Hanson: CIB Revoked, Admin Separation In Process
Some readers may remember Jonn’s article on CPT (then 1LT) Timothy R. Hanson, who received the CIB in Iraq under circumstances that were later questioned.
A recap, for those unfamiliar with the story. On 16 January 2008 Hanson led a small group of soldiers (8 total) into an ambush near Balad, Iraq. Per later investigation, during that engagement Hanson shot one of his own men, PFC David H. Sharrett. Hanson left the battlefield via helicopter approximately 40 minutes later with two wounded soldiers. Hanson was uninjured.
Though wounded, Sharrett was not recovered until 20+ minutes after Hanson had departed the battlefield. Sharrett died roughly an hour later. (Times cited here are from my review of the initial AR 15-6 investigation report and vary slightly from those cited in the article linked above).
I don’t know why Hanson left the battlefield uninjured before he’d positively accounted for all his men; you’ll have to ask him that question. I’d certainly like to.
Hanson’s CIB orders are found here. They note only a single date vice a period of service. That indicates that the engagement where Hanson shot Sharrett was either Hanson’s first or only actual ground combat engagement during his deployment to Iraq. Based on what’s been made public, my guess would be “only” – but I could be wrong.
It is not my place to pass judgment on Hanson; I wasn’t there, and I haven’t seen all the evidence regarding what happened that day. I don’t know why or how he shot Sharrett. In the proverbial “fog of war”, bad things sometimes happen. Hanson’s shooting one of his own men during the heat of battle appears to be one such case.
But I simply don’t understand Hanson’s leaving the battlefield, uninjured, before positively accounting for all of his subordinates. Maybe there was a sound tactical reason for his departure at that point; maybe not. I don’t know. But based on what I’ve seen so far, I certainly can’t see a compelling reason for him to leave at that particular point in time.
In any case, what I think is irrelevant. The Army has re-investigated Hanson’s conduct and found it wanting. While Hanson’s actions that day were apparently not determined criminal, the Army has decided that he did not serve successfully as an Infantry officer in combat. Hanson’s CIB has been revoked, and he is being processed for administrative elimination from the US Army Reserve.
DA often gets things wrong. But IMO, they appear to have finally gotten this one more or less right.
Sometimes the system works.
Additional Background:
One of the AR 15-6 investigations into this incident may be found here. It appears to be the initial investigation. I found the site to be somewhat unreliable, so you may need to try multiple times before you can download the files and view them. Be forewarned that the files are scanned as images and are very large – 30 to 45 MB each. If anyone can locate the later two AR 15-6 investigations online, please advise and I’ll post links to them here as well.
Category: Big Army, Military issues
What a minute.
This clown shoots and kills one of his own mean, and all he’s getting is an administrative separation? What’s wrong with THAT picture? You’d think he’d have to pay a fine, or something… you know, $20… at least?
And not being the last man out? He should be shot for THAT, and THEN hung if these are the facts.
Jesus Christ on a pogo stick.
Old Cav, I’m sure there is more to come out of this. Let’s wait and see.
The administrative discharge is likely a Chapter 10 which is in some cases offered in Lieu of a Court Martial. There are lots of reasons this may have been decided. The case against him may have been very weak or at least damn near impossible to prove. It may have been that the evidence would warrant little more punishment than a seperation anyway so why waste the time on a Court Martial. Usually a CH10 is a General discharge but that can always be reviewed after a short period of time.
I’m sure we’ll hear more.
All: I’ve reviewed the initial AR 15-6 report. The situation during the ambush appears to have been quite confused, occurred at night, and several measures that could have reduced the likelihood or prevented fratricide were not taken (lack of rehearsal, at least 5 of 8 did not activate their individual IR beacons on landing, etc . . . ). Best I can tell, Hanson shooting Sharrett appears to have been an unfortunate mishap due to poor planning and the “fog of war” vice a calculated act. I don’t think it wise to second-guess someone in a confused combat situation who fires at a perceived threat or suspected enemy. The Army has investigated, and doesn’t feel that criminal charges are warranted for Sharrett’s death. I’m inclined to agree based on what I’ve read. Where I will fault Hanson is in departing the AO before achieving a positive accounting of all his soldiers. IMO, he appears to have done exactly that without compelling tactical reason to do so. That’s flatly unacceptable in my book. However, based on other info that’s been made public Hanson’s chain of command apparently knew he left the battlefield early and elected not to discipline him beyond a local reprimand. Why no courts-martial or other permanent discipline? Dunno; you’ll have to ask them. But I’m also not in a position to second-guess them, either. What I will say is that, regardless of criminal culpability, IMO Hanson has proven by his actions he should not be an officer in the US Army and did not satisfactorily perform the duties of an Infantry officer, or an Army officer of any branch, in combat. The Army apparently agrees, and is showing him the door – sans CIB. Sharrett’s father apparently feels no ill will towards Hanson. The elder Sharrett is perhaps a better man than I in that respect – but if he’s willing to pray for his son’s killer, perhaps the rest of us should withhold public judgement. Forgiven or not, Hanson must live the rest of his life knowing he was personally responsible for the friendly-fire death of David… Read more »
The Tillman coverup again.Some higher O’s need burning or at least some nice letters in their ERBs.
Jumped on the Medevac because of emotional casualty–i.e. “I think I just wasted one of my guys.” maybe? Not the way he SHOULD have acted–stuff the the mental anguish until after you get back to the FOB—but I can’t think of much more traumatic and crippling experience than being the cause (leadership) and actual trigger puller for a blue on blue.
Maybe he just handed it off to the Platoon SGT and relieved himself of command (might be on the 15-6–I didn’t download it–not enough bandwidth here). Again–seems like he should have manned up, but I never pulled the trigger in combat, never mind on one of my own guys.
I echo Raven…I’ve been fortunate enough never to have a PL that would have done such a thing, but man, shot one of his own dudes? I’m sure it’s a kick in the stones. But still, an honorable man, regardless of what happened on the ground, doesn’t accept a CIB for an action where he shot his own man and left the battlefield. I’ll reserve judgment and give him the benefit of the doubt, since they promoted him and kept him around, but a man says, “no, I screwed up, I can’t take this award.” It just says he has not sufficiently atoned.
Fuck him. He had zero business being out there that night. He was strap hanging and medal hunting. He was the unit’s XO, if that tells you guys with line company experience anything. He wanted to go play war, and when he screwed up and killed on of his own guys, he took his ball and went home. Again, fuck him.
I guess you could chalk it up to “fog of war,” but a more accurate explanation would be that this POS committed a series of tactical errors that even the rawest cherry butter bar should know better than to make.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Jack: I tend to agree with you. The youngster appears to have f-ed up from square one that night. However, incompetence is generally not criminal – and even criminal negligence can be difficult to prove.
What I fault Hanson for most is leaving the battlefield without accounting for his men. As a leader, one of your most important responsibilities is personnel accountability; that’s critical in combat. Why Hanson’s chain-of-command didn’t hammer him for failing to account for his men, and for leaving the battlefield early, is beyond me. Had I been his Commander, unless someone managed to talk me out of it he’d have gotten hammered way more than he did – probably a formal RFC plus my recommendation for a GOMR in his OPMF at a minimum, and maybe formal legal action. And while I might have been overruled, I doubt I’d have been talked out of it.
In any case, the Army has publicly branded Hanson a failure as an officer and has shown him the door. That’s IMO about the best that can be done at this point.