Death Anniversary

A1C Kelsey Sue Anderson

Link to story from Fox News

Death Anniversary

Lt. Louis Allen

My name is Barbara Allen. I am the widow of Lt Louis Allen, the high school teacher and National Guard officer who, in June 2005, was killed by fellow Guardsmen, Staff SSG Alberto Martinez.
This Memorial Day will mark 9 years since I kissed my husband for the last time. I can still remember the feeling I had as I drove away from Fort Drum. I felt as if a part of me was being ripped out, and I was filled with sheer panic that I would never see him again. Ten days later he was dead. I was 32 years old when I became a widow.

Lou and his friend Captain Phillip Esposito, Company Commander of the 42nd ID in Iraq, had worked together to arrange for Lou to join Phil at FOB Danger. Phil was filing nonjudicial punishment (an Article 15) against Martinez, dismissing him from the unit. This would result in Martinez losing not only his position in Iraq, but his stateside civilian position with the National Guard. Lou was brought in to assess the damage in supply and restore order to that division. Lou expressed to me his eagerness to help his friend and do his part by deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This confidence was shaken upon arrival; Lou told me in a phone call that the supply mess was worse than he could have imagined, and Martinez was publicly hostile about the situation. What Lou did not know, and I cannot find peace with, is that he would be dead just 3 days after arriving on base- murdered by one of our own. While Phil knew Martinez was responsible for missing supplies, poor accountability, and gross insubordination, he did not know the extent of Martinez’s hatred for him, or the suspicious past of his supply sergeant. Phil did not know Martinez was accused of stealing from his UPS job, or setting his home on fire to collect insurance funds rather than lose his home to foreclosure. He could never imagine that people he saw on a regular basis – many of whom called him their friend- would not tell him that Martinez was openly threatening to frag him, making some of them uncomfortable enough that they began avoiding him themselves.
Martinez knew Lou’s arrival signaled his own imminent departure. He was unwilling to accept this. On the eve of June 7, 2005, he detonated a claymore mine outside Captain Esposito’s office window, killing Phil instantly and mortally wounding my husband. Just like that, I was transformed from a happily married wife to a widow facing life without my best friend and father of our four small boys. Trevor, our oldest son, was just six years old the day his dad died. I was thrust into a world I would never have believed I was capable of navigating; a homicide investigation, capital trial, military cover-ups, deceit, and betrayal.

The circumstances of Lou’s death were sketchy at best, and in the midst of trying to absorb our loss I was also attempting to discern the actual facts as opposed to the details we were being given. As I got in the car at the cemetery immediately after the services, my CAO told me an American soldier had been arrested for killing Lou and Phil. For the second time in seven days, my world was upended.
For the next 3 ½ years our families were consumed with the trial of SSG Alberto Martinez. I traveled to Kuwait for the first hearing, and our families all traveled from NY to Fort Bragg, NC, and the appellate courts in DC for countless other hearings leading up to the trial. We watched the case disintegrate as rulings against the government became the norm in the proceedings. Our rising panic was met with assurances we should trust the government. Our efforts to gain public support through media interviews were met with admonitions that we were jeopardizing the case. Inquiries on my behalf from a JAG officer to the government’s prosecution team were met with assurances that no guilty plea was being discussed — the same day, we later learned, a guilty plea had been offered by Martinez and rejected by Lt General Vines, Convening Authority, who then ordered the plea be suppressed. I did not learn of its existence until a day after Martinez was acquitted. One of my own sources gave me a copy of the plea. With this copy tucked in my bag, I confronted the commander of Fort Bragg’s 18th Airborne Division. I knew he had received his own copy, yet he looked me in the eye and denied it existed. I then made the first of what would be many moves to expose the steady lies and attempt to set the record straight – I gave the plea to the NY Times, and it made front page news. Still, nothing happened as far as the government admitting any wrong-doing.
The shock of the acquittal was soon replaced by a need to set right what the government failed to do. There is no doubt Martinez is guilty; in the military, it is mandatory that defense attorneys agree to offer enough evidence of such to the judge, to submit a plea. Rather, the military judicial system’s weaknesses combined with human error and willful misdoings – a list of which is too lengthy to include here- resulted in further pain to our families and dishonoring of my husband and Captain Esposito. To that end, I have not stopped in my efforts to clear the record, encourage the military to enact protocols that would have saved not only my husband, but the dozens of other fratricide victims since, and secure for Lou the Purple Heart he has so far been denied. The government’s reasoning for denying Lou the Purple Heart is that he was not killed by the enemy. For obvious reasons, I vehemently disagree. It is my position that any soldier who willfully inflicts or conspires to inflict death or bodily harm to a fellow soldier thus declares himself an enemy of our nation. Ironically, the murder weapon in our case emphasized this sentiment, with its inscription, “Front Toward Enemy” on the front of the mine.

I have watched in disbelief as repeated instances of fratricide continue to occur. I have researched these cases, attended one of the court martials, met with prosecutors and government experts, written a master’s thesis on them, and firmly believe all but one of these cases were, like ours, preceded with ample warning signs to have been prevented. I find myself needing to try to prevent other families from experiencing the same devastation ours has. I feel compelled to do my part to ensure the men and women of our military are not needlessly subjected to danger and are properly cared for with relation to physical and mental health issues acquired through their service. I am racing the clock on this matter, as one of my sons continues to tell me he will one day wear the uniform and serve this country.

