Fort Bragg Paratroopers Released From Confinement

Officials with the 82nd Airborne Division say most of the Fort Bragg paratroopers confined to their unit for losing a pair of night-vision goggles were released in plenty of time for Christmas.

About 130 members of Company C of the Third Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment had been confined to their unit area since Dec. 9 while military investigators searched for the goggles. Most of them were released last week.

The battalion is headed to Afghanistan in the spring for a yearlong deployment. Some of the soldiers and their families were concerned that the confinement would ruin the holidays.

www.wral.com/news/4023685/detail.html

What a nice morale boost right before deployment. Hope these troops have adequate armor along with their night vision goggles.

We were there all night. Still don't know if they ever found it.

Grade school thinking.

"Somebody's been eating the strawberries."

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The 82nd Airborne has the WORST security of any division in the United States Army. I am not shitting you here: some unit is always either On Lockdown because they lost a sensitive item in garrison or they're Stuck In The Field because someone lost a sensitive item in the field. (Strangely enough, no one ever loses anything on parachute operations--they know how to secure their gear so they won't lose a weapon, a protective mask or a piece of crypto gear during a jump.)

The only reason this made the news is that it was very close to the holidays for a unit that's deploying soon.

Oh yeah...the Army figured out that one of the soldiers who has access to the arms room stole the NVGs.

a couple of miles from Division in the early 80's. You're right, they always had a "situation" up there. Funny, the same thing could happen with us around the Puzzle Palace, but we never got locked down. 82d troops were treated much differently; looks like things haven't changed much.

Troop at Bragg a few years ago and it was a rainy, cold miserable weekend to be camping at Bragg. We decidied to tour the 82d Museum and while there some of my kids found a SINGARS radio that the museum guard was supposed to use. He had left the radio propped up against a wheel of one of the aircraft on display. THe young trooper left it there while off on a smoke break or while getting out of the rain or something, not thinking that anybody would find it on a rainy day. Luckily for him it was a Boy Scout troop that found the radio. We turned it over to the MPs, who grilled the boys until I showed them that I carried an Active Duty ID card, that they had turned in the radio and were not down on Murchison trying to pawn the radio.

Needless to say the Battalion Commander contacted us the next day and was thankful. He was sure his young trooper had been trying to hide/sell/steal the radio. THe poor trooper was already on punishment detail, pulling the duty on a rainy weekend, when he went for a smoke....Like I said he was lucky it was a couple of scouts that found and turned in the SINGARS....

So I understand how DIV can be stupid and lock down their troops when a sensitive item goes missing. VERY, very seldom do the weapons or sensitive items get lost, especially on a jump...although my HPT Lowering line did suffer catastrophic failure once and my ruck burned in......Normally it's some JOe that is trying to rip off the government, or got stupid and left the item on a truck/generator cover and forgot to grab it as they drive off...which causes the whole unit to be locked down until the item is accounted for etc...

Oh to be young and a dirt dart in DIV again....NO THANKS!!!!! Much better across the street in the SOF community....