Soldier from Florida among 6 Fort Stewart soldiers killed

6 Stewart-based soldiers killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 14, 2013

ATLANTA — A Fort Stewart spokesman says six soldiers based at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield have died this week in Afghanistan.

Defense Department officials said Wednesday that 26-year-old Staff Sgt. Rex L. Schad, of Edmond, Okla., was killed Monday by small arms fire in the Jalrez District, west of Kabul. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin M. Larson said Schad joined the Army in 2006, served in the 3rd Infantry Division and was on his second deployment.

21-year-old Spc. Zachary L. Shannon of Dunedin, Fla., was killed Monday night with four other American service members when their helicopter crashed in Kandahar province.
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UPDATE March 16, 2013

Helicopter crash killing 5 stuns Ft. Stewart
By Russ Bynum
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 15, 2013

The Army notified the Scialdo family of his death late Monday, Susan Scialdo said. The shock was compounded by the fact that the soldier's 93-year-old grandfather had died just two days earlier.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — As a crew chief aboard Black Hawk helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army Staff Sgt. Marc Scialdo made his family so proud back home in Florida that his parents and siblings gave him a nickname: "the Golden Boy."

"He made our family shine," the 31-year-old soldier's mother, Susan Scialdo, said Friday. "He lifted us all. He was just an awesome individual. Always helpful, always shining."

Now Scialdo's family in Naples, Fla., and those of the soldiers he flew with are grieving, along with the fellow aviators who trained and served beside them at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah. Five soldiers, including Scialdo, died Monday when their UH-60 Black Hawk crashed, making it the deadliest day so far this year for U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.

While his mother confirmed Scialdo was killed in the crash, the Army by Friday afternoon still had not released names of the soldiers who died. Maj. Gen. Robert A. Abrams, commanding general for Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, said Wednesday from Afghanistan the crew was flying a routine training mission using night-vision goggles. No enemy attacks were reported, but the cause of the crash was still being investigated. .

The deaths stunned Army soldiers and families of the 3rd Infantry Division in southeast Georgia, and the fatalities didn't end with the Black Hawk crash. The Army identified Fort Stewart-based Staff Sgt. Rex L. Schad, 26, of Edmond, Okla., as one of two U.S. soldiers killed Monday in what Afghan officials said was a machine gun attack by one of their own policemen. Another Fort Stewart soldier, 26-year-old Spc. David T. Proctor of Greensboro, N.C., died Wednesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center from noncombat injuries he suffered in Afghanistan 10 days earlier.
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516 suicides across all branches for 2012

While Col. Carl Castro was quoted in this article, he was not asked why his programs have failed and what is being done to correct this less than honorable outcome. Why isn't anyone asking him about Battlemind? Why isn't anyone asking him about Resilience Training? Why isn't anyone asking who is being held accountable for any of this?

Army Col. Carl Castro, director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program, said that while much is known about factors involved suicides, the Pentagon is playing catch-up.

and then he said

“And I think that's sort of where we're at and why this is such a difficult problem to get a hold of,” Castro said. “They're all fully engaged, so I think until we can sort of turn that corner and get that sort of maximum involvement, it's always just going to be a real tough nut to crack, but we are committed to solving this problem.”

Most suicides ever for Army, military
By Sig Christenson
Updated 11:01 pm, Friday, February 1, 2013

The Army, by far the largest branch of the armed forces, set a record for suicides last year with 325, almost two-thirds of all military suicides.

It also was a record year throughout the military, with 516 suicides across all branches.

Suicides have bedeviled the military for years, with deaths rising after the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the Army, which has borne the brunt of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, has suffered the most.

Posts most involved in those wars reflect the problem, and none has more suicides than Fort Hood.

The Central Texas installation, which sent two divisions to Iraq three times, has had 129 suicides since 2003, including 19 last year.

The Army's Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention Office has found that suicides are driven by a complex set of factors ranging from deployment time and relationship problems to substance abuse and money woes.

A plague of military suicides
The Army has tried to curb the number of soldiers killing themselves amid repeated tours to war zones, but so far it's found no solutions. The number of suicides since 2003 reported at some of the Army's largest posts:
Fort Hood: 129
Fort Bragg, N.C. : 101
Fort Campbell, Ky.: 92
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.: 81
Fort Carson, Colo.: 59
Fort Stewart, Ga.: 57
SOURCE: U.S. Army

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Soldier Crime Wave in U.S. Seen Fueled by Army Ignoring Distress

Is this a real problem in the military? Yes it is. It is also important to point out something that never seems to get enough attention. The vast majority of our forces return without getting into any trouble with or without PTSD. We see more and more reports of them taking their own lives than we do about crimes.

