Posted On: July 2, 2023

My duties included maintenance of vehicles (motor officer for infantry/armor unit),

Ammunition storage at the installation level so at one time I ran the Ammunition Supply Point or ASP. the ASP is were all ammo was distributed from for these live fire ranges.

I know AHAs, as the witness said this took place, are reported by 10 digit grid to division and III Corps, and are eligible for random inspections by guys like me (civil or military).

You didn't fuck around with these.

There is no way this AHA was not placed in the proper location, as the witness claims. No way no how. There wouldn't have been a colonel in the Army willing to let that happen.

The AHA would have been at the range control site, sure off a ways incase it blew (not likely but still). At night portable lights would have been on it.

If found it would have been reported to the Corp Commander (a 3 star) and the unit's division commander (2 star and at Hood there were 2 divisions 4ID and 1st Cav).

I am calling bullshit on that one.

The reason why I know this is because of incident after the Gulf War.

Since then the handling of ammunition and explosives is tightly controlled through regs and procedure.

You didn't screw around with this. .

Witness also talked about North Ft Hood. It was/is a place. Back then you left main Hood to get there.

Today I think it's now linked together. I hear today it's very different from when I was there. Back then no one went to North Ft hood unless for 1 of 3 reasons. 1.

You were in the 1-7 CAV who are an attack helicopter battalion and that's where their airfield was. 2.

You were taking a plane off Hood (back then it's where President Bush flew in and out when he was coming home). 3. If you have business with Army Test Command.

Or if in my case your wife was also stationed there.

She was in the 1-7 as a helicopter pilot.

So I wen there for lunch or to pick her after duty. Or the occasional times when Bush was flying and they cleared North Hood for his arrival.

There were 2 training areas there but none cleared for live fire, because of the thick brush as the witness describes was there.

No live fire ever occurred there. So why would the AHA be set up there? So bullshit. .

There would have been one of two scenarios for the AHA. .

Scenario 1.

The AHA was setup because training was taking a break (yes they would have stopped for a weekend or federal holiday).

In this case the AHA would have needed contact with Battalion Staff duty back at the barracks and would have had to do regular check ins.

In some battalions the staff duty NCO/Officer would be required to drive out and check on them.

Scenario 2.

Training was continuous ( in the field for a couple weeks or more) and needed guards at the AHA 24/7.

In this case instead of Staff duty the AHA would have to report in to S3 or the company whose task it was to man the AHA.

No exceptions.

This seems the likely scenario since once as indicated by the witness since a truck came by to pick up ammo.

Training was still ongoing.

the witness said that they drove POVs to the AHA. No.

I don't think so.

Scenario 1 this would not be allowed.

The battalion was in the field no POVs. Scenario 2, less likely because the unit would not want responsibility for damaged civilian vehicles and..its not how things are/were done. .

they would have been required to have a M998 or HMMWV (or Hum-V) with radio.

No exceptions.

Cell phones were in the infancy then.

I had one, it was expensive (dual officer income and no kids) about that time but they were minute based so not many people would have used theirs to call for something when the military provided comms..still radio would have been a must.

I call bullshit on the lack of radio.

Also the guard would not have left the AHA.

For any reason.

They would have a radio and either called staff duty to make a food run.

Better still in the many times I went on an FTX nearly everyone had a bag of pougie bait.

No way these troops who knew they were going on detail didn't bring pougie bait.

It may seem all cool and roguish for a soldier to buck the chain of command and do what they want or screw that officer he's too by the book, but that is 1960s garbage.

the military is far more professional then people realize.

Sure there are issues still but it's a far better place than the 60s, and NCOs are the backbone.

They enforce regs/rules.

It's not the cowboy world Hollywood makes it out to be, I believe these to be inaccurate if not fabricated.

They would not have run 24 hour shifts.

Especially guarding something that potentially dangerous at most it would have been 12 hour shifts.

They would not be allowed to sleep during the day.

Sure a lax NCO might let it happen but doubtful.

This one detail makes me question things.