I have received tremendous support from active duty and veteran soldiers. Two Vietnam veterans went so far as to give me their own Purple Hearts in honor of Lou. Feedback from those who read my book, Front Toward Enemy, has been inspiring and supportive. I believe I can one day hold Lou’s Purple Heart, and see his name rightfully placed alongside others who lost their lives in service to this country.

To say I loved Lou would be an understatement. To say I don’t love him still would be a lie. We are moving forward in life and have welcomed a second chance at happiness. But I still feel I owe it to my husband to set the record straight and secure for him the legacy that is rightfully his. I cannot rest until I have exhausted all avenues of seeing him awarded the Purple Heart, achieving accountability to those who have escaped such, and ensuring no other family suffers the same loss. Had situations been reversed, I know with certainty he would never stop working to do the same for me.

Barbara Allen

To contact Barbara through this website, click here.

Death Anniversary

Sgt. James McElroy

 

Died on June 6, 2011

Click here to read his story.

Death Anniversary

Col. Theodore S. Westhusing 44,

A U.S. Military Academy professor serving with the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq Dallas, Texas Died of non-combat related injuries in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 5, 2005.
6/1/2005. COLONEL TED WESTHUSING 44 BIAP, IRAQ GUNSHOT

 I am Sullied-No More.  Faced with the Iraq war’s corruption, Col. Ted Westhusing chose death before dishonor by Robert Bryce Ted Westhusing was a true believer. And that was his fatal flaw. A colonel in the U.S. Army, Westhusing had a good job teaching English at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was a devout Catholic who went to church nearly every Sunday. He had a wife and three young children. He didn’t have to go to Iraq. But Westhusing was such a believer that he volunteered for what he thought was a noble cause. At West Point, Westhusing sought out people who opposed the war in an effort to change their minds. “He absolutely believed that this was a just war,” said one officer who was close to him. “He was wholly enthusiastic about this mission.” His tour of duty in Iraq was to last six months. About a month before he was to return to his family—on June 5, 2005—Westhusing was found dead in his trailer at Camp Dublin in Baghdad. At the time, he was the highest-ranking American soldier to die in Iraq. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command report on Westhusing’s death explained it as a “perforating gunshot wound of the head and Manner of Death was suicide.” He was 44.

 

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Death Anniversary

Kevin J. Vollhardt
died May 31, 2011

Death Anniversary

MSSR Stephen Killian

Stephen’s Story

In the summer of “98″ Stephen, at just 18yrs. of age, decided on his own to turn his life around and join the United States Navy. I, his mother, at his request, bought him a book to help him study for the ASVAB test as he was bound and determined to make it. He worked out every day, started to jog and studied hard every night. He took the test and passed with flying colors telling me that an instructor at the testing site told him that he did better than most of the seniors that graduated from high school. Stephen only had a GED and was thrilled that he had done so well. He graduated bootcamp and then went on to San Antonio, Tx. for his Aschool where he would be studying for Mess Specialist.

Stephen had big plans of opening up his own “Sports Bar/Restaurant” when he got out of the service. Stephen did well in Aschool and graduated at the top of his class and that is why he got first pick at where he wanted stationed. He chose Nas Oceana, Va. as it was closest to home and would make it easier to travel back and forth when he was on leave. He was home for 2 weeks before heading off to Virginia and he told everyone all of his stories about bootcamp and San Antonio and how happy he was that he joined the Navy.

On April 17th 1999 his father and I drove him to the airport where he would be headed for his first duty station at Nas Oceana, Va. This would be the last time we saw our son alive!!
Stephen called once a week at first but then started making friends and  stretched it out to calling every 2 weeks. He was getting along fine, excited about going on his first cruise and had just bought himself a tv and got his cable hooked up, a Sony Playstation with a couple video games, a clock radio and a telephone so family wouldn’t have to pay long distant phone bills. Stephen lived on base and had no problems of any kind that we his family were aware of. Then on May 30, 1999 I received the horrible and shocking news that Stephen was found hanging in a hotel room in Las Vegas, NV.

The LVMPD never conducted any type of investigation and the Navy stated that because his death occurred off base, while he was off duty, and had nothing to do with the Navy (I wonder how they knew this?) that the NCIS would not be conducting any type of investigation as well. Only after my constant nagging did his base command conduct a “tiny” investigation which didn’t amount to anything and only went along with the reports from the LVMPD. No matter how many letters I sent, phone calls I made and numerous attempts at getting different people to help no investigation ever got done and his death remains a complete shock and mystery to our whole entire family and everyone who knew Stephen.

Two of Stephen’s friends from the base came to Pa. and attended his funeral. At the cemetery, we were told by the one young man that he knew that Stephen wasn’t traveling by himself or taking money out of the ATM machines by himself!!  I pressured his base command to have this boy questioned after telling them what we were told at the cemetery, and a year later I get a report, or should I say an email conversation on legal paper, and the only question they asked him was, “How well did you know Stephen Killian and what was his attitude towards the Navy?”?!! They totally disregarded my concerns that this young man knew something about what happened to my son!!! I just don’t understand how such a happy young man who could get along in any type of situation can suddenly just become suicidal!! Of course, It may be able to happen given certain circumstances but the point is nothing was ever proven that pointed to  depression or suicidal thoughts of any kind!! It seems that my son just vanished off base without anyone knowing and took a greyhound bus from Virginia Beach to Las Vegas and ended up hanging in a hotel room.