Unlike Vietnam, when they came home and all you read in your newspapers were reports of veterans getting into trouble, we now have citizen journalists making sure people learn a lot more than the "terrible" about them.

Soldier Crime Wave in U.S. Seen Fueled by Army Ignoring Distress
Elliot Blair Smith
©2012 Bloomberg News
September 14, 2012


Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sergeant Deirdre Aguigui had been dead less than three months when a police officer alerted the Army and FBI: Her widower was stockpiling high-powered firearms.

The officer reported that Isaac Aguigui, a private on leave, bought 15 weapons at a store in East Wenatchee, Washington. His wife’s battered body had been found in their home at Fort Stewart in Georgia, and the autopsy, noting the couple had “marital problems,” said how she died was undetermined. He received $500,000 in life insurance benefits.

A relative alarmed by the purchases and unnerved by the unexplained death tipped off police, the officer, John Kruse, said. Still, Aguigui didn’t break any laws in buying the guns, and was free to return to Georgia -- where prosecutors say he amassed more firearms and committed murder.

The 21-year-old Aguigui and two other soldiers were charged Aug. 10 with killing two teenagers to conceal a plot to use $87,000 worth of munitions to blow up a fountain in Savannah, bomb a dam in Washington, overthrow the government and kill the president. Indictments four days ago widened the alleged conspiracy to a total of 10 people, eight of them current or former soldiers.

“The Army painted over something,” said Brett Roark, whose son was one of the victims, shot in the head as he knelt in a south Georgia swamp. “If they knew, it’s very wrong. If they didn’t know, they’re very stupid. Either way, a lot of people are dead and many lives are ruined.”

More sketchy recruits helped explain why violent crimes committed by active-duty soldiers at home and abroad rose 31 percent between 2006 and 2011 to 399 per 100,000 troops, according to an Army report issued in January. It found a crime is committed in the Army every six minutes, and a homicide every 63 hours, and cited growing “high-risk behavior with increasingly more severe outcomes.”

“We saw this in Vietnam -- you get these substandard troops and pretty soon you’re screwed,” said Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star general who is a military consultant and analyst. “This put the military at risk.”

Assistant District Attorney Isabel Pauley said Aguigui was FEAR’s ringleader, an Army intelligence analyst who “actively recruited new members at Fort Stewart and targeted soldiers who were troubled or disillusioned.”
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Army investigating Fort Stewart soldier missing at sea

Army investigates soldier missing at sea from cruise
Posted: Aug 31, 2012
SAVANNAH, GA
WTOC

The Army's Criminal Investigation Division has joining the case of a Fort Stewart soldier who went missing at sea after going overboard on a cruise ship.

Army Sgt. Ronald Kemp, 31, who is assigned to Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, went overboard Tuesday morning when a Carnival cruise ship Fascination was 25 miles off of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., according to the Coast Guard.
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Army sergeant still missing after jumping off Carnival cruise ship August 30, 2012

Stepdad takes swing at soldier facing charges for killing his daughter

What is the wire under his shirt?

Wesley Thomas, the step father of Tiffany York, is tackled by courtroom security during the hearing of defendant Sgt. Anthony Peden at Long County Superior Court, Thursday Aug. 30, 2012, in Ludowici, Ga. STEPHEN MORTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Stepdad takes swing at soldier who killed his daughter to cover up Obama assassination plot
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against three soldiers accused of killing former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend Tiffany York in order to protect an anti-government group
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012

LUDOWICI, Ga. — Georgia prosecutors will seek the death penalty against three Army soldiers accused of killing a former serviceman and his girlfriend to protect an anti-government militia group, officials said Thursday during tense court hearings in which one victim's stepfather was tackled and handcuffed as he tried to rush the defense table.

Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Pvt. Christopher Salmon and Sgt. Anthony Peden — all active-duty soldiers stationed at Fort Stewart — are each charged with 13 counts including malice murder, felony murder and illegal gang activity in the Dec. 4 slayings.

The victims, former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York, were shot in the head in the woods of rural Long County near Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia. Fishermen found their bodies the day after they were killed.

