2 teen girls in Wash. Army barracks; 1 dead

[oberliner]

Source: AP

FORT LEWIS, Wash. – A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another teenage girl was discovered unconscious in a barracks on this Army base south of Tacoma, the Army said Monday.

In a statement issued about 36 hours after base emergency personnel responded to a 911 call early Sunday morning, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek said a Madigan Army Medical Center doctor declared one girl dead at the scene. The second teen was taken to Madigan for emergency medical care and was reported in stable condition Monday.

There were no outward signs of physical trauma on either girl, Piek told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday night. He said Army doctors at Madigan were performing an autopsy on the dead girl, but results might not be available for at least a week.

The Army is investigating what the girls were doing in the barracks and whether drugs or alcohol were involved, he said. The presence of the two civilian girls "in the barracks at 3:30 a.m. is likely a violation of any of the units' barracks visitation policies," he said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_on_re_us/fort_lewis_teen_death;_ylt=AkXBYCdK0QKvZGGDQz3Ks5qs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJnNmZyMGo2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwMjE3L2ZvcnRfbGV3aXNfdGVlbl9kZWF0aARwb3MDMTYEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDMnRlZW5naXJsc2lu

[saigon68]

1. likely a violation of any of the units' barracks visitation policies

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

30. uh, ya think?

what a line, and a great consolation to the dead girl's parents, I am sure

[namelessone]

2. DUH

"The presence of the two civilian girls "in the barracks at 3:30 a.m. is likely a violation of any of the units' barracks visitation policies,"

YA THINK SO??? DUH...

[underpants]

3. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[CAMMMO]

12. U.S. Army incompetence

The U.S. Army is out of control. Two days after a branch wide stand down over skyrocketed suicide rates, and now more needless death tied to an organization that sells itself to kids through video games, NASCAR, drag racing, rodeo, music festivals, you name it- as a place to learn leadership and structure. The ONLY group that can reign in the U.S. Army is U.S. citizens. Will you join our cause?

CAMMMO.org

[e-mail]

[Blandocyte]

4. Army docs doing the autopsy?

Girl's parents should've insisted on an M.E. not associated with army.

[jmowreader]

5. Oh hell no. Army docs will be MUCH better in this case

This is a case involving civilians and a fatality. The division commander is looking for scalps, and the ones he gets will include several officers and NCOs--the entire chain of command of the company the soldier was in up to AT LEAST the company level, and possibly the battalion commander and his staff will be out as well. You just don't let your troops kill underage American civilians in your barracks and get away with it.

[Alcibiades]

6. though if they had been foreign nationals...

they might have gotten off. As it is, they will be at the USDB for a long, long time.

[AlexDeLarge]

7. Really?

I've lived too long through Repugnant administrations to have any belief that any government entity can really investigate itself. Women in the barracks would be one thing, but teenagers? Something is way off here and I expect that the base commander doesn't want this to come back to him. However, it doesn't matter if he's completely unaware of this particular situation. It's his responsibility to make sure that this kind of behavior isn't even thought about on his base. If it's is allowed to be thought about, it will happen. It is most likely because he is a weak commander and the officer corps know this. This leads to a breakdown in command and word spreads like wildfire throughout the ranks. I've lived on too many bases and have seen this happen over and over when the chain of command is circumvented at various levels. The base commander is supposed to set the tone; no tone, no discipline.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Love Bug]

36. I completely agree

This is CYA written all over it. The parents should insist on a civilian ME.

[gratuitous]

19. That certainly sounds good

For me, I'll believe it when I see it. But you never know; there could actually be something approaching justice that comes out of this horrible situation, but the smart money says it's unlikely.

[RedSock]

28. underage Iraqi civilians, however ...........

***You just don't let your troops kill underage American civilians in your barracks and get away with it.***



Killing underage Iraqi civilians, however, is an act that is applauded and rewarded. ::grr:

[zbdent]

8. Don't let Morning Joe investigate it ...

didn't his investigation of the Tate "murders" end with the conclusion of "natural causes"?