When I received his belongings from Las Vegas the only things we got were a pair of what appearred to be neatly ironed “baggy levi’s”, a neatly ironed cotton button up shirt, a clean t-shirt, his wallet with no money and his Nike shoes which also looked spotless. These clothes seemed a bit “too neat and  clean” for a person who was traveling by bus for 2 days plus 19hrs. The Administrator’s office in Las Vegas assurred me that they do not launder the clothes before they are returned home. Also, in his jean’s pocket was a phone number written on the hotel stationery without an area code so our family
assumed it was either a Vegas number or a Virginia Beach number. The police assured us (yeah right) that this number didn’t check out and when we called it ourselves with a Virginia Beach area code it was a cell phone number that had just been disconnected?! I called his base to ask if there was any way they could check out this number as it may be someone on base or someone who lived off base but I was told that they have no means of checking out a phone number!!! Wow…. since when can’t the military, government, etc. not be able to check out a simple phone number????
I also believe that if my son was actually taking off, going AWOL whatever, that he would have definitely packed a bag and called one of his friends at home here, but he had nothing with him except the clothes on his back!!

Additionally, the funeral the funeral director told Stephen’s grandfather that the ligature mark didn’t course up behind his ears, as the autopsy report stated, but went horizontal around his neck. He also stated that he noted bruises to the torso of the body, another important fact left out of the autopsy
report?!

I just get so frustrated that I trusted the military with my only son and thought he would be safe!! It seems that the military’s only concern is keeping “their own” from getting into any trouble as they surely wouldn’t want their command to look bad?! I thought that because my son was a member of the United States Navy that everything in their power would be done to investigate and prove that he either committed suicide or was murdered and that we our family would get a thorough report of the events leading up to his untimely death and a report that would tell us why and how our only son died!! But instead we got nothing, we got a report that was to say the least, inadequet and could fit into  a large white letter envelope!! It is very difficult to go on when you lose a child but when you honestly don’t know what happened it is just maddening!!!

I still keep in touch with the young man from the base who talked to our family at the cemetary, and although he never addresses my questions or comments.  I continue to write him in hopes that one day he will tell me what happened to my son….. Until then I continue to pray that God will let me find out the truth someday so my son can have the justice and dignity that he deserves and our family can have the peace of mind and closure that we deserve.

Sonya Killian
Proud Mother of Mssr Stephen J Killian, Jr. USN
7-14-80 to 5-30-99
Who Died Under Questionable Circumstances and Was Denied A Proper and Thorough Investigation
Painfully Loved and Missed By Family and His Many Many Friends
If you have any information about this case, contact Sonya Killian through this website.

Death Anniversary

LTC Dominic Rocco Baragona, 6/14/1960 – 5/19/2003

 

My younger brother, LTC Rocky Baragona was killed on May 19 2003, on his way home, in Safwat Iraq, by Kuwait Gulf Link Transport.　 One of their flatbed tractor trailers, driven by a driver with improper papers and a truck with missing license plates, suddenly jackknifed and landed on his Humvee, crushing him instantly. Rocky, a decorated career soldier, with a flawless military record who had been in the top 5% of his West Point Class, proudly served his country with honor as the Commander of the 19th Maintenance Battalion out of Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

 

Because of the irresponsible contracting practices by this DOD multibillion dollar foreign contractor, my brother was killed.

Our family received a miserable AR15-6 report eight months later: two days before Xmas. The report gave no information about the company or the driver that killed him. The accident scene photos later showed KGL’s name 20 inches high written across the front of the vehicle with other KGL trucks and 18 people at the scene that day. Some inaccuracies surrounding the crash smeared his good honor with insinuations that his death was his own fault. The officer who accompanied the report said in all of his years, he had never seen anything quite this bad. It was a dark day.

No family should ever have to do their own investigation into the death of their loved one. In shock and grief, following this report, we did just that.

Distraught and with disbelief toward the military, who appeared to now have abandoned and betrayed us, we looked for legal recourse. After 700 attempts failed to find an attorney who would consider our case, we found Steve Perles’ Law Firm, experts at plaintiff claims in international laws and Middle Eastern affairs. Their skills were the cutting stone for what appeared to be an impossible set of circumstances and we relied heavily on their skills and expertise. Mr. Perles himself taught us, in spite of our grief, how to reach out to the military, Congress, and even the White House to get results.
By 2005, with his guidance and the support of Sen. DeWine we received, 2 years later from Brig. Gen. Wright, a second, still faulty revised AR15-6 official report stating Kuwait Gulf Link Transport indeed was responsible for the death of my brother. It was a huge victory that allowed us to let go, for the moment, of a missing criminal investigation, required but never done at the time by the Army. It now appeared impossible to do a criminal investigation, as the evidence seemed all but lost. With KGL now officially in an Army report found responsible for his death we could move forward for the first time. It was our first piece of legal evidence it meant Justice for Rocky could now be found civilly in a US court of law.

Oblivious to all of this was the company that killed him. You see KGL, during this time, was enjoying and reaping the benefits of being a DOD multimillion dollar foreign contractor. Through US taxpayers they were growing from a mid size company to a major player in the contracting world. Quickly learning the contracting game, they chalked up military subcontract victories from other USG Prime Vendors like Agility, CSA, KBR.