"I want them gone. I want all of these individuals to disappear," said Nicholas Lee York, the slain girl's older brother, who applauded the decision to seek death for the soldiers. "They took something irreplaceable from me."
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Georgia prosecutor seeks death penalty for 3 Fort Stewart soldiers

Georgia prosecutor seeks death penalty for 3 soldiers
The Associated Press
Published: August 30, 2012

LUDOWICI, Ga. (AP) -- Georgia prosecutors will seek the death penalty against three Army soldiers accused of killing a former serviceman and his girlfriend to protect an anti-government militia group, officials said Thursday during tense court hearings in which one victim's stepfather was tackled and handcuffed as he tried to rush the defense table.

Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Pvt. Christopher Salmon and Sgt. Anthony Peden - all active-duty soldiers stationed at Fort Stewart - are each charged with 13 counts including malice murder, felony murder and illegal gang activity in the Dec. 4 slayings.

The victims, former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York, were shot in the head in the woods of rural Long County near Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia. Fishermen found their bodies the day after they were killed.

"I want them gone. I want all of these individuals to disappear," said Nicholas Lee York, the slain girl's older brother, who applauded the decision to seek death for the soldiers. "They took something irreplaceable from me."
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Army sergeant still missing after jumping off Carnival cruise ship

UPDATE September 2, 2012
Army investigating Fort Stewart soldier missing at sea

Army sergeant still missing after jumping off Carnival cruise ship
By Arelis R. Hernández and Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel
August 29, 2012

Military officials today identified the man who jumped off a Carnival cruise ship Tuesday as an Army soldier stationed in Fort Stewart, Ga.

Sgt. Ronald Kemp, 31, is assigned to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, according to Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Air Force reservists are still searching for Kemp, who was last seen by Carnival security jumping off the top deck of the ship Tuesday into the waters off the Volusia County coast.

Larson said Kemp's family was notified immediately and Army officials are providing support.

Officials wouldn't speculate on the possible reasons Kemp jumped.

Kemp is an Iraq war veteran, having served two tours overseas. He was assigned to the Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield in September 2010 and has been stateside ever since, officials said.

A security guard said he saw Kemp leap from the 10th deck of the into the water 87 feet below at about 2 a.m. Tuesday, the Coast Guard said.
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Relative reported worries about soldier, police say

Relative reported worries about soldier, police say
Published August 28, 2012
Associated Press

SEATTLE – A relative of one of four soldiers accused by Georgia authorities of killing a fellow soldier and plotting anti-government acts came to police with concerns about the man almost a year ago, authorities in central Washington said Tuesday.

The female relative, who didn't want to be named, called police in September 2011 to relay her worries about Isaac Aguigui, who is originally from the small town of Cashmere near Wenatchee, police Sgt. John Kruse said.

The woman told police that Aguigui's wife had died in July 2011 under suspicious circumstances, and the soldier had bought 15 firearms from a store in Wenatchee while on leave from the military.

Kruse said police checked the report and confirmed Aguigui had purchased 15 firearms, including some semi-automatic rifles, and did so legally.

As a precaution, police contacted the Army's criminal investigation division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, which confirmed there was an open investigation regarding the wife's death, Kruse said.
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Fort Stewart Ex-soldier can’t recall standoff

Ex-soldier can’t recall standoff: lawyer
By Russ Bynum - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday May 3, 2012

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A former soldier charged with taking hostages at gunpoint inside an Army hospital in Georgia suffers from severe post-traumatic stress and has no memory of the 2010 standoff, his defense attorney said Thursday.

The attorney for Robert Anthony Quinones, 31, tried unsuccessfully to persuade a U.S. Magistrate Court judge to throw out statements the suspected gunman made to investigators — including that he planned to kill President Obama and former President Bill Clinton — on grounds that he was too mentally ill to waive his Miranda rights.

Prosecutors say Quinones was armed with an assault rifle and other firearms as he took three employees hostage at Winn Army Community Hospital on Fort Stewart on Sept. 6, 2010, and demanded mental treatment. He surrendered two hours later, and no one was harmed.

