According to US Federal Prosecutor David Rivera, among the items taken by the theft ring were night vision scopes, rifle and machine-gun parts, grenade launchers, and flight helmets. The items were sold on Ebay to anonymous buyers, including many in foreign nations. That certainly makes international espionage much easier; cut out the middle-man and buy direct from Ebay.
Among the foreign destinations found so far in the scandal are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Moldova, Malaysia, Romania, and Mexico. There were several unknown US buyers as well.
To make matters even more embarrassing, one of the indicted soldiers was found to be AWOL at the warrants were served. As it turned out, the missing soldier was already in jail in Oregon; awaiting extradition to Tennessee after having skipped bail there. The soldier, one Kyle Heade, was arrested in January and charged with attempted murder after shooting someone five times outside a local chicken restaurant.
Unfortunately, incidents like these are becoming more common in the military both at home and abroad. Our dumbed-down schools, lowered recruitment and training standards, and culture of narcissism and entitlement are taking a severe toll on the military. Within the last month, another soldier was arrested in California for involvement in a triple murder that occurred during a perverted orgy where actors (including some minors) dressed as animals and re-enacted bestiality scenes. A sailor was sentenced for manslaughter in Virginia after shooting and killing another sailor during a video game.
Also in Virginia, a Langley Air Force base airman was arrested September 23rd for cultivating marijuana and selling meth. A member of the Illinois National Guard was sentenced the same day to 30 years for colluding with ISIS. On the 20th of September an Army Specialist was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a woman who threatened to expose his relationship with her 14 year-old daughter. In that case, the cowardly soldier tried to blame the girl for the murder. On the 16th of September, a Fort Bliss soldier was arrested for the murder of a transgender woman in Texas.
The day before that, a pregnant female soldier was found guilty of gunning down her husband in Virginia. On the 13th, the Commander of a helicopter strike unit was arrested in San Diego on charges of assault and attempted rape. The week prior to that, a USMC Staff Sergeant in North Carolina invaded the home of his ex-wife, shot her new husband, tied her to a chair and set the house on fire with gasoline. The woman managed to escape and killed the Marine in self-defense, but the house was destroyed and both men died at the scene.
This is one month's activity in our Postmodern Military.
Consider that if a city's police department was experiencing the same level of crime in its own ranks as we're experiencing in the Military---wouldn't there be some public outcry? Why the media silence about crime in the Military? Maybe it's because the Corporate Media is strongly tied to interests with defense contracts. Also, reporting on these issues might compromise the army of lobbyists the Corporate Media employs. One doesn't want to rock the boat when currying favor. And then there's the so-called 'Conservative Media' whose audiences tolerate no criticism of the Military---no matter how justified.
It ought to be obvious that our military personnel and leadership are in no condition to fight a major war, or even properly defend the country. For too long, the elites have seen the Military both as a cash-cow for vested financial interests and as a field for social engineering schemes. We need soldiers and leaders again; not criminals and perverts.
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