KGL’s success in USG contracting soon lead to major changes in their business structure, I watched the forming of the KGL holding company, with 7 plus subsidiaries. It was a $30 million investment into Circle Oil, KGL Petroleum and the KGL Port Development and KGL Shipping lines with all of the money going back into the middle east. Then there was the development of the RAK area near Iran. Diamond trading, a private investment company in the Cayman Islands, the investment in the Philippines with Clark Air Force Base and on and on.

Did this get your attention? It sure started to get mine!

The US taxpayer was not getting a dime back except a trade for goods and services in the Iraq War — KGL was getting a lot.

At the same time I watched KGL also begin launching a major campaign to court the US Military with their website, bragging of their becoming a prime vendor for the Army.
However, all this growth did nothing to help KGL’s military victims. In our case, when approached to work towards a resolution in the death of LTC Baragona, they turned a deaf ear over and over again.

At first, we simply wanted an answer to what happened on May 19 2003, but as time went on and the silent arrogance grew, we began to question, “Why didn’t this company want to communicate?” It was concerning to us, that a military contractor who had the obvious skill to win millions in US military contracts could not file an insurance claim. Or maybe they had something to hide? We asked ourselves, “Why did a potential Prime Vendor want to take these kind of risks when millions of future contracts could be at stake? Was it cultural difference, arrogance?”

It seemed stupid on their part. Maybe it was bad advice from lawyers who wanted their own financial gain? Or did this contractor really have something to hide? KGL’s silence wore on us and it raised all of our suspicions about the secret world of contracting, leading us deeper into the investigation of their business practices.

During these years, we learned through newspaper accounts that KGL truck drivers had complained of being trafficked against their will in order to deliver goods to US troops in Iraq. Some were kidnapped and other’s were arrested for smuggling grains on the black market. An ex employee spoke of insurance fraud and falsification of documents to win Army contracts, but was too afraid to do anything about it. KGL was banned in India for false recruiting scams which tricked much-needed truck drivers to deliver goods to Army bases in Iraq.

The truth began to change, and we learned all too well how quickly the US Army looked the other way when a contractor like KGL used questionable practices. There simply was no oversight. I was appalled at the acceptance of our military to do nothing about any of it. Isn’t this what we asked our soldiers to fight and die for: democracy and a free life for those persecuted? Yet we allowed our defense contractors to perform government contracts using human trafficking? It was clear that forced labor in contracting was an acceptable way of doing business. The Army’s position was to Protect and supply the troops . But at what and at whose cost did we do this?

Undeterred, we stayed focused on our case and worked towards creating communication solutions with KGL through the Kuwaiti Ambassador and their Prime Minister, using the Army and many members in Congress as our messenger.

With no response from KGL on all fronts, we felt compelled to file a wrongful death suit in the courts as our only hope for accountability.

So it began: the horrible task of going through Rocky’s last days. We had to painfully recount each moment of his dying, spending hours at researching the FARS, gathering evidence by reconstructing the accident scene, finally dividing his life into dollar values to determine a means for restitution (a system of debilitating humiliation).

All of this was done so that we could sit across a table to look into somebody’s eyes from KGL to ask “Why?” “Why the silence? And what are you/KGL willing to do since your company, your driver, killed him?“ We wondered aloud among ourselves.

Could we keep our promise to get justice for Rocky with a company who could not see how their silence looked to everyone in America, well, except the Army? …….and the big question… did this really even serve justice? A lot of doubt came over us, And still we continued:  this time to the White House. Through a chance encounter, I was fortunate enough to get a moment to speak with President Bush who promised to help us fight for answers. The President assigned our case to the White House military liaison, Terry Chauncey, who we loved at first sight. He facilitated a Presidential inquiry to the DOD debarment office asking for KGL’s participation. Otherwise, they would face suspension and possible debarment. It was a good moment and we quietly celebrated.

We thought, “This is the end, it will be over soon…you cannot get much higher than the President of the United States of America. Commander in Chief…right!!!! Now, thank God. Finally some peace: we can get some real answers and hold KGL accountable.

Not so fast…

The Army sent out an official request for KGL’s response from their office.

KGL then hired an ex-debarment official, retired Gen. Bednar, of Crowell and Moring, as their counsel. He quickly went into the DOD debarment office and had off record discussions about our case. Ahhh — the good ole boy club. Something we should have seen coming, but it seemed incredible that a retired General would defend a foreign contractor on a case from the President of the United States against an Army family. Rocky was a Commander who had served in Iraq and died for his country!

Well, believe it — it happened.

The debarment office quickly ended our relationship, except for one last off the record conversation my father had with the Army Debarment official, who told him, “ Hey Dominic, what can I do? This guy used to be my boss.” The Army official said that there was nothing more he or we could do unless we won the case.

How is that for pressure?

And how, may I ask, is it possible for KGL, a foreign contractor serving the interest of the United States, to be able to trump the debarment inquiry from the President ,Commander in Chief?
Well they did, and the debarment inquiry very quietly went on hold –indefinitely. The White House Liaison was fired and sent to Japan. We never saw another person from the White House.
We learned in that moment, that we had no idea what we were dealing with.

The game of High Stakes Poker just went up.

They showed us who was boss, KGL continued their position of silence a lot more confidently, even ignoring service to participate in the current court proceeding by the US Federal Court’s Judge Duffy. Finally, in response to their arrogance, the Georgia Courts would agree to our argument for jurisdiction and awarded our family the default judgment of $4.9 million dollars.
Seems incredible doesn’t it?