Quinones later underwent a court-ordered mental evaluation. His attorney, Karl Zipperer, said in court Thursday that the former soldier had attempted suicide, been hospitalized and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after he returned from a 15-month tour in Iraq in 2007. That diagnosis led to him being discharged from the Army.
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Ex-soldier charged in standoff wants VA help

Ex-soldier charged in standoff wants VA help
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday May 3, 2012

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A former Army soldier facing charges in a 2010 hostage standoff in southeast Georgia wants a federal judge to grant him bond so that he can get treatment from the Veterans Administration.

Robert Anthony Quinones had a hearing scheduled Thursday morning. He’s accused of taking three hostages at gunpoint at the Army hospital on Fort Stewart and demanding treatment.
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Army spouse of the year proves PTSD doesn't have to end anything

Real People: Woman named Army Spouse of the Year
March 04, 2012
Molly McGowan/Times-News

Military deployment doesn’t just impact the troops who leave home to serve.

Not by a long shot.

It’s also a tumultuous time for the families left behind. Alamance County native Crystal Cavalier knows all about it.

Cavalier, now living in Fort Bragg, has raised her children, worked with several organizations for military families, seen her oldest daughter diagnosed with juvenile arthritis, started a nonprofit and earned her master’s degree while her husband, Sgt. Dany Cavalier, was deployed in the Middle East.

That’s why the sergeant nominated his wife for the 2011 Military Spouse of the Year Award, sponsored by Military Spouse Magazine and Armed Forces Insurance. Though the overall winner was Bianca Strzalkowski, representing the Marine Corps, Cavalier is the 2011 Army branch award-winner, the 2011 Army Spouse of the Year.

Born in Burlington, Cavalier grew up in Mebane and graduated from Eastern High School before attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Cavalier’s been a military spouse for more than a decade, and has lived at Fort Bragg for the past six years, where her husband — an E5 mechanic — is stationed during his current tour of duty to South Korea.

Cavalier said her husband has been deployed four times. He’s served three tours in Iraq and once in Kosovo. Each deployment ranged from seven to 14 months and during those times, Cavalier kept busy.

All the work she’s done — both volunteer and paid — has been to help families of military personnel stay informed, become acclimated and gain as much peace as possible while their loved ones are overseas. As soon as she got married, Cavalier volunteered in her husband’s “family readiness group,” then became a leader of the FRG at Fort Stewart and Fort Riley.

The first time her husband came back, he was only home for a short time and didn’t have enough down time to “forget about what happened,” said Cavalier. His second deployment was tougher.

“He was actually blown up on his Humvee … (and) he was stabbed in the back by an insurgent,” she said. “When he came home, he started showing signs of PTSD.”

Cavalier said many soldiers originally thought it a sign of weakness to ask for help or therapy following deployment, but she said it’s important for them to feel at ease asking for medical help. That’s why Cavalier spoke at this year’s Boots on the Ground Conference in Fayetteville, where she emphasized to non-military medical professionals the importance of making resources available to soldiers who no longer live on a base.
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Sgt. Joshua Born, one of two soldiers killed over Quran burning

Soldier with Southern Illinois Family Killed in Afghanistan
By Stephanie Tyrpak
By Jared Roberts
Story Created: Feb 24, 2012
OLIVE BRANCH -- Joshua Born was one of two American soldiers killed amidst angry riots, sparked by the burning of Korans at a U.S. base in Afghanistan. The Florida native leaves behind a 22-year-old widow in Olive Branch.

Joshua and Megan Born first connected online on a site for sports cars.

"They were both Mazda RX8 fanatics," said Megan's mother Cindy Parker. "They just got to be really good friends."

Once they met in person, the young couple's love of cars quickly grew into a love for eachother.

"When she went down to meet his parents in Florida...she went to visit and I told her 'don't come back talking about getting married,'" siad Parker. "And she did."

In June 2010, just a few months after meeting, Josh and Megan were married at a beach wedding in Georgia.
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Fort Stewart Soldier killed in Ga. crash remembered as having a big heart

Soldier killed in Ga. crash remembered as having a big heart
Christiaan Bush's mother says, 'He made sure he was taking care of everybody'

By DAVE McMILLION
davem@herald-mail.com
7:10 p.m. EST, February 9, 2012

Christiaan Bush started thinking about enlisting in the armed forces when he was about 6 years old, his mother said Thursday.

“I wouldn’t let him do it right out of high school,” said Amy Werner of Clear Spring.

So instead of going into the service at that point, he enrolled in Universal Technical Institute in Exton, Pa., to study auto mechanics, Werner said.