During the day there would have been too much of a chance of an inspector like me showing up, officer from the unit, or since all training is posted up to III Corps command..a general deciding to go visit his troops (it did/does happen and you are required to be ready for it).

During that time?. With the talk of going to war with Iraq on the table and units doing live fire? there was a high degree of chance of a senior division officer coming through.

I think the witness said or eluded to this being in a support of an EIB qualification.

I am not sure how many EIBs were being done at that time.

It was a very high energy time.

The witness does mention that Iraq was the only thing people could talk about. there was a lot of range time being booked. EIB?.

Can't be sure but it seems that it would have been the last thing to worry about.

I don't claim to be an expert on the EIB process but I had officer buddies who were infantry and they would always talk about it.

So you learn by osmosis. each battalion has their own traditions and structure to how these go though I never saw an AHA set up for these operations alone.

Maybe it happened?. the weapons quals for these were over pretty quick.

Only if the battalion was going to be out doing ARTEPS would have have had an AHA setup for long periods of time. Those required a lot of ammo, and we are talking weeks weeks worth 2 to 3 weeks. .

The way Ft Hood operated, the ASP did not hold that much ammo therefore combat units would have ordered all they needed for the qualification ranges and setup AHAs in the field to supply the event.

For these pieces of information, I call this into doubt and is questionable.

While possible it is highly unlikely events occurred this way based on my experience. this also links to the other issues above. An EIB event was semi rare.

Happened like once a year. So it would have attracted command officers to come watch and see how it was going.

Think of it as like a time for the infantry brotherhood to come together.

I experience something similar when I got my spurs when I was a tank crewman (think EIB but sexier).

This was a big event in an Infantry unit. .

I end this by ultimately thinking that the witness did serve.

He said the right things the right way.

I think he manipulated details in order to justify a sighting.

Did the sighting happen?. Maybe I can't verify that. I can verify, at least to my satisfaction, that this sighting did not happen under the circumstances the witness claims. .

Don't take my word for it alone. I think I provided enough where people can do some digging further and validate or invalidate my claims.

​Post from user BuildingBigfoot at at reddit.

Posted On: July 2, 2023

My duties included maintenance of vehicles (motor officer for infantry/armor unit),

Ammunition storage at the installation level so at one time I ran the Ammunition Supply Point or ASP. the ASP is were all ammo was distributed from for these live fire ranges.

I know AHAs, as the witness said this took place, are reported by 10 digit grid to division and III Corps, and are eligible for random inspections by guys like me (civil or military).

You didn't fuck around with these.

There is no way this AHA was not placed in the proper location, as the witness claims. No way no how. There wouldn't have been a colonel in the Army willing to let that happen.

The AHA would have been at the range control site, sure off a ways incase it blew (not likely but still). At night portable lights would have been on it.

If found it would have been reported to the Corp Commander (a 3 star) and the unit's division commander (2 star and at Hood there were 2 divisions 4ID and 1st Cav).

I am calling bullshit on that one.

The reason why I know this is because of incident after the Gulf War.

Since then the handling of ammunition and explosives is tightly controlled through regs and procedure.

You didn't screw around with this. .

Witness also talked about North Ft Hood. It was/is a place. Back then you left main Hood to get there.

Today I think it's now linked together. I hear today it's very different from when I was there. Back then no one went to North Ft hood unless for 1 of 3 reasons. 1.

You were in the 1-7 CAV who are an attack helicopter battalion and that's where their airfield was. 2.

You were taking a plane off Hood (back then it's where President Bush flew in and out when he was coming home). 3. If you have business with Army Test Command.

Or if in my case your wife was also stationed there.

She was in the 1-7 as a helicopter pilot.

So I wen there for lunch or to pick her after duty. Or the occasional times when Bush was flying and they cleared North Hood for his arrival.

There were 2 training areas there but none cleared for live fire, because of the thick brush as the witness describes was there.

No live fire ever occurred there. So why would the AHA be set up there? So bullshit. .

There would have been one of two scenarios for the AHA. .

Scenario 1.

The AHA was setup because training was taking a break (yes they would have stopped for a weekend or federal holiday).

