Bahrain, NCIS Ruled Death Suicide by Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (2007)

Honoring Jennifer Valdivia @USNavy (2007)
Jennifer Valdivia, US Navy

MA1 Jennifer Valdivia, 27, US Navy, died in a non combat related incident in Bahrain on January 16, 2007. MA1 Valdivia was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the naval security force for Naval Support Activity in Bahrain. At the time of the press release the Department of Defense announced that her death was under investigation and Bahrain was located within the designated hostile fire zone. Naval Criminal Investigation Services (NCIS) eventually ruled her death suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Toussaint, who led the Bahrain unit until March 2006, was at the center of a 2007 command investigation that documented more than 90 instances of abuse, including sailors being ordered to simulate homosexual sex in training videos, hogtied to chairs and force-fed dog treats. “If my daughter didn’t do what he told her to do, he would embarrass her in front of everybody in the kennel, belittle her,” Young said. “Everybody who was friends with Jennifer tells me the same story: She was the fall person. She was the scapegoat.” ~Pilot Online

Jennifer was at the center of command directed investigation of abuse of prisoners in Bahrain. It was reported that she did not want to participate in war crimes yet was belittled, harassed, and abused by a supervisor if she didn’t do what he told her to do. If she had a way out, could this suicide have been prevented? Was it a suicide? Was it ever investigated as a homicide? Who found her? Was it reported to the Commander first? Did the Commander do an initial investigation? Does the Navy have NCIS located in Bahrain? How quickly did NCIS respond to the scene located in what is described as a designated hostile fire zone?

Related Links:
DoD Identifies Navy Casualty
Navy Master-at-Arms 1st Class Jennifer A. Valdivia
Report Leaked on Navy Suicide
Report: Sailors hogtied, fed dog treats
U.S. Navy sailors say they were hazed, abused
Abuse Probe May Have Pushed Navy Sailor To Suicide
Navy: Investigation drove sailor in dog-handling unit to kill self
Report outlines security unit hazing, assault
Gay Sailor: My Comrades Locked Me In A ‘Feces-Filled Dog Kennel’
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Didn’t Protect Me From Abuse in the Navy
Ex-sailor denies hazing by senior
Brutal Navy Hazing Rituals Probed
Navy petty officer to face punishment in hazing
Navy Admits it Was Wrong in Case of Dog Handler
Navy Chief in Anti-Gay Hazing Case to Retire with Full Rank and Pay
Navy’s reprimand of leader not enough for man who lost daughter
Two years later, sailor to be forced out for role in hazing scandal
AP’s Misleading Report on Navy Reversal: I Did Not Ask for Anti-Gay Hazing
Navy veteran combats ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?
The Deadliest Year, In ’07 the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Claimed More Than 1,000 U.S. Lives, Bringing the Death Toll to 4,354
Top female navy commander sacked over humiliating initiation ordeals on board ship
Non Combat Deaths of Female Soldiers in the US Military (Other Areas)

Navy Seaman Sandra Grant Died of Natural Causes While Aboard the USS Eisenhower in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (December 31, 2006)

17695945_116985239713
Seaman Sandra Grant, US Navy

Navy Seaman Sandra Grant, 23, died of a natural causes (cardiac arrest) while aboard a ship in the Arabian Sea on December 31, 2006. Seaman Grant was a Damage Control Fireman supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Naval officials reported the death was under investigation but preliminary findings pointed to natural causes. Sandra was a sailor, a family member, a friend, a wife, and the mother of a baby boy. She was also one of three sailors announced in the Department of Defense press release that died of ‘natural causes’ or an ‘accident’ in a hostile fire zone in support of OIF.  Lt. Cmdr. Jane Lanham, 43, died from natural causes on September 19, 2006 in Bahrain. Petty Officer 3rd Class Roger Napper, 20, died of trauma from a single motor vehicle accident on October 7, 2006 in Bahrain.

