SGT LaDavid Johnson may have been executed
Fox News reports that Sergeant LaDavid Johnson, one of the four victims of an ambush in Niger last month may have been executed by the insurgents who attacked the patrol he was accompanying. A local man says that his kids found the body which had his arms bound behind him and that back of his head had a huge wound;
“His two arms were tied behind his back,” Adamou Boubacar, 23, a farmer, told the paper in a phone interview. Another witness told the paper separately that the back of Johnson’s head “was a mess, as if they had hit him with something hard, like a hammer. They took his shoes. He was wearing only socks.”
[…]
An unnamed U.S. military official told the paper that Johnson’s hands were not tied when Americans received his body, but the body was battered. The official warned about rushing to judgement until the investigations are completed.
From Stars & Stripes;
Boubacar, a resident of Tongo Tongo, said in a phone interview that he informed the village’s chief after seeing Johnson’s body. “His two arms were tied behind his back,” he said. The chief called Nigerien military forces, who dispatched troops to retrieve Johnson’s remains.
The village chief of Tongo Tongo, Mounkaila Alassane, confirmed the account in a separate phone interview.
Boubacar said that Johnson’s remains were found two days after the ambush, which explains why his death wasn’t reported at the same time as the other three servicemen. The FBI and military investigators are on the scene to sort through the evidence.
Category: Terror War
Damn! That report does not surprise me. It does make me angry, however.
Rest in Peace SGT Johnson. You will be sorely missed.
This just raises more questions. How the hell did he become separated from the rest of the unit? Why was a mechanic with SF bubbas? I’m guessing he was just along for the ride or volunteered to drive for them. I get the feeling things are being withheld from the public.
SFC In the interest of clarity, what mechanic are you talking about?
The one the article is talking about. He was a mechanic assigned to SFG support section.
Sgt Johnson was a mechanic, no an gun hand.
So no matter what his achievements are, in death we point out he was a mechanic at entry! Like they just handout SF shields? Diminished Valor CIC style.
Tin can.
If I understand it correctly, SGT Johnson was SF support, not an SF operator 18 series.
But other here have more information on this than me.
As a support mechanic for an AFSOC unit it was not unusual for me to tag along operations as I was weapons qualified and trained is certain jobs not aligned with my AFSC.
Go fuck your self, Fey. You are the piece of goose shit I can never clear from my golf cleats.
Tin can was asking why we mentioned SGT Johnson was a mechanic.
Because he was. He wasn’t a green beret like the media has been reporting.
SGT Johnson was a mechanic that seemingly tagged along for the mission.
We have to wait for the investigation to see exactly what happened.
As some have mentioned above, it is not uncommon for SF support to go out with the SF operators in missions.
I don’t see how this take anything away from SGT Johnson. I am just stating the facts as I understand them.
If I am wrong someone with more knowledge of this case will come along and correct me.
But from what I seen, SGT Johnson was not a Green Beret.
And go and fuck yourself Peter Olinto. Fuckin bent over, pull your magnifier, find your little dickie, and suck it. You are flexible enough to suck John Kerry, so this shouldn’t be too hard.
Fey, you just confirmed how dumb you really are. Get bent you VD-spreading fobbit.
dude, I am not a fan of Yef’s and have called him out on more than one occasion. But go re-read his original post, it is factual and there is nothing pejorative or demeaning in it.
Fey is a chick, not a dude. Additionally, I don’t see the Point in mentioning Sgt. Johnson’s MOS/job; its completely irrelevant in the discussion of a fallen soldier who died in the line of duty. Where in the article/thread that Jonn posted is there any sort of confusion or mention of the fallen soldiers job (i.e. why is it even a point of discussion in the threads comments)?
Once again, Feys comments are pointless and irrelevant to the article/thread.
well, he/she (don’t know or care) is not the one who brought it up, and simply provided an explanation. See SFC(R)’s post. No denigration anywhere in the post till you jumped Yef’s shit. Lighten up, it’s Sunday and we don’t need to eat our own.
it must be early for you on this Sunday, David, because you’re still missing the point…and I only “jumped Fey’s shit” because she frequently does that to other blog commenters on this site.