When Bush finished that training, he still wanted to go into the military, Werner said.

“That was his way of contributing and doing his part. He had a passion for it,” she said.

Bush, 22, a Hagerstown resident and a 2007 graduate of Smithsburg High School, was killed Sunday night at Fort Stewart, Ga., when the motorcycle he was riding collided with a car, a post official said Wednesday.
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War not over: Ga. vets of Iraq now going to Afghanistan

War not over: Ga. vets of Iraq now going to Afghan
By Russ Bynum
Associated Press / February 3, 2012


FORT STEWART, Ga.—About 700 soldiers from Georgia are among the latest U.S. troops headed to Afghanistan for a war that continues even after the Iraq conflict's end, leaving anxious spouses and parents who wonder why their loved ones are still fighting.

A battalion from Fort Stewart, near Savannah, is deploying in the coming days, the first engagement in Afghanistan for ground forces from the Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division that fought four times in Iraq, including in the invasion of Baghdad in 2003. Two more battalions are scheduled to follow this spring and summer.

"Do I really want him to go to war? No," said Christy Van Nest of her husband, Sgt. Jeffrey Van Nest, one of the deploying soldiers. "...It was sudden for a lot of the families and there was that conflict where we don't want to see our soldiers leave."

At a departure ceremony for the troops this week, she said she's proud of her husband and his fellow soldiers in spite of her concerns, then added: "There's a very real possibility that some of these people won't come home."
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Georgia National Guard soldier killed in car accident

Soldier Killed in Traffic Accident
A Georgia National Guard soldier died Thursday after his car crashed into a school bus.
By Ryan Smith
January 13, 2012
A Georgia National Guard soldier who worked on Fort Stewart was killed Thursday when his car crashed into a Tattnall County school bus, according to a Fort Stewart press release.

Sgt. Steven M. Coghlan, 30, was killed when his car hit the school bus at about 6:30 a.m.
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Four Fort Stewart soldiers charged with killing ex-soldier and girlfriend

Father: Ex-soldier found slain in Ga. had disagreements with superiors, wanted out of Army

By Associated Press, Published: December 13

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Michael Roark had been in the Army barely a year when he started telling his father he wanted out because of disagreements with superiors at Fort Stewart. He ended up being discharged from the military, but just three days later he was found shot to death along with his girlfriend.

Georgia investigators have charged four soldiers who served with Roark at Fort Stewart in the double slaying. The 19-year-old former soldier’s father said Tuesday his son wasn’t getting along well at the Army post and had complained of a supervisor who was “coming down on his head,” but nothing that made him sense there was any danger.

“The last month and a half or two months, there was a lot of dissatisfaction between him and that NCO (noncommissioned officer) and others,” Brett Roark, the slain man’s father, told The Associated Press in an interview. “All of a sudden he went from wanting to be in the Army to saying, ‘I want to be out of the Army.’”

Fishermen found the bodies of Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York, earlier this month off a dirt road in rural Long County near the Army post. Both victims had been shot in the head. On Monday agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced charges against the four soldiers.
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Tenn. soldier suspected in shooting of Ga. deputy previously served in Iraq

Tenn. soldier suspected in shooting of Ga. deputy previously served in Iraq
By Associated Press, Published: October 24

ATLANTA — Military officials said a Tennessee Army National Guard soldier accused of killing a sheriff’s deputy, then committing suicide, had previously served in Iraq with the 3rd Infantry Division.

Spc. Christopher Michael Hodges served with the division based at Fort Stewart between 2005 and 2009 and deployed to Iraq in 2007-2008.
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Tenn Guardsman kills deputy then self


Funeral arrangements for Deputy Paugh

The family of Deputy J.D. Paugh has invited PGR to stand in honor for his services to the state, county and especially the motorcycling community he gave so much of his time to.

Visitation:

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Thomas King Funeral Home

124 Davis Rd.

Martinez, GA.

Military records sought in slaying of Ga. deputy
The Associated Press

ATLANTA — Investigators were awaiting military records and autopsy results Monday to help explain why a National Guardsman allegedly gunned down a sheriff's deputy and then killed himself on the side of a highway in Georgia.
Officials said Spc. Christopher Michael Hodges, 26, was firing gunshots at passing cars moments before the off-duty deputy pulled over to investigate a suspicious car on the side of the road early Sunday.

