Posted on 08/23/2011 5:05:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Santa Clara native was apparently prone to sleeping on guard duty; fellow Marines took to disciplining him.
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Harry Lew took his own life in his foxhole in Afghanistan after he was kicked and punched by fellow Marines, military officials tell NBC Bay Area news.
An investigation into the 21-year-old's April death says Lew "leaned over his M249 squad automatic weapon as it pointed to the sky, placed the muzzle in his mouth and pulled the trigger."
Lew wrote on his arm: "may hate me now, but in the long run this was the right choice I'm sorry my mom deserves the truth."
The suicide came moments after fellow Marines attacked Lew for repeatedly falling asleep on guard duty. An investigation shows Lew, from Santa Clara, was caught asleep at least four separate times in areas where "enemy attack was considered imminent." Military records show Lew, who was on his first tour in Afghanistan, was first counseled then disciplined by a sergeant for sleeping while on post.
At some point, Lew was forced to walk his rounds while carrying a single sandbag, symbolic of the weight of his responsibility to his fellow marines.
On April 3, Lew could not be raised by radio while standing post. A check of his foxhole found him asleep once again.
The unnamed sergeant then announced over the radio that "peers should correct peers," according to military documents. That led to what appears to be a sad series of events.
Fellow lance corporals [whose names have been redacted in the report] ordered Lew to dig a new foxhole as a punishment, then informed Lew he could go to sleep once the task was finished. Those corporals, however, did not inform the sergeant they had given Lew permission to sleep.
At 1:00 a.m., that sergeant, whose name has also been redacted from the report, "angrily confronted [Lew] about why he had again fallen asleep." Other Marines then demanded Lew to perform various physical tasks as punishment and would "stomp down" on Lew's back and legs if he failed to do an exercise properly.
"Towards the end of the physical training", the report says a "sandbag broke open at which point lance corporal [redacted] picked it up and poured the contents on Lew's chest and face as he lay with his back to the ground."
Convinced Lew was responding to his punishment with sarcasm and disrespect, fellow lance corporals then "kicked dirt on Lew, kicked him in the back of the helmet, punched him in the back of his helmet with a force that cut [his attacker's] knuckle."
At some point, a fellow Marine stepped in to stop the attack, saying he didn't "want it on his conscience if Lew killed himself" -- which is exactly what Lew did.
A sergeant is blamed in the report for giving responsibility for Lew's discipline to fellow marines.
"Further, he failed to intervene while those peers undertook inappropriate corrective actions." That sergeant faces court martial when the unit returns from Afghanistan, as does an unnamed lance corporal.
The military says unequivocally that Lew took his own life, though it the report does indicated more than one round was shot from Lew's SAW.
"This command mourns the death of Lance Corporal Lew" reads the final report. "His family and friends have my deepest sympathies" says his commanding officer.
Lew is a 2008 graduate of Santa Clara High School and was assigned to the 2nd battalion, 3rd marine regiment, 3rd Marine division.
His obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle says Lew wrote "Brand new Marine, feels good" on his Myspace page shortly after he joined the military.
A Marine in my family told of pulling guard duty with Iraqis. One fell asleep twice in one night, and the Marine slugged him. The Iraqi pulled a knife, and THAT earned him a huge butt-kicking. After that, the Iraqi didn’t fall asleep...and neither did the Marine, since he figured the Iraqi would cheerfully kill him if he did.
As an officer in the USAF, I have been known to turn a blind eye to fellow enlisted men dishing out punishment. I can also say in every case I knew about, the guy punished grew up and became a solid airman.
Of course, if I did the same thing now, I’d probably end up in prison. Guess it is good I’m retired.
Inducing deep depression in someone in that state is exceedingly dangerous ~ those guys are lucky all he did was kill just himself.
Wrong. Sleeping on guard duty in a combat situation has been a captial offense in the US military. Even today Article 113 of the UCMJ—Misbehavior of sentinel or lookout -allows for execution.
By sleeping on guard duty in Afganistan the “victim” could have gotten everyone in his unit killed.
RE: your tagline - my son is applying for the PLC
Advances have been made in medical understanding and my understanding is that our military, if not yours, keeps up with those discoveries.
Wow! Can you interpret that for us civilians, lol?!
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Well, for starters, a lot of ‘minor’ offenses are handled on the deck plate level.
Not saying sleeping on watch/duty is minor but an NCO doesn’t want to be known as being report happy.
When a thief is caught the first time he is usually administered to by his bunk mates (same as ‘do funnies)and many types ‘fall up a ladder’ while heading to the shower, where he had a lot of help.
Usually by the time a guy got to Captains Mast or Courts-Martial he had been attended to by his peers.
Of course, I am talking many years before PC ran rampant.
“What I don’t understand in this one is that someone thought using the techniques one might use to break a slave would improve self-discipline. Today it’s recognized this sort of thing induces some pretty serious depression. I really doubt the guys doing this were taught in the military how this can be done.”
It isn’t hard. Your buddies impress on you the idea that you cannot afford to let them down. In every case I knew of, it resulted in a better person who grew up and became a part of the team.
It just was
Simple logic would tell you that the entire platoon was not sleeping or they would not have repeatedly caught him sleeping on duty.
“This is usually not a disciplinary issue ~ it’s a neurological problem, or a result of disease or injury ~ or dope.”
BS! It normally is someone who is bone tired and just doesn’t try hard enough.
Semper Fi...oh, I’m sorry, I ment get bent. The only thing that saddens me is that his “peers” didn’t frag his sorry arse.
By my post? Well I’m not the MSM am I? That’s what I meant.
In modern warfare you can and will encounter incredible things never before encountered. It's just a matter of time until sleeping agents show up.
I'm surprised Lew wasn't brought up for sleeping on guard duty.
I’ve fallen asleep a number of times while on duty at the office!
People unable to take advantage of such moments probably did get tired, but that's no excuse.
Because peer pressure frequently works. because kicking someone out of the military isn’t all that easy. Because the others are about the same age as this guy, or just a few years older.
We are wasting a lot of lives over there. Either we fight to win or get out.
Blood sugar irregularities as well as blood pressure problems can do that ~ we are talking about younger men in this situation so it’s likely any problem like that simply wasn’t caught by the medics.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.