This victory, however as we were warned, would be short-lived.

Why?

Personam Jurisdiction — which meant the US could rule against the settlement if KGL could prove they had no business ties with the United States. (Which to us seemed impossible given the millions and millions in payments KGL had received as a government contractor from the Army and the Air Force, and KBR, Bechtel…it’s impossible to name them all.

And as you guessed it: KGL would appeal using this law “personam jurisdiction”. I call it a “get out of court free card.” gift wrapped from the FARS.

We knew we were going to lose, but we didn’t care…The battle went forward.

KGL used all means available to fight the jurisdiction with an entire team of lawyers who scheduled a Sept 11th deposition with KGL officers finally coming to America.

The silence was broken. We had waited a long time for this.

My first and only meeting with them, began with a handshake and an apology, asking me not to take any of this personally. OMG….OMG….Who says that? I was locked into a gag order by my lawyer or I would have come out with every*7%%# I could think of .

Instead I sat there seething while in the deposition…listening to their testimony about how small and helpless they were. Didn’t we know it was a war? Their limited employees lost records; there was no help to be able to find them; and on and on… I couldn’t believe this. Did they not know their website was public domain? It currently stated they had over 6,000 employees! This approach could not work in court!

Well, I was wrong.

The court date came up and KGL with their team of lawyers, swept into the courtroom to fight the personam jurisdiction On the stand their witnesses gave the impression KGL was the size of a shoe department behind the bowling alley.

It made me want to puke. The worst part was watching my father and mother’s heads sink into their laps in utter despair. They were humiliated by the experience.
Did this affect KGL?

Oh yeah. Right!

– So much so, that each time someone got off the stand from their side, I would see the smile and knowing looks between them and the slight side high five — like “Good Job…!!!!!”
The judge watched too. It didn’t really matter. The Judge’s hands were tied by the law. This was America, where the law actually meant something.
It seemed that although the Judge would have liked to award justice to us, this would have required a path toward new law he was unwilling or unable to take. Once awarded a $4.9 million default judgment,  Judge Duffy would be forced to overturn the decision based upon KGL’s claim of Personam Jurisdiction.

 Disbelief and shock does not come close to expressing how discouraged we were by the process at that time!

Our Advice for future cases: Do not try for your day in court until the law can be changed for military families. It was too much — like going through his death twice.

After digging out of our depression, we shook off the pain, and looked again for justice. This time we would work to influence Congress by using our personal experience to improve future legislation.
We poured our hearts and souls into learning about personam jurisdiction for foreign contractors and the fight in us really got stronger Washington saw us , monthly, as we spoke with every legislative staffer that would listen to us as we raised problem after problem we had faced. Our fight became a National Issue, moving from our own personal battle to one that could be used as a model to change military and public policy.

Our message was clear: lack of personal jurisdiction rights for military families meant that if you served your country, and were harmed or died at the hands of a foreign contractor, or a domestic contractor using a foreign subcontractor, the company never could be held accountable in a US court. They have the protection of US law and the support of the US Army. The conflict of interest was glaring. The Army could not be unbiased in an investigation of their own when it had to choose between their soldiers or their contractors
.
Soon a second soldier would die in another crash with a KGL vehicle in 2008 with still more TCN’s victims’ complaints hidden in Middle East newspapers.

At the urging of our lawyers, Washington served as a second home. We found ourselves bringing brownies, the only allowed thank you, to the many Senate and Congressional staffers who listened to and learned from our first-hand experiences.

Our case moved from one of personal to one of national significance, turning into a model study of foreign contracting policy loopholes in the FARS. We showed a history of the military’s overdependence with other military contractors whenever media attention towards bad contracting gained a national spotlight in cases such as Blackwater, the electrocution of Ryan Maseth lawsuit, and the Jamie Leigh Jones rape case. On and on we complained for ourselves and all of the other victims that no one knew about.

It was during this process that the LTC Rocky Baragona Act was born.

Lunchroom conversations between staffers brought our family’s plight to the attention of Sen. Claire McCaskill, who chaired the Contracting Oversight Committee. The first inkling of legislation came to her from a West Point military staffer on her team, Stephen Hedger. Hedger shared same birthday as Rocky, June 14th Flag Day, the Army’s Birthday and he was also a West Point Graduate.. Steve called us in on one of our visits to tell us about the legislation, and we jumped at the opportunity to help move it forward.

The LTC Baragona Act we learned, in simple terms, will stop foreign contractors from evading responsibility in civil actions and require them to participate in the US court system or face debarment.

No longer could companies like KGL put military families through the emotional turmoil we had been through. A sister bill sponsored by Congressman Tim Ryan (who had attended the same high school as my brother) would soon follow. The bill was now gaining support on a bipartisan basis from both sides of the aisle with Senators Collins, Bennett, Brown and Martinez signed on.
Dominic Baragona, my father, testified at a homeland security hearing on the bill to ask for the Wild West of Contracting used by KGL to end. He pleaded to have what happened to us never happen again. It was an emotional hearing. Sen. Claire McCaskill stood up and spoke words of dismay in an open forum about how a military family would be forced to do their own investigation. It was a small moment of triumph in Rocky’s name.

The hearing was followed with a letter from Representatives Tim Ryan and Steve Driehaus to the Department of Justice with a request for a criminal investigation of KGL’s unethical business practices in both our case and that of others.

