THE TWO MEN who carried out apparent terror attacks on New Year’s Day — killing 15 people by plowing a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, and detonating a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas — both had U.S. military backgrounds, according to the Pentagon.
From 1990 to 2010, about seven persons per year with U.S. military backgrounds committed extremist crimes. Since 2011, that number has jumped to almost 45 per year, according to data from a new, unreleased report shared with The Intercept by Michael Jensen, the research director at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, at the University of Maryland.
Military service is also the single strongest individual predictor of becoming a “mass casualty offender,” far outpacing mental health issues, according to a separate study of extremist mass casualty violence by the researchers.
From 1990 through 2023, 730 individuals with U.S. military backgrounds committed criminal acts that were motivated by their political, economic, social, or religious goals, according to data from the new START report. From 1990 to 2022, successful violent plots that included perpetrators with a connection to the U.S. military resulted in 314 deaths and 1,978 injuries — a significant number of which came from the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
“According toSalt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, Jennifer Gledhill, 41, is facing several felonies including first-degree murder after she allegedly shot her husband, Matthew Johnson, and buried him in a shallow grave last month.”
“Documents say the missing person investigation began on Sept. 25 when the Utah National Guard called the police requesting assistance in locating Johnson after he did not come into work.”
“Prescription pills are meant to help veterans cope with the injuries they bring home from service — physical and mental. However, advocates say that medications might do more harm than good. Advocates also say more needs to be done to examine the link between prescription medications and medication suicide.”
“On Tuesday, Tim Jensen with the Grunt Style Foundation hosted the first-ever national summit exploring the potential role that certain prescription medications play in a growing number of veteran suicides. ‘Specifically to the overprescribing and abuse of psychotropics within the veteran community,’ according to Jensen.”
Oct. 19 event to shine a light on mental health struggles of veterans, active-duty service members.
This year, the Brandon Caserta Foundationand ASU’s Pat Tillman Veterans Centerare teaming up for a lantern procession of their own, this one to raise awareness around the mental health struggles of veterans and active-duty service members.
“Suicide in the military is at an epidemic level, and we’re hoping this walk is a way to honor the ones we have lost, the ones who are struggling and the ones who have attempted to take their lives but are still with us,” said Teri Caserta, who along with husband Patrick started the Brandon Caserta Foundation in 2021. The foundation offers assistance, guidance, education and resources to active-duty service members, veterans and their families.
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A haunting note written by a former United States Air Force Academy cadet, now leading her parents to file wrongful death claims against the Academy.
“Do all that you can to make sure I am the last one,” was the chilling directive 22-year-old Cailin Foster left in her suicide note to her parents on Nov. 7, 2021.
Cailin Foster’s suicide note to her family, November 2021
Gary, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who graduated in 1990, attempted to engage with Academy leadership about what happened to his daughter. He spoke with people who were his former colleagues and friends, only to be met with what he described as people unable to comment.
When they requested a report regarding the investigation into their daughter’s death, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base sent them 159 black pages of redacted content.
1 of 159-page report regarding Cailin’s death sent to The Fosters by USAFA. Courtesy: Gary Foster
“Not one letter, word, or punctuation mark was provided. They literally gave us 159 pages like this,” said Gary in disbelief. The Fosters say Air Force Academy has yet to provide any direct documentation to them.
“The sizable military installation has long come under fire over allegations of coverups and abuse“
The report also pointed to a lack of experience and high turnover within the ranks of the Criminal Investigation Department, leading to problems with launching sufficient investigations.
As it stands, there are more than 1,000 deserters wanted by the U.S. Army and it remains unclear explicitly what is being done to determine their fates. Ten months before Guillen disappeared, Pvt. Gregory Morales also vanished from Fort Hood. His body was unintentionally recovered a few miles from the base in June, during the search for Guillen. He had been listed as AWOL in August 2019 and later as a deserter.
However, for his mother, Kim Wedel, her life in Oklahoma halted as she pleaded for assistance and answers from Fort Hood’s Army Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
“If any other business had this many glaring problems, leadership would be gone. Why did it take an investigation to see that the CID was understaffed and overwhelmed? There was a lack of response from CID, and they certainly didn’t know what to do with me as a mom calling all the time,” Wedel told Fox News.
The Killeen Police Department is heading the investigation into Morales’ death, in which foul play is suspected, according to local reports.
