Fort Lewis: Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy?

A sergeant at Fort Lewis has made the news. It was for allegedly committing a crime.

Pierce County prosecutors have charged a Fort Lewis soldier with promoting prostitution, alleging he directed two teenage girls to trade sex for money.

The girls involved in the case are 16 and 17 years old.

Stories about crimes that occur near a military base that involve military members frequently make it into the local newspapers. In some cases, the stories appear to be written in a manner that are trying to put the military in a bad light. Fort Lewis has certainly been in the news over the last few years. Not for little crimes. For big, bad crimes. I don't think the newspapers are picking on Fort Lewis, either. McChord AFB is the next door neighbor to Fort Lewis. A search for news stories about McChord yields results like "Air Show" or "Fireworks" or "USO Hugs and Kisses", but no stories about criminal behavior.

A sampling of some crimes committed or allegedly committed by Fort Lewis soldiers:

Olympia Police Arrest 2 Fort Lewis Soldiers:

Police have arrested two Fort Lewis soldiers following the weekend stabbing of a 24-year-old man outside an Olympia, Wash., bar.

Army Files Charges Against Soldier in Death of Teen at Fort Lewis:

Pvt. Timothy E. Bennitt, 19, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Leah King. He was also charged with wrongful use and distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to use controlled substances.

Soldier Sought in Abductions, Fires:

A Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade soldier accused of abducting and torturing two women is being sought on a warrant that charges kidnapping, rape and arson.

Fort Lewis Soldiers Charged in University District Holdups:

Three Fort Lewis soldiers accused of robbing University of Washington students at gunpoint last month were charged with robbery Friday in King County Superior Court.

Fort Lewis Officer Among Soldiers Accused of Skimming Reconstruction Money:

In a federal indictment in March, prosecutors alleged that Nguyen skimmed more than $690,000 in cash while acting as the civil-affairs officer responsible for overseeing millions of dollars intended for reconstruction projects and payments to private Iraqi security forces northeast of Baghdad.

Nguyen, 28, a West Point Military Academy graduate, is accused of packing stacks of cash into boxes and mailing them to his family's home.

Former Army Ranger Gets 24 Years in Prison for Bank Robbery:

According to documents filed in the case, Sommer was an Army Ranger stationed at Fort Lewis when he recruited two other Rangers, Chad Palmer and Alex Blum, and Canadian nationals Tigra Robertson and Nathan Dunmall to participate in the Aug. 7, 2006, robbery of a Bank of America branch on South Tacoma Way. The robbers, some armed with AK-47s and wearing body armor, made off with $54,011.

Admittedly, the embezzlement crime happened in Iraq, but I felt justified in including it in the list because the money was spent at or near Fort Lewis. Other than the bank robbery, which occurred in 2006, these crimes were all committed in the last six months.

What is the U.S. Army doing about this? These are serious crimes that pose a big risk to the local community. They are robbing community banks, robbing local college students at gunpoint, being very involved in the death due to drug overdose of a local girl, and pimping out local girls.

I certainly don't want to indict all of the soldiers at Fort Lewis. In fact, the soldiers that were robbing college kids were turned in by a fellow soldier after bragging about pistol-whipping one of the students. Still, these are a lot of serious crimes happening in a pretty short period of time. I have commented on these stories in the past, defending the soldiers. It is getting kind of tough to continue to comment that most of the soldiers at Fort Lewis are good people. I think that the time has come that the Commanding Officers of the base and the various units take action to protect the community. These thugs may represent only a small percentage of the soldiers at Fort Lewis, but they pose a substantial risk to the members of the surrounding communities.

I think it is time some officers at Fort Lewis get fired. I am not talking about the O-1's and O-2's. I mean guys that have scrambled eggs on their hats. They are failing in their duties and have squandered their chances to stop this crime wave emanating from Fort Lewis.

Dead Teenage Girl Found at Fort Lewis

Unfortunately, a sixteen year old girl was found dead in some barracks at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington yesterday. Not much information has come out yet, except that the investigation is being handled by the Army Criminal Investigative Division. There are already suggestions out there about our big, bad military people and how they need to be controlled because they are a bunch of thugs. Mind you, there is not yet evidence of any criminal activity. I kind of wonder, if in the interest of smoothing things over with the local government, there will be restrictions placed on the soldiers at Fort Lewis.