In the case of KGL’s bad practices, our family continued to dig further and found new evidence of their subsidiary company, “Combined Shipping Company”. This company is in a joint business venture with the Iranian Government in partnership with a company banned on the US treasury SDN list as a proliferator of WMD’s IRISL’s Val Fajr. We turned all of this over to DODIG with further evidence from a newspaper article showing that the company wanted to increase their presence in the port and shipping industries while IRAN was snubbing their nose at the US/Iranian Sanctions.
Our discovery helped to lay the groundwork for section 102 in the Iran’s Sanction’s Act, with the support of a consultant on our case, Andy Cochran, from the Perles Law Firm. A letter to Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, from Congressmen Brad Sherman and Ron Klein has now asked that KGL not be considered for future procurement contracts. Again, along with Congress, we have personally asked for KGL’s debarment. Currently KGL is bidding on over 2 billion in US military contracts.
The curtain is starting to be pulled back on bad contracting players. Foreign and Domestic Contractors have been blatantly abusing their immunity, hiding behind jurisdiction, with little oversight for far too long.

The danger of our US Military’s overdependence on contractors allows for minimal oversight and is a minefield for corruption on both sides.

The Baragona case vs. KGL represents most of what is wrong with foreign contracting companies who use taxpayer dollars to further a war for their own profits; putting in harm’s way all of our brave soldiers who have relied on them as their base for support.

American citizens must demand from our policy makers the courage to change these laws with clear lines on how to enforce them. Families like ours need solutions in jurisdictional laws, so companies like KGL do not go unnoticed. We applaud Sen. McCaskill and Rep. Sherman for their efforts to level the playing field between domestic and foreign contractors.

With the passage of the Iran’s Sanction Amendments and the potential for the “LTC Rocky Baragona Act” to become law, we can balance contracting performance in our favor. This will allow for due process against bad players to take place, which in turn, forces other foreign companies to realign their policies with US principles if they want to do business with us.

Our fight for justice is far from over. We went to Washington yet again for the Weekend of Remembrance, honoring all our soldiers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. We visited Arlington to talk to Rocky and we updated him on our criminal investigation hopes.

We also visited our staffers and lobbied on behalf of the bill. All of it has been worth it.
Rocky would say “The Truth has Changed” and we would agree.

“Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst but tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.” It was a model for my brother’s life.

I hope we are carrying on Rocky’s legacy by doing the same.

Pam Baragona
Contact Pam Baragona through this website.

Death Memorial

PFC Stephen C. Serrano

December 17, 1987 – May 15, 2008

Stephen Serrano was a wonderful child. He was always laughing. His laugh was infectiousand his smile was ear to ear and showed every feature. I loved seeing him smile.

He loved music and children. He left behind a wife, Sophia and 5 children, four of them step children. His youngest son turned a year old on May 18^th, 2008, five days after he was killed, three days after his body was found.  He was a star athlete in football, baseball and wrestling. He played football for the Orangevale Huskies, baseball for Sunrise Little League in Orangevale, CA. and wrestled for Marina Jr High in El Dorado Hills, CA.. He loved the outdoors.  He was a wonderful son. He made me laugh. He had a great sense of humor. He had many friends. He was a brother to Shaleen Serrano, Jyoti Serrano, Savannah Rahman, Michael Serrano, Sean McKenney and Jordan Serrano. He joined the Marines in March 2007. He was with the 1^st Marine Division, 2d Battalion, and 5th Marines and was a Private First Class. He was born in Bronx, NY on December 17^th, 1987.
I remember May 15th 2008 as if it were yesterday, probably because it plays in my mind at least three times a day since then. The sky was blue and the air was warm; warmest it had been all year so far.  I had felt ill a couple days before and today I just felt anxious like I forgot something. I headed to work thinking it will pass, but as the hours crawled by I felt a strong urge to speak to my son, Stephen.

After hours of calling and getting his voice mail I finally headed home and called the barracks. I asked them to check and see if Stephen’s toothbrush was in his room. The Major came back on the phone and said it was.  I blurted out “What if he has been murdered!?” Stephen never left overnight without his toothbrush and although his comrades stated they had seen him that morning I had a sinking feeling they didn’t. I called Stephen’s phone carrier and asked when the last call was made, they said 10:30 am on May 13^th.  I called his wife and she hadn’t heard from him since that morning of May 13^th.

The last time I spoke to him was that Sunday, Mother’s Day when he called to say have a great day and I love you momma. I frantically called the barracks again and as soon as I hung up I received a call from my daughter in law. They had found Stephen. She identified him by his tattoo. I screamed and dropped the phone and begged God to help me.

Was he reaching for me? In some kind of way, the only way he could? Did he just realize what had happened to him? All I could see is him lying there. Wanting me to save him, as I always did before. Him begging me to wake him up from this nightmare. He probably was wondering why he was wandering for a day or two.  Then, did he see himself from above? Broken on the grass? In a ditch left there to be  found by a stranger? Who could have done such a thing? He was just a kid trying to grow up and fit in.

That was the beginning of the end for me.

Proud Mother of Pfc. Stephen C. Serrano – Christl McKenney

I created a Facebook page RIP Stephen Serrano http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/RIP-Stephen-Serrano/108437562534397

How An Army Officer And Diplomat Wrote His Way Through Trauma

Soldier Speaks Up A Decade After Pat Tillman's Friendly-Fire Death

Ten years after the friendly-fire incident in Afghanistan that killed U.S. Army Ranger and former NFL star Pat Tillman, one of the soldiers who mistakenly pulled the trigger says he's still haunted by demons from the night of April 22, 2004.