“The Army didn’t care enough to see there was a problem,” Wedel asserted. “I still haven’t really heard from anyone down there. My son will never be at the forefront, and it is shocking how many parents like us are out there. People don’t just disappear because they choose to.”
However, many soldiers and families connected to Fort Hood told Fox News that the personnel changes were merely cosmetic, and they feared “business as usual” when the spotlight faded.
Jennifer Norris, an Air Force veteran and military crime analyst who has focused on Fort Hood issues since 2016, said in order to look forward, one also must look back.
“The deaths ruled a suicide – they need to be investigated. Why did they take their lives? Were those deaths properly investigated? Was it really a suicide, or was it a murder? Everything needs to be questioned,” she added. “We can’t just pretend the last 20 years didn’t happen.”
Yet another body was recovered near Fort Hood army base in Texas. This is the fourth dead soldier found there in a month, further adding to the compound’s robust history of violence and harassment toward personnel. -RT America (July 29, 2020)
My Last Breath by Suzie Caballero Turner, Gold Star Family
Ft. Hood tried to cover up 2 other deaths,
When Greg and Vanessa took their last breath.
Lying to the family, wouldn’t tell them the truth,
Hoping no one would ask, their story runs smooth…
But there is a group, Gold Star Families their name,
Who knew much better, Ft. Hood is the blame.
But this is much bigger than sexual assualt you see,
This is about soldiers killing him, them, and me,
About Heroes who once fought for us,
But when one dies, we can’t make a fuss.
Don’t get me wrong, sexual assault is a crime,
And those who commit it, better do the time,
But this situation is bigger you see…
It’s about lies told when they killed me.
Told my family I put a gun to my head,
But a soldier in arms is why I am dead,
My family knows better, you’re telling a lie,
They know for a fact, that’s not how I’d die.
A medical death, how quickly you lied,
Another soldier is the reason that I died,
His corruptive lifestyle, I didn’t agree,
So he thought he’d go on and silence me.
I’m only a Sgt, take orders from command,
What they tell me to do is out of my hands,
The mission they gave me, sounds dangerous to me,
Tried to talk to command, but they just disagree.
Now the mission’s over, just like it played in my head…
So they try to blame me, because we all end up dead…
It took them a month to find me and my car,
They didn’t realize that they took this too far,
Sending my phone signals to my home state,
Hoping my family will just take the bait,
While they decide what they’re going to say
About what happened to me when i died that day.
Suicide is what you tell my wife…
Multiple stab wounds from somebody’s knife
She knows me better, knows you’re telling a lie
She knows this isn’t the way I would die…
Commander and others like treating me bad,
So I finally stood up, only got them mad,
So now I am unresponsive, face down on my bed,
Another soldier in arms is why I am dead…
Healthy as ever, pass each PT test,
Taking care of me, doing my best,
All of a sudden, I fell on the floor,
All they tell my family, “She’s not breathing any more.”
Lie to my family, not medical death,
But a coward soldier who took my last breath.
These are just a few of the hundreds of deaths,
When our own fellow soldier took us from our last breath,
It wasn’t at war, not by the other country,
But one of our own who ended my life for me.
Higher command tries to diffuse the crime,
By making up a story and not doing the time.
Lying to the family, saying stories untrue,
Making families think there’s nothing they can do.
This needs to stop, too many have died!
Too many families to whom they’ve lied!
Now it’s time to make things right!
By telling the truth and letting us fight,
Fight for our loved ones who can no longer speak,
Because the truth is all we seek!
To demand the truth about their death,
And who made them take their last breath!
They deserve respect, justice, and closure too,
So quit being a coward and do what you’re supposed to do,
Start acting like the soldier you signed up to be
So families again, can believe in humanity!
Don’t get me wrong, we can’t blame them all,
We can’t expect all of Ft. Hood to fall,
For all the corrupt cowards who led a hero to death,
And watched him as he took his final breath.
This isn’t just happening on Ft. Hood you see,
This is happening within all military,
Some of these deaths are Marines, and Navy too,
Every military branch has got quite a few…
But just like the corrupt ones, not all of them are bad…
There are also some good ones who the corrupt ones make mad..
There are many true soldiers still left you see,
Who are doing what’s right, fighting for him, her, and me,
So don’t disrespect a true soldier in any way…
Because of what corruption may have played out today.
So weed out the cowards and take them away,
Throw them in a prison for taking our loved ones that day…
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 