[Sandra’s] father said the news came as a total shock because she was always healthy and didn’t have any prior medical condition. –The-Dispatch.com

Related Links:
DoD Identifies Navy Casualties
Navy Seaman Sandra S. Grant
SMN Sandra Stephanie Grant Fry
Sandra Stephanie Grant, US Navy
Sailor carried on family’s legacy

Army Major Gloria Davis Died in a Non-Combat Related Incident in Baghdad, Iraq; Death Ruled Suicide (December 12, 2006)

Gloria Davis
Major Gloria Davis, US Army

Army Major Gloria Davis, 47, died in a non combat related incident in Baghdad, Iraq on December 12, 2006. Major Davis was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the Defense Security Assistance Agency in Washington, D.C. At the time of the press release, the Department of Defense announced the incident was under investigation. Reports later indicate Major Davis committed suicide hours after she provided names and testimony to the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) investigators in Iraq. Logistics soldiers were being accused of involvement in a bribery scheme in Kuwait and she was a witness to the crimes and would have been a witness for the prosecution in the Cockerham Case. She was one of three people in the same logistics group in Kuwait tied to the bribery scheme investigation that committed suicide. Both Denise Lannaman, Army (2006) and Lt. Col. Marshall Gutierrez, Army (2006) deaths were also ruled suicides by the Army. Did they commit suicide? Was homicide ever considered? How could this have been prevented? Were any of these cases investigated as homicides? Did anyone question why three soldiers tied to one bribery investigation killed themselves?

Col. Kevin Davis, 52 years old, is the highest-ranking officer to be implicated in a scheme known among federal investigators as the Cockerham Case, for Major John Cockerham, who pleaded guilty last year to receiving more than $9 million in illegal payments for defense contracts, primarily to service the Camp Arifjan military base in Kuwait. Early in the probe, Major Gloria Dean Davis, came under suspicion by investigators in the case. She committed suicide in Baghdad in December 2006, hours after confirming she received more than $225,000 from the same contractor Col. Davis later joined as a civilian, LDI. The two officers weren’t related, however investigators familiar with the case say they were involved romantically. ~Wall Street Journal

Related Links:
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Army Maj. Gloria D. Davis
Family mourns major with St. Louis ties
Southeast Missouri residents say goodbye to fallen soldier
U.S. Says Company Bribed Officers for Work in Iraq
Iraq War Contract Scandal Widens
Colonel to Admit Role in Iraq War Corruption
Ex-Major and Wife Convicted in Army Bribe Case
U.S. Military Is Keeping Secrets About Female Soldiers’ ‘Suicides’
Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?
Non Combat Deaths of Female Soldiers in the US Military (Iraq)

Fort Hood Army SSG Jeannette Dunn Died of a Non Combat Related Injury in Taji, Iraq (November 26, 2006)

Jeanette Dunn
SSG Jeannette Dunn, U.S. Army

Army SSG Jeannette T. Dunn, 44, died of a non combat related injury in Taji, Iraq on November 26, 2006. SSG Dunn was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the 15th Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. According to the Department of Defense, the incident is under investigation. The official cause of death and outcome of the investigation are unknown.

“For years I wondered what great things that she had accomplished in the Military. She was a great Soldier when I knew her. You could find no one more dedicated to accomplishing the Mission.” –Charles Baker

Related Links:
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Army Sgt. Jeannette T. Dunn
Jeannette T Dunn: Fallen Heroes Project
Jeannette T Dunn: Our Fallen Soldier
U.S. Military Covering Up Possible Murders of Female Service Members
U.S. Military Is Keeping Secrets About Female Soldiers’ ‘Suicides’

New York Army National Guard Sgt. Denise Lannaman Died in a Non Combat Related Incident at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait (October 1, 2006)

Denise Lannaman
Sgt. Denise Lannaman, New York Army National Guard

Army National Guard Sgt. Denise Lannaman, 46, died in a non combat related incident at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait on October 1, 2006. Sgt. Lannaman was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the New York Army National Guard’s 1569th Transportation Company in Newburgh, New York. Reports indicate that Lannaman was found dead in a jeep with a gunshot wound. At the time of the press release, the Department of Defense announced that the incident was under investigation. Sgt. Lannaman’s death was ruled a suicide by the Army. She was one of three people in the same logistics group in Kuwait tied to a bribery scheme investigation that allegedly died by suicide. Major Gloria Davis, Army (2006) and Lt. Col. Marshall Gutierrez, Army (2006) deaths were also ruled suicides by the Army.

