Base Investigates Claims Father Warned Them About Attacks on Afghan Civilians
From the Q 13 Fox
Published: September 30, 2010
JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD —
The father of one of the Stryker soldiers accused of murdering Afghan civilians says the Army could have saved lives if it had listened to his warnings.
Christopher Winfield says he made several calls to let military leaders know members of his son’s unit were killing civilians for fun and in some cases taking pictures of it. He feels his warnings were ignored.
Winfield said he told military leaders that his son told him his sergeant was killing civilians and planned on killing more. Winfield was upset by a conversation he had with a staff sergeant at Lewis-McChord “he said, ‘well, you know, the only thing i can tell you is, just, tell him to stay away from Gibbs.” Winfield said the officer also suggested his son should keep his head down and report the problem when he returned in four months. “My jaw hit the floor when i heard that, it was just, you got to be kidding me,” Winfield said.
Phone records show Winfield, the father of specialist Adam Winfield, did speak to someone at the base for about 8 minutes. Winfield says he eventually stopped calling because he feared his son could face retaliation. Now, he regrets that decision “two more murders happened after that. and, there would have been two more people walking on this earth right now.”
Major Kathleen Turner from Joint Base Lewis-McChord released a short statement Wednesday afternoon which said, in part “the reports that phone calls were made by Mr. Winfield to alert the army to allegations of crimes committed by soldiers in Afghanistan are matters the army takes very seriously.” The army said an inquiry is underway and they wont discuss the situation until the investigation is complete.
This latest revelation doesn’t surprise some veterans and those familiar with the military tracking the case. “Nobody wants to believe that we could allow this to happen it’s a shame,” K.T. Cox said.
Veteran Andrew Wright left Iraq seven years ago and now helps run “Coffee Strong” – a cafe and resource center near Lewis-McChord where soldiers and veterans gather. He hopes the truth comes out, whatever it may be, but says the system discourages soldiers from speaking up. “The culture that you’re in just doesn’t encourage it it’s very much a put your head down and keep moving forward and at some point everyone reaches a breaking point,” he explained.
Now, Spec. Adam Winfield is being held at Joint Base Lewis McChord. He has a military hearing next month that will determine if he faces court martial.
