This is just beyond wrong

[cloudy]

I don't even know how to relate this story. The fact that our government lies continually doesn't surprise me, but in this particular instance...WTF??? There's no way this can be justified...her family deserved the truth, at the very least.

Army Specialist Kamisha Block died last summer in what the Army officially characterized as a non-combat incident and told her family was a case of "friendly fire." (Military Times story)

Forget friendly fire. It turns out that Spc. Block was actually murdered, and the killer, another soldier, Staff Sgt. Brandon Norris, then turned the gun on himself.

Even after the family was informed about the murder – the two soldiers had some sort of “relationship” in the past -- no other details were released, and it took six months, and the help of a local congressman, for the family to finally get the 1200-page military report. It revealed that their daughter had been abused by the killer several times shortly before she died, and the Army seemingly did not do enough to protect her. The Blocks say that a military official told them that the chain of command should have taken the abuse more seriously and done more. (story here)

Absolutely inexcusable.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I don't even know how to relate this story. The fact that our government lies continually doesn't surprise me, but in this particular instance...WTF??? There's no way this can be justified...her family deserved the truth, at the very least.

Army Specialist Kamisha Block died last summer in what the Army officially characterized as a non-combat incident and told her family was a case of "friendly fire." (Military Times story)

Forget friendly fire. It turns out that Spc. Block was actually murdered, and the killer, another soldier, Staff Sgt. Brandon Norris, then turned the gun on himself.

Even after the family was informed about the murder – the two soldiers had some sort of “relationship” in the past -- no other details were released, and it took six months, and the help of a local congressman, for the family to finally get the 1200-page military report. It revealed that their daughter had been abused by the killer several times shortly before she died, and the Army seemingly did not do enough to protect her. The Blocks say that a military official told them that the chain of command should have taken the abuse more seriously and done more. (story here)

Absolutely inexcusable.

Absolutely! If I'd been in the chain of command (like the first shirt I was) and I heard about anything like that, her assailent would have been up for charges so fast it would have taken his ears a week to catch up. In fact, I did have an incident that looked entirely too much like sexual harrassment in my last company but when I looked into it (probably looking like a bad thunderstorm on the horizon) the female soldier insisted that it was all a misunderstanding. I did advise them to stay away from each other during duty hours to avoid any more misunderstandings and shortly after that the unit was disbanded and I retired.

 

[glynndah]

One of these days the powers that be are going to learn that no matter how bad things are, covering them up and lying about them only makes things worse. One of these days, but obviously not today.

 

[sutherngent985]

One of these days the powers that be are going to learn that no matter how bad things are, covering them up and lying about them only makes things worse. One of these days, but obviously not today.

.....

 

[sutherngent985]

One of these days the powers that be are going to learn that no matter how bad things are, covering them up and lying about them only makes things worse. One of these days, but obviously not today.

This is the government. It doesn't matter what happens, just that the finger can't be pointed at you. And if someone dies, oh well..my ass is covered.

Reminds me of the sailor who died in the explosion on the battleship years ago. This is just one more military cover up. But I must be mistaken...we all know the military or the government wouldn't lie to us.

 

[matriarch]

I don't even know how to relate this story. The fact that our government lies continually doesn't surprise me, but in this particular instance...WTF??? There's no way this can be justified...her family deserved the truth, at the very least.

Army Specialist Kamisha Block died last summer in what the Army officially characterized as a non-combat incident and told her family was a case of "friendly fire." (Military Times story)

Forget friendly fire. It turns out that Spc. Block was actually murdered, and the killer, another soldier, Staff Sgt. Brandon Norris, then turned the gun on himself.

Even after the family was informed about the murder – the two soldiers had some sort of “relationship” in the past -- no other details were released, and it took six months, and the help of a local congressman, for the family to finally get the 1200-page military report. It revealed that their daughter had been abused by the killer several times shortly before she died, and the Army seemingly did not do enough to protect her. The Blocks say that a military official told them that the chain of command should have taken the abuse more seriously and done more. (story here)

Absolutely inexcusable.

I understand the need for truth, utterly and completely. But there's still this part of me, deep inside, which wonders how the families best interests were served by knowing what their daughter went through before and when she died. I know, I know it doesn't make sense, but, thinking if it were myself, living with the knowledge that she died from 'an accident' (isn't that what they call friendly fire?), almost makes the death bearable. But to then find out that she died after much abuse, by someone who then killed himself......I'm really not sure I'd want to know that, or want to.

That said, there is absolutely no excuse whatsover for the behaviour of the authorities and the army. Someone's head needs to roll firstly for allowing the abuse to take place, and secondly for blatently lying.

 

[freshface]

Actually, if the military had wanted a cover-up, they would not have produced a 1,200 page report investigating the incident. I suspect that it took at least two or three months to conduct the investigation and write the report and another few months for the report to filter up the chain of command. No one ever said the military was fast in these matters. I agree with matriarch that it is better to wait until the investigation is complete before sharing it with the family.

That the incident happened at all is reprehensible, and I hope that her chain of command is being held responsible for their lapses of judgment. The Army is getting better, but sexual harassment and assaults are still too frequent, and some unit leaders still handle them inappropriately.

 

[rgraham666]

Though you cannot see when you take one step what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice and plain dealing and never doubt that they will lead you from the maze in the quickest manner possible. - Thomas Jefferson

I wish more people believed this.

 

[tickledkitty]

Doesn't this sort of thing happen in civilian life all the time? Women are hardly ever protected adequately from their abusers. They're given some half-assed protection, and then the guy tracks them down and murders them on a street corner.

I agree that if the military really wanted to cover this up, it would have remained covered up. Not that I'm excusing what happened...

 

[OhMissScarlett]

I don't even know how to relate this story. The fact that our government lies continually doesn't surprise me, but in this particular instance...WTF??? There's no way this can be justified...her family deserved the truth, at the very least.

Army Specialist Kamisha Block died last summer in what the Army officially characterized as a non-combat incident and told her family was a case of "friendly fire." (Military Times story)

Forget friendly fire. It turns out that Spc. Block was actually murdered, and the killer, another soldier, Staff Sgt. Brandon Norris, then turned the gun on himself.

Even after the family was informed about the murder – the two soldiers had some sort of “relationship” in the past -- no other details were released, and it took six months, and the help of a local congressman, for the family to finally get the 1200-page military report. It revealed that their daughter had been abused by the killer several times shortly before she died, and the Army seemingly did not do enough to protect her. The Blocks say that a military official told them that the chain of command should have taken the abuse more seriously and done more. (story here)

Absolutely inexcusable.

It's not the first time either, which is even more inexcusable. I've been watching THIS story of a local family trying to find out what happened to their nineteen year-old daughter and expose a cover-up.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Of course this nonsense happens all the time. It's the nature of people and organizations to fuck their victims. AND it takes forever for investigations to wend their way thru the process.

So what else is new?

The law and the government are clubs the powerful use to beat their opponents with. Everyone knows the law & government wont help you.

The remedy is to catch your tormentor alone in a dark alley.

TK

My certification involved investigating an MD who made a malicious and false criminal report against a mother who pissed her off. The MD claimed the mom tried to murder her kids with medication and dangerous treatments.

The MD was very prominent in the community. I put mom thru hell with psychiatric and psychological evalutions and painstaking scrutiny of every aspect of her life. And when all the facts cleared her I went to work on the MD. I tosed her and the medical files into a panel of MDs who rejected her claim.

Well! She and her influential friends went nuts, and made my life difficult. But I persisted, and in the end she lost her prestigious appointment (plus the money).

But most investigators arent interested in the truth, theyre concerned with the direction of the wind.