In the space of three months last year (2006), three members of the U.S. Army who had been part of a logistics group in Kuwait committed suicide. Two of them — a colonel and a major — had power over contract awards and had been accused of taking bribes just before they killed themselves. The third was Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman of Queens. ~New York Times

Related Links:
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Army Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman
Queens Sarge Killed in Kuwait
From Queens to Kuwait, Where a Life Was Ended
What Really Happened to Denise Lannaman?
U.S. Military Is Keeping Secrets About Female Soldiers’ ‘Suicides’
Camp Arifjan Bribe Scheme Nets 17 Convictions and Three Soldier Suicides
U.S. Military Covering Up Possible Murders of Female Service Members
No, You Can’t Have My Daughter
Non Combat Deaths of Female Soldiers in the US Military (Other Areas)

September: U.S. Department of Defense Casualties Report (2006)

xl_deptofdefenselogo

09/30/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Christopher Blaney, 19, NCD, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/29/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Edward Reynolds Jr, 27, and Henry Paul, 24, NCD, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/29/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: James Chamroeun, 20, Iraq, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii

09/28/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Jose Lanzarin, 28, Iraq, Baumholder, Germany

09/28/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: James Lyons, 28, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/28/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Casey Mellen, 21, Iraq, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

09/27/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Jared Raymond, 20, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/27/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Christopher Riviere, 21, Iraq, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii

09/26/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Velton Locklear III, 29, and Kenneth Kincaid IV, 25, Iraq, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

09/26/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Carlos Dominguez, 57, Iraq, Army Special Operations Command, New York

09/26/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Windell Simmons, 20, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/25/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualties: Howard March Jr, 20, and Rene Martinez, 20, Iraq, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

09/25/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Eric Kavanagh, 20, Iraq, Schweinfurt, Germany

09/25/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Charles Jones, 29, NCD, Iraq, Kentucky Army National Guard

09/25/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Bobby Callahan, 22, NCD, Iraq, Fort Drum, New York

09/25/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Ashley (Henderson) Huff, 23, Iraq, Fort Stewart, Georgia

09/25/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Allan Bevington, 22, Iraq, Baumholder, Germany

09/25/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Cesar Granados, 21, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/22/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Robb Needham, 51, Iraq, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

09/22/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Yull Estrada Rodriguez, 21, Iraq, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii

09/22/2006:  First Identification of U.S. Soldier Missing in Action from World War I

09/22/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Aaron Smith, 31, Iraq, Baumholder, Germany

09/22/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Jennifer Hartman, 21, and Marcus Cain, 20, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/21/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Christopher Zimmerman, 28, Iraq, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

09/21/2006:  Navy Aviator Missing In Action From Vietnam War is Identified

09/19/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Russell Makowski, 23, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/19/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: James Worster, 24, NCD, Iraq, Fort Carson, Colorado

09/19/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Jeffrey Shaffer, 21, Iraq, Bamberg, Germany

09/19/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Adam Knox, 21, Iraq, Ohio Army Reserve

09/18/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: David Davis, 32, Iraq, Fort Wainwright, Alaska

09/18/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Clint Williams, 24, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/18/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Bernard Deghand, 42, Afghanistan, Kansas Army National Guard

09/18/2006:  DoD Identifies Navy Casualty: David Roddy, 32, Iraq, Norfolk, Virginia (Multi-National Corps – Iraq)

09/16/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Emily Perez, 23, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/16/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Ryan Miller, 19, Iraq, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii

09/15/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: David Ramsey, 27, NCD, Iraq, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

09/15/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Harley Andrews, 22, Iraq, Bamberg, Germany

09/15/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: David Weir, 23, Iraq, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

09/14/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Matthew Mattingly, 30, Iraq, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/14/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Jeremy DePottey, 26, NCD, Afghanistan, Fort Drum, New York

09/13/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Michael Fuga, 47, Afghanistan, Missouri Army National Guard

09/12/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Alexander Jordan, 31, Iraq, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska

09/11/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Anthony Seig, 19, Iraq, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/11/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: John Carroll, 26, Iraq, Baumholder, Germany

09/11/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Merideth Howard, 52, and Robert Paul, 43, Afghanistan, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/11/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Nathaniel Lindsey, 38, Afghanistan, Oregon Army National Guard

09/11/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Johnathan Benson, 21, Iraq, Camp Pendleton, California

09/11/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Luis Montes, 22, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/09/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: David Gordon, 23, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/08/2006:  Airman Missing in Action From the Vietnam War is Identified

09/08/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Jason Merrill, 22, and Edwin Andino II, 23, Iraq, Wurzburg, Germany