In this case the AHA would have needed contact with Battalion Staff duty back at the barracks and would have had to do regular check ins.

In some battalions the staff duty NCO/Officer would be required to drive out and check on them.

Scenario 2.

Training was continuous ( in the field for a couple weeks or more) and needed guards at the AHA 24/7.

In this case instead of Staff duty the AHA would have to report in to S3 or the company whose task it was to man the AHA.

No exceptions.

This seems the likely scenario since once as indicated by the witness since a truck came by to pick up ammo.

Training was still ongoing.

the witness said that they drove POVs to the AHA. No.

I don't think so.

Scenario 1 this would not be allowed.

The battalion was in the field no POVs. Scenario 2, less likely because the unit would not want responsibility for damaged civilian vehicles and..its not how things are/were done. .

they would have been required to have a M998 or HMMWV (or Hum-V) with radio.

No exceptions.

Cell phones were in the infancy then.

I had one, it was expensive (dual officer income and no kids) about that time but they were minute based so not many people would have used theirs to call for something when the military provided comms..still radio would have been a must.

I call bullshit on the lack of radio.

Also the guard would not have left the AHA.

For any reason.

They would have a radio and either called staff duty to make a food run.

Better still in the many times I went on an FTX nearly everyone had a bag of pougie bait.

No way these troops who knew they were going on detail didn't bring pougie bait.

It may seem all cool and roguish for a soldier to buck the chain of command and do what they want or screw that officer he's too by the book, but that is 1960s garbage.

the military is far more professional then people realize.

Sure there are issues still but it's a far better place than the 60s, and NCOs are the backbone.

They enforce regs/rules.

It's not the cowboy world Hollywood makes it out to be, I believe these to be inaccurate if not fabricated.

They would not have run 24 hour shifts.

Especially guarding something that potentially dangerous at most it would have been 12 hour shifts.

They would not be allowed to sleep during the day.

Sure a lax NCO might let it happen but doubtful.

This one detail makes me question things.

During the day there would have been too much of a chance of an inspector like me showing up, officer from the unit, or since all training is posted up to III Corps command..a general deciding to go visit his troops (it did/does happen and you are required to be ready for it).

During that time?. With the talk of going to war with Iraq on the table and units doing live fire? there was a high degree of chance of a senior division officer coming through.

I think the witness said or eluded to this being in a support of an EIB qualification.

I am not sure how many EIBs were being done at that time.

It was a very high energy time.

The witness does mention that Iraq was the only thing people could talk about. there was a lot of range time being booked. EIB?.

Can't be sure but it seems that it would have been the last thing to worry about.

I don't claim to be an expert on the EIB process but I had officer buddies who were infantry and they would always talk about it.

So you learn by osmosis. each battalion has their own traditions and structure to how these go though I never saw an AHA set up for these operations alone.

Maybe it happened?. the weapons quals for these were over pretty quick.

Only if the battalion was going to be out doing ARTEPS would have have had an AHA setup for long periods of time. Those required a lot of ammo, and we are talking weeks weeks worth 2 to 3 weeks. .

The way Ft Hood operated, the ASP did not hold that much ammo therefore combat units would have ordered all they needed for the qualification ranges and setup AHAs in the field to supply the event.

For these pieces of information, I call this into doubt and is questionable.

While possible it is highly unlikely events occurred this way based on my experience. this also links to the other issues above. An EIB event was semi rare.

Happened like once a year. So it would have attracted command officers to come watch and see how it was going.

Think of it as like a time for the infantry brotherhood to come together.

I experience something similar when I got my spurs when I was a tank crewman (think EIB but sexier).

This was a big event in an Infantry unit. .

I end this by ultimately thinking that the witness did serve.

He said the right things the right way.

I think he manipulated details in order to justify a sighting.

Did the sighting happen?. Maybe I can't verify that. I can verify, at least to my satisfaction, that this sighting did not happen under the circumstances the witness claims. .

Don't take my word for it alone. I think I provided enough where people can do some digging further and validate or invalidate my claims.

​Post from user BuildingBigfoot at at reddit.