Steven Elliott tells NPR's All Things Considered that on the night of the incident, he could see only "shadowy figures" and had every reason to believe that when his squad leader, Sgt. Greg Baker, opened fire on what turned out to be Tillman's position, there were no "friendlies" in the area.


"We'd all been firing our weapons at various positions, up to that point, effectively enemy positions," Elliot tells host Melissa Block. "The sun had been set for roughly 20 minutes, so the lighting conditions were poor to say the least."

Read the entire story and/or listen to the interview by clicking here.

From the ESPN website:

Death Memorial

PFC Robert A. Guy

My son, PFC Robert A. Guy, a Marine, died on April 21st, 2005. He allegedly committed suicide. Which I was told two months later on the phone. He was put on Zoloft by a base doctor with no supervision.  He and two other Marines were requested to guard an Iraqi detainee, he allegedly pointed his rifle at the detainees head, racked the bolt and sent the bolt home. It is a matter of record that his rifle was empty.

He denied these allegations and stated he was guilty of improper clearing procedures. So of course, he was involved in an NJP. The most he could get out of this was…1) Lose 1/2 months pay for two months.  2) Bust him down a rank, from PFC to Private. 3) Give him 45 days extra duty (which would have been suspended, due to time served in Iraq).

The day of the NJP hearing (April 21st, 2005) the Company Commander felt he wasn’t qualified to dole out punishment and passed it up the chain of command to the Battalion Commander. A 1st Sgt. allegedly told him (when he signed the paper stating he understood what had taken place), “Boy, you just signed your ass away. You’re getting a dishonorable and spending thirty years in Leavenworth.”

Later that evening he asked to see the Chaplain.  He was told there was not a Chaplain on base, in order for him to speak to him they would have to get a convoy together. He was asked if it could wait until the morning. Knowing my son… not wanting to inconvience anyone and feeling he had no choice, he said “I guess so”.

Well, apparently it couldn’t. A very short time later he went into a port-a-john and blew his brains out.

Immediately all the Sgt’s were called together and told ‘to tell their men what had happened and to tell them there was a Chaplain available if anyone needed to speak to him’.

I received the ‘Field Investigation Report’ that was so full of discrepancies. It had been almost 2 years before I received the ‘Command Investigation Report’. I’ve waited so long for this report, hoping it would give me some answers. When it came, the answers were not there. It was more questions and more confusion than before. I want to get an attorney, but do not know what kind of attorney I need and where to find one. I have called everyone I can think of and all I get is a run-around. I have written a letter to the President of the United States, contacted my local Congressman, contacted both my State Senators and had my son’s story put in the newspaper. I have called numerous people affiliated with the Marine Corps and NCIS and all I get is lies, promises and people who apparently get paid to due nothing but say, “I’ll check into that and get back to you”.

My son died in Iraq, he was not killed by Iraqis, he was killed by the United States Marine Corps. I hold them responsible completely. In my yard about 18 feet high flies an American flag and a Marine Corps flag.  Bobby was so proud to be a Marine, he was going to make it his life’s choice. He wasn’t in there just for his four years.

So many times I’ve wanted to set fire to the Marine Corps flag, but as I told the newspaper people, “It flies for Bobby and the guys who went before him and the ones who will go after him, it damn sure don’t fly for the Corps.”

I am still very angry and my heart breaks anew every day. He was my son long before he was a Marine. I need someone to help me.  Tell me where to turn and who to talk to. I will never give up, someone needs to be held accountable for his death. All I’ve asked for from the beginning is the truth and I can’t even get that.

Thank you for your time and any assistance you may be able to provide.

Warmest regards,

Ann R. Guy

If you have any information about this case, please contact me through this website.

Death Memorial

Col. Philip Michael Shue Died April 16, 2003

No Way Out

To visit the kickstarter page for this project, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnshaff/no-way-out

Exclusive:Recording Shows that Army Punished Soldiers Who Asked for Help

After three combat tours, Sgt. Dennis Tackett was kicked out of the Army for punching a man in the face while drunk. It didn’t matter that he had been diagnosed with PTSD (by the Army) and had tried to get help (from the Army) for the drinking it led to. It didn’t matter that he was in the late stages of a medical discharge that would get him out soon anyway — with benefits. What mattered to the commanding general at Fort Carson, Colo., who spoke to him that day in November 2012 was that he had tried to fight the discharge with the help of a pair of civilian watchdogs, Georg-Andreas Pogany and Robert Alvarez.


“If you had not gotten involved with those advocates, it would have gone differently,” Tackett remembers the commander, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, telling him. Anderson is now commander of Fort Bragg, N.C.


A recording obtained by Al Jazeera America suggests Tackett and soldiers like him were retaliated against because of an increasingly rancorous relationship between commanders at Fort Carson and the civilian advocates.


Read the entire story here.

Two Cases, One Conclusion on Military Justice

Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, the New York Democrat who failed to push a bill through Congress that would have removed military commanders from the prosecution of sexual assault cases, has said it is “like your brother committing the sexual assault and having your father decide whether to prosecute.”

Read the entire story here.