09/08/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Vincent Frassetto, 21, Iraq, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

09/07/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Jeremy Shank, 18, Iraq, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

09/07/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Marshall Gutierrez, 41, NCD, Camp Virginia, Area Support Group, Arijan, Kuwait

09/07/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Germaine Debro, 33, Iraq, Nebraska Army National Guard

09/06/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Richard Henkes II, 32, Iraq, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

09/06/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Angel Mercado-Velazquez, 24, Iraq, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/06/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Ralph Porras, 36, and Justin Dreese, 21, Iraq, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/06/2006:  DoD Identifies Navy Casualty: Christopher Walsh, 30, Iraq, Missouri Navy Reserve (Multi National Corps – Iraq)

09/06/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Hannah Gunterman, 20, NCD, Iraq, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Shannon Squires, 25, Iraq, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Matthew Vosbein, 30, Iraq, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Ryan Miller, 21, Iraq, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualties: Jared Shoemaker, 29, Iraq, Marine Forces Reserve, Oklahoma

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Eric Valdepenas, 21, Iraq, Marine Forces Reserve, Massachusetts

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Shane Harris, 23, Iraq, Twentynine Palms, California

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualties: Cliff Golla, 21, and Philip Johnson, 19, Iraq, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Eugene Alex, 32, Iraq, Fort Wainwright, Alaska

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Michael Deason, 28, Iraq, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

09/05/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Nicholas Madaras, 19, Iraq, Fort Carson, Colorado

09/01/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Joshua Hanson, 27, Iraq, Minnesota Army National Guard

09/01/2006:  DoD Identifies Marine Casualty: Colin Wolfe, 19, Iraq, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

09/01/2006:  DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Moises Jazmin, 25, Qixing Lee, 20, Shaun Novak, 21, and Tristan Smith, 23, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

Army Pfc. Hannah McKinney Died of Injuries Sustained After She was Hit & Run Over by a Humvee in Iraq; Sgt. Damon Shell Left Her to Die on the Side of the Road (September 4, 2006)

Hannah McKinney
Pfc. Hannah Gunterman McKinney, US Army

Pfc. Hannah Gunterman McKinney, US Army, died from non-hostile incident in Taji, Iraq on September 4, 2006. Pfc. Gunterman was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the 542nd Maintenance Company, 44th Corps Support Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington. According to the Department of Defense, the incident was under investigation at the time of the press release.

According to initial media reports, Hannah left a guard tower at a logistics base in Taji, north of Baghdad, to go to the latrine and was hit and run over by a Humvee as she was crossing the road. The DoD reported that she died from injuries sustained after she was struck by a vehicle. The driver had apparently left the scene of the accident and it would be two hours before a tank crew discovered Hannah laying severely injured on a darkened perimeter road. Hannah was rushed to a hospital where she would later die. Hannah was married to a fellow soldier at Fort Lewis and was the mother of a toddler son. Her husband, Chris McKinney, told the Los Angeles Times that the Humvee driver was intoxicated and was in custody, facing disciplinary action. Chris said that every time he talked to Hannah he could tell she was as depressed as one could get. She just wanted to come home and be with her son and her family. Later we would learn that McKinney’s last hours involved alcohol, sex and a decorated Army reservist who was responsible for looking out for junior enlisted soldiers like Hannah. Although alcohol was banned in the combat zone, one of the sergeants had managed to buy vodka. Later drunk, the sergeants piled into a Humvee to bid goodbye to friends including Hannah. The soldiers were celebrating the end of their tour. They went to Hannah’s guard tower, she left her post, and they all went back to the barracks to drink.

Hannah’s parent’s Matthew and Barbara Heavrin want the American public to know the truth. According to statements in the Army Criminal Investigation Division report, Hannah got really drunk and had a sexual encounter with one of the soldiers. Her autopsy report showed a .20 blood-alcohol level. Sgt. Damon Shell testified that he attempted to take Hannah back to the Guard tower but realized she was in no shape to go back to work. On his way back to the barracks, Shell reports that he hit a bump, Hannah’s Humvee door popped open, and she fell out. Shell eventually noticed that Hannah was no longer in the Humvee and instead of stopping to help or look for his fellow soldier, he left the scene and went back to bed in the barracks. Hannah’s death resulted from injuries suffered after she fell out of a Humvee and was struck by that same vehicle. Sgt. Damon Shell was charged with involuntary manslaughter but a military jury at Fort Hood found him not guilty of that charge. Prosecutors argued that driving drunk in a war zone with an underage, incapacitated junior soldier to whom he had supplied alcohol and whose vehicle door he was the last to operate made him culpable for her death. The defense argued that Shell was not responsible for what happened to Hannah after she fell out of a Humvee known to have problems with doors popping open. They argued it was a horrible accident. Damon Shell pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of drinking, drunken driving, and consensual sodomy. He was jailed for 13 months and demoted to a private yet not discharged from the Army.