You are correct, SGT Johnson was not SF qualified. That is why he is wearing a Maroon Beret. If he was SF qualified he would be wearing a green beret and a SF tab on the left pocket of his blues. He is also wearing a vehicle qual badge in addition to the sharpshooter weapon qual badge. Every SF Group has numerous people assigned who are not SF qualified. Many of the troops assigned to the Group headquarters and its support company are not 18 series MOS’s.
Tin can. They do in fact just ‘just hand out SF shields’. Support MOS’ get assigned to SFGs all the time. Other than increased funding and deployments, those slots are no different for them than any other assignment
Dan, your point being???? Last time I checked everyone in the army qualifies with a weapon. This soldier died for our country in the line of duty. Let’s just leave it at that.
Peter,
You screwed up, both boots in your mouth. Own it.
Support folks are -frequently- overlooked in our various efforts. It is -proper- to recognze SGT Johnson for what he -was-, and for what he -did-.
-I- certainly respect -anyone- who chooses to go in harm’s way, and make sure the whoop-ass deliverymen have working vehicles, weapons, etc. And maybe, just maybe, deliver a little whoop-ass themselves.
Own it, boy.
Don’t care much what his usually assigned duties may have been – SGT Johnson more than deserved our respect, which he has received without qualification from all accounts. May he rest in peace and may his family find comfort in our attempts to support them.
Healing from any loss is difficult for the survivors. Details such as this make it even more difficult. They need our prayers and other shows of support.
Very well written. In the end we are all brothers; regardless of MOS’, especially for those who fall in the line of duty. I think that those who choose to continuously point out this brave soldiers MOS are either jealous or just stupid.
Strawman argument. Nobody here was talking of MOSs until you.
But now i am kind of curious. What was/is your MOS, Peter Olinto?
I am a 88M, golf cart driver. What’s yours?
Will the two of you find somewhere else to take your pissing contest? Or just get a room. Whatever.
You are both honking off those of us who see your argument as quite disrespectful to SGT Johnson and his family. Is this really the kind of drivel you want them to read when one of them inevitably finds this?
Rest in peace Sergeant. God be with your family.
He got left behind.
The team didn’t realize it for several hours.
Captured.
Executed.
WTF Team Sergeant?
Thats not how I see it. The three other Special Forces soldiers were probably killed before him and He found himself on his own and unable to further defend himself , maybe out of ammo and got taken alive. I don’t see how you figure he was left behind other than he lived longer than his team mates.
So our people can’t be armed while on base, OR at a recruiting center OR in the field… WTF? Rolling back all these stupid restrictions should be Job 1.
RIP, Sergeant Johnson.
This isn’t the first time our recently KIA and/or briefly captured have been treated in this fashion. Sadly, this report is on the ‘mild’ side.
Up until now, the jackals in the ‘media’ have usually been prevented from ‘reporting’ on these incidents as they have been properly screened.
Not in this case however. Nice work, ‘media’ jackals.
After the initial invasion of Iraq and the capture of those who were in with Jessica Lynch the only US serviceman who was captured and lived to tell the tale was Bergdahl.
All the rest were executed within hours, after being tortured.
Payback was had, when it was humanly possible.
Maybe it makes me a bad man, but I’m glad.
What ever happened to the tradition of keeping quiet about bad things in order to prevent upset to the dead man’s family and especially his mom. All the public need to know is that this man sacrificed his life on their behalf. RiP
There is something very unsettling about this amount of information being so public. It is quite disturbing. Maybe only to those of us who were raised up in a more civil society. I dunno.
Why, it is -almost- as if some folks in Media want to do as much damage as possible to US Armed Forces morale, and the morale of those who support them, such damage done in service to any and all hostile foreign powers.
Almost…
There are annoying aspects to the Niger ambush story, starting with why this is even a story now. Under normal circumstances, the deaths of the four soldiers killed in Tongo Tongo would be reported near the time of the incident, and the news cycle would move on. The only reason follow-up details about Sgt. Johnson are worthy of a new story is because Rep. Frederica Wilson, Florida’s rhinestone cowgirl, demanded it. She, apparently, being too dense to recognize the potential for unintended consequences.
We don’t know the details of how Sgt. Johnson died. His actions during such a desperate time could have been heroic or otherwise. And it doesn’t matter. It’s better if the man is simply allowed to rest in peace.
Yep. Just another political whore looking for face time on camera … and the consequences be damned.
I think that phrase “political whore” is redundant.
Sgt. Johnson, May You Rest In Peace, our Brother In Arms.