Death Anniversary

Sgt. Patrick Rust was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division headquartered at Fort Drum, New York. He picked up a rifle and defended our way of life against the terrorists who want to destroy it. He was our soldier, his mom and dad’s son, our friend and neighbor, central New York’s very own defender. He survived deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, only to die mysteriously right here in his own country, not far from where he was born.
Patrick went missing from a bar – ironically named Clueless – in Watertown, New York on March 16, 2007. Six months later his remains were found in a farmer’s field over seven miles from the bar and the apartment he was staying at in Watertown. It is unknown how he got to that location. He didn’t have a car and it’s doubtful he’d have walked there on a cold March night. He wasn’t robbed and his remains showed no trauma. His cause and manner of death remain undetermined.
So what happened to Patrick Rust, our soldier, our son, our friend and neighbor? Did you see him that night? Do you know where he went after leaving the Clueless and who with? Do you know how he got to that farmer’s field? Do you know somebody who does know?
Please central New Yorkers, help us find out what happened to Patrick. He went to battle for us. Now we need to explain to his family how he died. They deserve answers. Don’t we owe them that much?
Bill Sullivan, Forensic Consulting Specialties
Denny Griffin, Investigator
If you have any information about this case, contact Judy Rust through this website.

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Army widows say Martinez jury tainted

ALBANY — In 2008, when a military jury acquitted a National Guardsman from Rensselaer County of murdering two superior officers in Iraq, it outraged the families of the slain soldiers.

Now the widows of those soldiers contend they know a prime reason behind the acquittal — juror misconduct.

Siobhan Esposito and Barbara Allen say they have learned that a juror on the panel used her military rank to bully lower-ranking jurors and halt deliberations before a verdict was reached in the murder trial of Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez of Schaghticoke.


Read the rest of the story here.

Death Memorial

2nd Lieutenant Kirk Charles Vanderbur, USMCR

December 28, 1967 – February 16, 1992

Kirk was shot in 2 places, in the stomach with his shotgun and in the head with his rifle. There were two different weapons. A Spas 12 was discharged into the abdomen at an upward angle and a Ruger-Mini 14 rifle with a bullpup stock (.223) shot between the eyes.

There was no gunshot residue on his hands but it was said that both shots were at close range. Both weapons were 10 feet apart. There was no homicide investigation. Yet it got tagged with suicide as the cause of death.


The scene at the time of death was located at a shooting range at Hubert, NC; therefore the first investigation was done outside the military installation where he was stationed.  Because of the inconsistencies in both the NCIS and Sheriff Ed Brown investigations, the Vanderbur’s asked the help of a Doctor Thomas L. Bennett, their home State of Iowa Medical Examiner. Bennett had originally agreed to do a second autopsy for Gene and Lois; however, Kirk’s body was released without an examination.


Since these sites are public by virtue of the fact that they are on the Internet to be accessed by those people who need them, as is our site, we have provided them for your further study of injustice at work and for your further finding that the death of Kirk Charles Vanderbur was not in vain.
We asked Lois if she would be willing to submit the story of her son Kirk. Her reply was that the story has already been written and she gave us permission to use the information that has been written as the basis for this story.


By now you will have read the story in our History pages about how Untill We Have Answers was started and that Lois Vanderbur was a hard working member of that group. Her devastation, frustration and motivation came from having been notified that her son, Kirk had committed suicide while stationed at Camp Lejeune NC and she and her husband always knew this was not the truth! Lois turned around that black mark on her heart – and her son’s integrity. She and Kirk served as a major cornerstone to the legislation that came out of what she and other members of UWHA made happen.   Thanks for the following legislations: 1185, 2187 and 5505.10.

Kirk’s death ended up being a double loss for he had wanted to be an organ donor.

Death Memorial

Cpl. Andrew White, USMC

Our youngest son, Cpl. Andrew White, USMC, was home from Iraq five days when his older brother, SSgt. Robert F. White, 82nd ABN US ARMY, was killed in action in Afghanistan on September 26, 2006.


On 12 February 2008, Andrew died while being treated by the VA for PTSD.  He was taking 60 mg. Paxil, 4 mg. of Klonopin, and 1600 mg. of Seroquel.  He died in his sleep.


Since then, his mother and I have been on a mission to find answers so that no other family will suffer these losses while their loved ones are being treated for PTSD.


With the help of several new friends, we have found that at least 57 others have died in similar circumstances — some from these same meds, while other deaths are still under investigation.
If you know of any families that have lost loved ones while taking these meds, please contact us through this website.  We have been to Congress with our story and the stories of at least eight other families (five in West Virginia).  Our goal is threefold:

1. Collect the stories of other soldiers who have died from meds while being treated for PTSD.
2. Lobby Congress to force the DOD and VA to use less medication and more counseling for PTSD, and
3. Lobby for an in-depth investigation into why the VA and DOD continues to prescribe the lethal mix of antidepressants, antipsychotics and pain killing drugs.

Stan and Shirley White, Cross Lanes WV
To contact the Whites, email us and we’ll forward your message.

Death Memorial

Palecco

Seaman Adam J. Palecco

Seaman Adam Palecco, Camp Hansen, Okinawa. ” Seaman Adam Palecco, USN, 21, of New Jersey was brutally murdered on February 2, 2005, by three service members who had been falsely told that Adam was going to testify against them regarding their participation in a theft ring. This false information was made up by a military officer who has yet to be held responsible, despite all the family’s efforts for accountability by the military.”
Link to story