Hannah’s death benefit ($500,000) went to her husband Chris. The family learned that under military rules, nothing was required to be put aside for Todd, who was not Chris McKinney’s child. Hannah’s parents eventually testified to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs about the death benefits that went to Chris McKinney. They believe that it is an anomaly that needs to be remedied to benefit the surviving sons and daughters of deceased soldiers, sailors and airmen to assist the grandparents who raise them. Matthew Heavrin shared that the assumption was made that Chris is caring for Hannah’s son Todd, which he is not and the burden of raising Hannah’s son has been left solely to them. According to Hannah’s father, Chris McKinney never offered any of the $500,000 death benefit to the family or to Hannah’s toddler son Todd.

Her case would become one in a litany of noncombat deaths in Iraq, which number more than 700, from crashes, suicides, illnesses and accidents that sometimes reveal messy truths about life in the war zone. ~The Seattle Times

Related Links:
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Army Pfc. Hannah L. Gunterman
Local Soldier, Hannah Lee McKinney, Killed in Iraq
Redlands woman, 20, dies in Iraq
Hannah L. Gunterman McKinney, 20
Army Pfc. Hannah L. McKinney, 20, Redlands; Killed in Humvee Accident
This Week at War
When Mommy Is a War Hero
A drunken night in Iraq, a soldier left behind
An Unexpected Verdict
Hannah McKinney Raped & Murdered in Iraq 2006
A drunken night in Iraq yields painful legacy
Iraq non-combat death harsh blow to soldier’s family
Women at War
Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?
Netroots Nation: The Women’s War
The Nation: The Plight of Women Soldiers
Seeking answers to why they died
House Committee on Veterans Affairs Testimony: Matthew B. Heavrin

Army Lt. Col. Marshall Gutierrez Died of Non Combat Related Injuries in Kuwait; CID Ruled Suicide in the Midst of Wide Spread Bribery Scheme Investigation (September 4, 2006)

Marshall Gutierrez
Lt. Col. Marshall Gutierrez, U.S. Army

Army Lt. Col. Marshall Gutierrez died of non combat related injuries in Camp Virginia, Kuwait on September 4, 2006. Lt. Col. Gutierrez was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the Area Support Group in Arijan, Kuwait. At the time of the Department of Defense press release, the incident was under investigation. The Army ruled Lt. Col. Gutierrez’ death a suicide by prescription pills and anti-freeze. Lt. Col. Gutierrez was initially a whistleblower in a wide spread bribery scheme in Kuwait but after he reported the illegal activity, he soon found himself accused of bribery by a Kuwaiti contractor. Reports indicate the allegations left his military career and his marriage in ruins. Three soldiers connected to the bribery scheme investigations allegedly committed suicide. Major Gloria Davis was a witness for the prosecution and was found dead of a gunshot wound in Iraq. Sgt. Denise Lannaman was also involved in the investigation and she was found dead of a gunshot wound in her jeep on post at Camp Arijan, Kuwait.

Related Links:
Obituary: Lt. Col. Marshall A. Gutierrez
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Army Lt. Col. Marshall A. Gutierrez
Camp Arifjan Bribe Scheme Nets 17 Convictions and Three Soldier Suicides
Inside the Greed Zone
Tainted by Corruption or an Innocent Victim?
The Price of US Army ‘Confidentiality’
The ODD Death of LTC Gutierrez
From Queens to Kuwait, Where a Life Was Ended
Kuwaiti Contractor Accused of Bilking Army
Kuwait-based military contractor wins court delay
PWC says whistleblower filed 40 ‘unsuccessful’ actions in Kuwaiti Courts
Defense contractor employee (Dorothy Ellis) pleads guilty to bribery
Halliburton’s Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War