Hodges and Richmond County Deputy James Paugh, 47, were found dead on the side of Bobby Jones Expressway after 1 a.m. Sunday.
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SGT Sophie Champoux, U.S. Army, Funeral Set In Clermont, FL

SGT Sophie Champoux U.S. Army Clermont, FL

10 Oct. 2011

Becker Funeral Home
806 Minneola Drive
Clermont, FL 34711-2118

The family of Sophie Champoux has invited the Patriot Guard Riders to stand in silent respect for this hero.

SGT Champoux, 25, was born and raised in Clermont, Florida and attended South Lake and East Ridge High Schools. She loved the sport of softball and played short stop for awhile. She was a member of the ROTC while at South Lake High School. SGT Champoux served three (3) years in the Army and was on active duty when she passed. She served at White Sands, New Mexico, Afghanistan and Ft. Stewart, Georgia.
editor's note: comment left by reader corrected her name from Sophia to Sophie

Fort Stewart Soldier stabbed by another for defending woman

Stewart soldier stabbed by fellow soldier after defending woman from attack
Posted: August 21, 2011

By Constance Cooper
A Fort Stewart soldier is in stable condition at Memorial University Medical Center after being stabbed multiple times by another soldier Sunday morning, according to Long County sheriff's office Lt. Tom Sollosi, who is investigating the case.

The stabbing happened when the victim tried to stop another soldier from assaulting a woman, Sollosi said.

The sheriff’s office wasn’t releasing the name of the victim or his alleged attacker Sunday night.

The victim’s family still is being notified, Sollosi said. And his alleged attacker, who is being held on suicide watch at the Liberty County jail, hasn’t been formally charged with a crime yet.

Sollosi said that’s why they haven’t released his name.
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Sentencing of Fort Stewart soldier to resume in late June

Sentencing of Ga. soldier to resume in late June
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT STEWART, Ga. -- An Army sergeant convicted of murder is scheduled to return to a Fort Stewart courtroom in late June for the sentencing phase of his trial to resume.

Sentencing of Ga. soldier to resume in late June

Reminder of what this story is all about.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Sgt. said ‘kill me’ as leaders lay dying

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 13, 2009 16:29:46 EDT

FORT STEWART, Ga. — The sergeant accused of killing his squad leader and his fellow team leader in Iraq shouted “just kill me” as the other men lay bleeding, according to testimony at his Article 32 hearing on Monday.

Several fellow soldiers testified Monday morning they heard Sgt. Joseph C. Bozicevich saying “kill me” after the shootings in the early hours of Sept. 14, 2008, at Patrol Base Jurf as Sahkr, south of Baghdad. Bozicevich is charged with premeditated murder in the deaths of Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson, 24, of Pensacola, Fla., and Sgt. Wesley R. Durbin, 26, of Hurst, Texas, who were each shot multiple times.

The soldiers were with A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. Bozicevich and Durbin were team leaders, and Dawson was their squad leader. Durbin and Dawson were counseling Bozicevich when he opened fire with his M4, Army officials have said.
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Sgt. said ‘kill me’ as leaders lay dying

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich faces trail for slaying two soldiers
Sgt. accused of killing NCOs to face trial

By Russ Bynum - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 8, 2009 7:05:43 EDT

SAVANNAH, Georgia — An Army sergeant accused of slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier in Iraq will face a court-martial and could be sentenced to death if convicted, the military said Tuesday.

Army prosecutors say Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, shot his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson, and Sgt. Wesley Durbin on Sept. 14 at a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol base south of Baghdad. Witnesses have said Bozicevich opened fire on the soldiers when they tried to counsel him for poor performance.

Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division based at Georgia's Fort Stewart, ordered a general court-martial for Bozicevich on charges of murder. His decision Tuesday was based on preliminary evidence heard in April at the accused soldier's Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury.

If Bozicevich is convicted but not sentenced to death, he would face life in prison without parole, said Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson. No trial date has been set.

Bozicevich's attorney, Charles Gittins, said Tuesday evening he had no comment.

Dawson's stepmother, Maxine Mathis, said she was thankful the military was moving forward with the case. But she said she couldn't support the death penalty for Bozicevich.

"If they could just send him to prison, that wouldn't bother me one bit," Mathis said by phone from Pensacola, Fla. "I just feel in my heart something snapped in that man. I don't know what those young men go through over there."
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Sgt. accused of killing NCOs to face trial