Associated Press
April 16, 2004
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - At a court-martial resulting from a shipboard explosion, Marines testified that a sergeant took an explosive shell in Iraq as a war trophy and discarded it in a trash can, where it blew up and wounded 10 people.
The most seriously injured Marine, Pfc. Michael R. Hayes, said Wednesday that he was packing for the trip home last May when he threw paper and old batteries into the trash can aboard the USS Saipan.
"I heard two of the batteries hit something metal," Hayes said. "I woke up three to four days later" in a U.S. military hospital. The explosion ripped apart his right arm. Doctors used his abdominal muscles to replace the lost tissue, though he still has no feeling in the arm, Hayes testifed.
Sgt. Mark S. Hoerber, 24, of Miami, is accused of bringing the explosive on board. He was also wounded by shrapnel, but he managed to pull an electrical cord from a computer and wrap it around Hayes' arm as a tourniquet.
Before the court-martial started Tuesday, Hoerber pleaded guilty to disobeying a general order against bringing explosives aboard the ship. He still faces charges of assault and damaging the Saipan.
Civilian defense attorney Neal Puckett said other people had such war trophies, and the military jury should make sure prosecutors prove the bomblet that exploded was the same one that Hoerber brought aboard.
The prosecution has "just one explanation of what happened (and) there are so many other explanations," Puckett said.
Sgt. Shane Elliott of Great Falls, Mont., testifed that he found the M-42 howitzer fragmentation round while walking with Hoerber outside a military camp in southern Iraq last April. Hoerber found a rusted, crushed Iraqi rifle magazine at the former Iraqi bunker destroyed during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and they traded, Elliott said.
Staff Sgt. Anthony L. Wetherall testified Hoerber showed him something similar to a corroded M42 shell in a ship's lounge three to four days before the explosion.
He "showed me something that didn't look right, and I told him to throw it over the side (of the ship) and not to put it in the trash," Wetherall said.
For his plea on disobeying an order, Hoerber could be sentenced to up to two years' confinement, forfeiture of all pay, a dishonorable discharge and reduction of rank. The sentence could grow to 10 years if he is convicted of the other charges.
The Saipan, based in Norfolk, Va., was one of seven ships that carried the 7,000-member 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade to Iraq. The Marines, from Camp Lejeune and the adjacent New River Marine Corps Air Station, returned home in June.
Don't discard ordinance in the trash
Moderators: Alyrium Denryle, Edi, K. A. Pital
Don't discard ordinance in the trash
Marines Testify On Shipboard Explosion
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Fucking dumbass. We have EOD for a reason...lucky no one was killed. I have they rake him across the coals. bringing goddamned unexploded rounds on board. He knows he fucked up, too. No two ways or excuses can be made for this. Five bucks says he pleads guilty and accepts his fate. His whole life is completely fucked now. completely, totally fucked. nobody will EVER hire him, he woin't get any federal Aid for school...he's just fucked. Good job, moron.
At least he is taking responsibility for what happened. He administered aide to another injurred soldier. Indications also show he will simply plead guilty and not bother with rationalizing what he did.
He made a mistake and now he is accepting the consequences of his actions.
He made a mistake and now he is accepting the consequences of his actions.
"If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither is on your side, pound on the table."
"The captain claimed our people violated a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us to develop hyperspace technology. Extermination of our planet was the consequence. The subject did not survive interrogation."
"The captain claimed our people violated a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us to develop hyperspace technology. Extermination of our planet was the consequence. The subject did not survive interrogation."
Like I said in the Venting thread, the military knows how to stick it to people when they want to. I don't expect them to take it easy on him since people got seriously injured.For his plea on disobeying an order, Hoerber could be sentenced to up to two years' confinement, forfeiture of all pay, a dishonorable discharge and reduction of rank. The sentence could grow to 10 years if he is convicted of the other charges.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
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Sea Skimmer
- Yankee Capitalist Air Pirate
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Very lucky, hell what if he had dropped it on the flight or hanger deck while going to chuck it over the side? It took a far lesser mistake and a flare to kill forty on Oriskany.Chardok wrote:Fucking dumbass. We have EOD for a reason...lucky no one was killed.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
What really burns me is that I KNOW it is pounded into EVERY SINGLE SOLDIER'S HEAD. that YOU DO NOT FUCKING TOUCH UEO!!!! This was completely senseless and sad. A true tragedy.Sea Skimmer wrote:Very lucky, hell what if he had dropped it on the flight or hanger deck while going to chuck it over the side? It took a far lesser mistake and a flare to kill forty on Oriskany.Chardok wrote:Fucking dumbass. We have EOD for a reason...lucky no one was killed.