LTC Roy Tisdale’s murderer was involved in crime ring
The Fayetteville Observer reports that Ricky Elder, the Army specialist who murdered LTC Roy Tisdale while the commander gave his unit a safety briefing on June 28, 2012, was involved in a crime ring, which probably led to the murder-suicide;
“It is my opinion, that had these larcenies not occurred, Lt. Col. Tisdale would still be with us today.”
Capt. Aaron E. Adams, now stationed at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center at Hohenfels, Germany, wrote those words in a letter included in the case file for Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kurt Allen Bennett.
Bennett is a helicopter pilot who in 2012 served as brigade tactical operations officer and then led the brigade’s enabler security team.
He’s also been convicted of stealing government property and was sentenced last year to three years in a federal prison, although he isn’t due to report to prison until June 30, 2014.
According to court documents, Bennett and another soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Robert Alan Walker, conspired together to steal military equipment that included vehicle motors, tools and electronics while deployed from 2010 to 2011.
According to the article, Elder was a criminal before he joined the Army and his bad behavior continued in uniform with a couple of assault charges and DUI. He probably shouldn’t have enlisted, and should have been booted long before he took two lives that day.
WO3 Bennett’s crime ring consisted of nine soldiers and impacted the readiness of his unit, but he gets off the hook with just three years of prison time. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll get stuck with a shiv like the pig he is.
Thanks to ROS for the link.
LT Tisdale was my Co in Iraq in 04. No secret I don’t think too highly of most officers but he was a damn good one. I hope everyone involved in this gets the harshest sentence possible and the largest bubba available as a cell mate
I don’t get it I guess. I thought the military still did BIs on new recruits to see if they have criminal records and if yes, they were ineligible for enlistment. Am I wrong here? Yo, little help here for the guy that got out in ’77. They did a routine records run on me with local and state LE agencies before I could sign on the line.
@2, Sparks, I think during the surge years in Iraq/A’stan everyone was under pressure, the recruiters to get people in, the Drills to graduate people. And this wasn’t just the Army.I have heard from former Marines it was the same story for them. So criminal standards were relaxed and waivers abounded.
Link to article above is FUBAR. This one works.
http://www.fayobserver.com/news/local/article_c1c4b459-34d4-587d-906d-46061ed31f31.html
That is one messed up story. Feel so bad for LTC’s family.
@3 Andy thank you for the helping hand my friend.
Unfortunately it isn’t just junior enlisted – had a MSG (Army) that went with us to Afghan in 2012 pulled back to CONUS after 2 months. He had just come back from Iraq in late 2010 and sold various sensitive items that he stole there to foreign nationals. Department of Justice wasn’t too happy and I believe he got 4 years in the Fed pen. Biggest thing that pissed everyone off was he was the NCOIC for a team he had trained up with – had to replace him in 5 minutes with a new guy yanked from another group.
Didn’t say in the article but I presume Bennnet was also dismissed from the service (Officer equivalent of a BCD or Dishonorable Discharge?) I certainly hope so.
Also, this, from the article: “According to Chief Warrant Officer 2 James Verschueren, another former member of the 525th, the thefts resulted in hours of lost productivity that “adversely impacted” the company’s ability to train for an expected deployment to Kosovo and to prepare two subordinate units for combat operations in Afghanistan.”
We still have troops in Kosovo?
That entire deployment was toxic. The BDE CDR had no less than 4 GOLORs for events that occurred in Afghanistan. Bennett and Walker’s actions weren’t even known yet.
LTC Tisdale was the only one with his head on straight.
Bennett and Walker were prosecuted through the civilian side of the house, so the Bad Conduct Discharge would not be part of the sentence. Expect a “Conduct Unbecoming an Officer” Court Martial and a Bad Conduct Discharge following his release from the Federals.
This kind of thing just really brings me down. I was never close to being one of the top line Soldier. I was mouthy, insubordinate, lost rank almost as many times as I made it, and pissed a LOT of people off over the years. But never would it ever, EVER enter my mind to do the kinds of things these pieces of shit have done. What ever happened to duty, honor and integrity?