SF SFC arrested with explosives in TX airport
Tman sends us a link from Associated Press article in regards to a special forces Sergeant First Class who sits in the jail at Midland, TX for attempting to board an airplane with some explosives.
[Trey Scott Atwater, 30] was detained after a routine Transportation Security Administration (TSA) check noticed he had explosives in his carry on luggage while trying to board an American Eagle flight from Midland International Airport to Dallas Saturday morning, according to an FBI statement.
Officials declined to speculate on the reason Atwater had the explosives, which city officials said were in “military grade explosives wrapping” in his bag.
It’s nice to see that TSA finally caught someone. It’s also nice to see that Associated Press actually checked with the military before just running with this story;
Lt. Col. Tom Bryant, a spokesman for Army Special Operations Command at Ft. Bragg confirmed that Atwater is an Army Sergeant First Class in the elite Green Berets, assigned as an instructor at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg, where he is a member of the Special Forces Engineers.
But, just in case, I checked AKO and found he is indeed an instructor at the Special Warfare Center and in an 18-series MOS. I’m just happy to see everyone doing their job here. Well, everyone except Atwater, apparently.
Category: Military issues
Wonder if this is simply a case of of not clearing out your assault pack.
Note to SFC Atwater… separate work pack and travel packs….
Did you notice that the guy’s initials are TSA? Kismet!
Hmm…. I’d be interested in seeing what the real story is behind this. I can’t imagine that an SFC would intentionally try and bring that through a checkpoint unless he was under orders to do so.
Especially a guy with that many years under his belt.
I can’t wait to hear this guy’s excuse.
Pretty much only one of two scenarios–either he forgot it was in there in a moment of brain fart, or after so many years and being an instructor might have thought the rules wouldn’t apply or he could get out by saying, “but I am a Green Beret”.
This guy did nothing wrong, coming from the same background, this happens all the time. Our units are the best of the best and for the media and TSA to make him out to be a criminal is beyond wrong. We do things no one here could imagine just so everyone has the freedom to act on their own.
@6 – I had no idea that going through the 18 course should entitle one to a get out of jail card.
To quote the Holy Avatar, Forrest Gump:
“Stupid is as stupid does.”
Yup, I’ve seen this happen before. On the way home in 2004 a team leader of mine realized that he still had a satchel charge in his carry on. Shit happens.
And #6 Clark is exhibiting the very attitude I was referring to…a belief that the law doesn’t apply to you because of your particular status. Your job is important, your contribution invaluable, but it doesn’t make you immune to the law. It’s pretty clear that bringing explosives aboard an aircraft in a post-9/11 world is a pretty stupid thing to do.
Do I think he is a criminal?…No, not really. But I do think what he did was stupid whether he felt entitled or not.
I was trained by the military to fly high performance jets and did so for 8+ years….doesn’t give me the right to walk up to the cockpit and demand some stick time….
Ouch.
put this guy in prison. he is a attempted te4rrroist. he wantd to blow up the plane. why bring c4 on it? just becaus h3 is white he is being given benefit of a deobt;
@12 nice of you to bring up the good old race card. I’m surprised you didn’t also mention the hundreds of military terrorists ala Mcveigh like the rest of DU. If it makes you feel better we can just refer to his case as another workplace violence case like every other incident that has occurred involving the military.
Back in the day, every “good demo” man had his stash. However, it was never on his property, or carried about. This Muldoon will probably PCS to the big house. Career over.
Looks like he flew halfway around the country before with explosives the week before:
http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-nc-may-flown-explosives-204812981.html
Somehow he neglected to mention this when detained this time.
“It was a test of the security systems. My assignment was to leave it in plain sight and see if anyone discovered it during their routine search operations.”
Repeat the story to TSA, cops, lawyers, judges, and the media.
This guy is WAY dumber than the former Marine who tried to check his pistol at the Empire State Bldg. WAY.
Someone on that thread asked hypothetically if we really want somebody who’s so ign’ant about NYC’s attitude toward guns to even be carrying a piece.
That goes double here: Do we REALLY want somebody who’s either a) so ign’ant about commercial aircraft and explosives (post 9/11 or not), OR b) who’s so unaware that he’s even CARRYING explosives, to be working with explosives in the first place?
Around his fellow soldiers?
Welcome to civilian life. (Whether via the slammer or otherwise.)
He just got complacent in the ways of civilian air travel. I carried a swiss army knife all the way to Germany in a rucksac. On my return they found it on my connecting flight to Texas. I thought they were going to do a body cavity search for other items.
@18 – Bit of a difference between a Swiss army knife and explosives, no?
And there’s a differance between a scalpel and a latex glove, but both are tools of a surgeons trade. Your point is?
@19 The TSA doesn’t know the difference. They are morons… just following orders is their manta. I shake my head EVERYTIME I go through their “security measures”.
Now did he actually have explosives on him, or did he have the chemical trace? that has actually happened a lot, EOD techs have been stopped and even arrested for having explosive residue on their clothing.
Personally I find it highly doubtful an SFC who trains SF engineers would take C4 onto a civilian plane. I’m thinking there is more to this than meets the eye, not that we’ll find out anytime soon. Crazy Vet story achieved. Why dig deeper?
@22 You may have something there, Doc. I had a backpack that pinged the TSA sensors every time I went through the checkpoint. It turns out the sensors pinged on spent solid rocket motor residue from a field problem back in ’96. Washing didin’t help. I finally had to retire the (high-dollar, high-quality) bag from flying because I was tired of being detained and searched.
He’s been released:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2012/01/soldier-charged-with-trying-to-bring-explosives-on-airplane-released-in-texas-.html
@22 Doc: it wasn’t just traces that were found, he had two 2 1/2 pound pieces of actual C-4.
I was an airport police chief at a commercial service airport for several years, and when I read the story I wondered why they didn’t arrest and charge him when they found the smoke grenade…our SOP was to arrest and charge someone taking something illicit on a plane, regardless of who they were, and let the city prosecutor make the decision on what to do.
It doesn’t surprise me that they didn’t find the C-4. I’d hazard a guess that as soon as they found the grenade, they stopped the screening process, found out who he was, read him the riot act, and let him go on his way. He got lucky the first time…not so the second.
[…] the Special Forces soldier arrested for attempting to carry explosives aboard a commercial airplane, which we discussed last month has had the charges against him dropped; [U.S. Attorney Robert] Pitman said Atwater, who has served […]
Has discipline fallen that far-That incident is not ignorance but pure carelessness on the SFC’s part but also by his chain of command. Someone should have been charged with negligence. Simply forgetting is not a valid reason.