The last time I was in Yokosuka, the base was imposing liberty restrictions stemming from the murder of a Japanese woman, but they weren't particularly bad. Basically, we just had to be out of the bars by midnight and back on base by 1 a.m. That is probably not exactly what the restrictions were, but it was something along those lines. I had to ask what time we would be allowed out the next day.

Apparently, the boat was given guidance about what time to have us back on base, but not on what time we would be unleashed in the morning. Since we had to be back on base at 1 a.m., I suggested that we should be allowed to go back out in town at 1 a.m. That didn't happen. Instead, a time was thrown out there like 8 a.m., which caused a group of people that like to run in the morning to protest. I think in the end, we had to be back on base at 1 a.m. and were released at 5 a.m.

I don't think liberty restrictions were ever placed on us when we were in our own home port, but I wonder if something like that will be coming for Fort Lewis. I read a story in the Seattle Times this morning that took advantage of this incident to dredge up some serious criminal activity by a few, very few, of the soldiers stationed at Fort Lewis. This is somewhat premature since no criminal activity has yet been alleged. Still, we know that there are a lot of people that will use this incident to indict every military post in the area, which includes Fort Lewis, McChord Air Force Base, Bangor, and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, along with several smaller military bases.

Some of the incidents that have been brought up are some recent robberies of University of Washington students and a 2006 bank robbery masterminded by an Army Ranger. By and large, the military is full of great people, but their image is being tarnished by a few high profile incidents. This incident is not even proven to be related to criminal activity, and it is already being used to discredit the Army.

Here is the story from the Seattle Times.

The New iArmy?

I remember from my first decade of service how slow and cautious the Navy is when it comes to incorporating new technology into it's ships. The differences between my first boat, the USS Shark, and the later submarines that I served on, culminating with duty aboard the USS Tucson, are like night and day. The Navy eventually embraced the idea of bringing it's ships into the 21st century and the results have made the Navy a more capable fighting force. Incorporation of modern computers into many ship's systems has enabled sailors to more efficiently perform the duties that are necessary to make a ship a deadly instrument of war.

The Army is looking at ways to utilize the latest civilian technology to help complete it's missions. The iPhone is receiving some pretty serious attention based on it's ability to incorporate so many useful functions in one small package. The idea of a hand-held communication device, GPS system, camera, photo storage, and a host of other applications has piqued the interest of the Army's technology geeks. One innovative idea is the use of an application that allows the iPhone to control a tactical mobile robot for EOD purposes and for missions on the battlefield.

“The iPhone has tremendous potential as a mobile device for the Army because it really is a computer platform that happens to have a phone in it,” Wallington said.

One Army vendor, iRobot, has seen an application developed for the iPhone to control its PackBot, a lightweight tactical mobile robot capable of performing such dangerous battlefield missions as explosive ordnance reconnaissance, identification and disposal.

Wallington said the same iPhone capability that serves as a control device for digital games can be used to steer and drive the robot."

More from the Army Times

Obviously, the Army will have to do a lot of work to ensure the security of the iPhone is sufficient to allow it to be used for sensitive information. Technology is becoming so sophisticated and they would have to be very certain that there are no "backdoors" that would compromise mission security. I am sure that the Army is well aware of the threat posed by a potential cyber warfare campaign. Widespread use of iPhones in mission planning and execution would provide one more potential opening to that threat.

There are also a few more practical considerations. For example, what if a soldier drops their iPhone in the toilet just moments before a big battle is to take place? He could potentially compromise the mission by dropping out of the communications loop. Even worse, he could become trapped in his zeal to retrieve this vital piece of equipment, similar to the poor fellow in this article.

It gets even worse. The soldiers may find themselves using pit latrines. Dropping an cell phone in a place like that can create a potentially deadly situation!!!

Think I'm exaggerating? Read this article to learn just how deadly this situation can be.

I am sure that the iPhone or an iPhone-like device will be incorporated at some point. They are a virtual gold-mine of applications wrapped up into one tiny little package and that is too valuable to pass up.