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. He had a dead girl in his Congressional office.......

Lori Klausitis.

Never got investigated or resolved.

[Honeycombe8]

29. Really? I never heard that! And now he has his own show? "It's good to be the king."nt

[T Wolf]

9. Our brave men in uniform in action. How typical. This WILL be swept under the rug as long

as the military "investigates" its own atrocities.

And this is not a mere "violation of any barracks visitation policy" - it is murder.

The DUer who told us of her daughter's enlistment should take this article to that child and set her straight as to what the girl can expect if she follows through with her very bad decision.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bitchkitty]

17. Baby, how many times are you going to post this? n/t

[Beam Me Up]

21. this is spamming

your cause may be a good one but this isn't the way to get it recognized. spamming turns people off.

[LanternWaste]

34. If these types of actions happened only in the Armed services...

If these types of actions happened only in the Armed services I could more readily accept your implications, yet as rape and murder happen far more often in the civilian sector, it seems to me that it would more appropriate to state, "Americans in action, how typical"-- regardless of uniform, career or income. :shrug:

[thereismore]

10. They just drop dead, just like that. nt

[Aristus]

11. I didn't know that there WERE barracks visitation policies.

When I was stationed on Fort Knox, the after-hours situation at my unit's barracks was a little like a typical Saturday night at Hugh Hefner's place. Girls coming in and going out at all hours. Who-knows-what going on in the barracks rooms. The CQ's job was to turn a blind eye to everything, and just make sure the place didn't burn down. We had an incompetent CO and a spineless, ineffectual First Sergeant. If anything like the Fort Lewis event had taken place, there would have been massive coverups...

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ensho]

18. keep on posting, I agree our military is a mess

run by neo cons and the religiously insane

[Doctor_J]

20. OK, you can stop it now

[dysfunctional press]

22. 5 posts total...all identical.

i wonder if he has a pet cause...?
:shrug:

[jmowreader]

23. No, he just has an itchy mouse finger

[JonLP24]

39. At Fort Lewis

Barracks CQ is usually rotated by a Sergeant and lower enlisted runner. The Senior NCO and stafff duty runners usually are in charge of all of battallion while the NCO and lower enlisted are in charge of the barracks. It rotates where someone different is in charge for the night on any given night.

[classysassy]

25. "How long has this been going on?"

When I first reported to my last post,before retiring the medical company where I was assigned had civilian and enlisted female running around as if they were living there,( in the barracks).I am not surprised.

[onager]

33. Pretty common when I was in the Marines.

A couple hundred years ago.

Give the woman a utility cover (cap) and a Marine-issue raincoat. She pushed her hair under the cap, put on the raincoat and you sneaked her into the barracks thru a fire escape/exit. The Duty NCO was at the front entrance, usually watching TV or otherwise semi-comatose.

[rocktivity]

26. "Have I reached the Law And Order TV show? Have I got a story idea for you!"

"A pair of underage girls are found dead in an military barracks!"

"Don't be ridiculous--no one would believe that!"

x(
rocknation

[conspirator]

27. They were probably date raped nt

[PaddyBlueEyes]

31. Let me put this gently

The dead girl was 16, you can enlist in the Army at 17. It isnt too far fetched to think one of these girls had a soldier boyfriend. If the girl was murdered, that doesnt excuse the crime. But in all honesty, having an underage girl in the barracks isnt all that unusual.

[rocktivity]

32. We hve only the Army's word for it that there was no "physical trauma"

But one dead and one comatose has me suspecting alcohol poisioning or a drug OD.

:(
rocktivity

[Lost in CT]

35. Why would you think that?

At least one of the girls knew one of the soldiers.

It sounds more like a drug or alcohol overdose to me.

[The abyss]

37. Update here…

Nothing much new, mostly background on one of the victims and school info.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/292/story/630157.html

[JonLP24]

38. Anyone know which barracks?

I was stationed at the 57 trans barracks in Ft. Lewis 7 months ago.