Sailor gunned down on sentry duty, Navy says

Sailor gunned down on sentry duty, Navy says

www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- A sailor found dead earlier this week at California's Camp Pendleton was shot while standing sentry, and a fire was set in an attempt to cover up evidence, the U.S. Navy said.

The death of Seaman August Provost of Houston, Texas, is being investigated as a homicide, Capt. Matt Brown told reporters on Thursday. A sailor is in custody in the case, Brown said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a startling story in the sense that this crime was committed on a US military base. The irony of such an event should not be overlooked.

Why were there no more sentries on duty that night?

Why did no one else hear the gunshots?

Is this the way that we protect our country now? We just leave posts so unguarded that anyone can walk up to an on-duty guard, shoot them in cold blood, set fire to the area to cover it up, and leave, all before someone comes to look for them?

To me, there's got to be more to this story than we're being told.

TheBorg

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Most Military sentry posts are in very out of the way places.. They are also usually only manned by one soldier..

To the best of my knowledge, it has always been that way...

I have stood some very lonely posts before..

I wonder if he was armed... I did not see anything about it in the link..

I have stood both armed and unarmed posts..

but even with armed posts, unless you are guarding some very sensitive posts, like a nuclear bunker, your usually required to carry no round in the chamber..

Again, I believe this is a long standing military practice..

Semper

This is very disturbing indeed! I was in the Navy and I can say there are armed and unarmed sentry duty. However, if he is guarding amphibious assault ships one would assume the sailor would be carrying a fire arm. However, who really knows what the nature of his watch entailed. I can say there are roving watches as well.

This watch stander moves about while on watch checking spaces on ship or posts on land for disturbances. I wonder why there was no roving watch stander. I hope whomever is apprehended for the heinous murder is charged to the furthest extent of the law. In all reality if the crime happened 50 or 60 years ago the person convicted would be executed. Maybe that type of response is warranted, however, I don't see it happening because of the political correctness we all confront on a daily basis.

reply to post by semperfortis


Makes one wonder about the level of security though, does it not? If we were invaded by another country, we would be seeing huge gaping holes popping up in the defenses of our most sensitive locales, as the sentries are being killed by the invaders, without the chance to call out for help.

There's just something wrong with this story. Something doesn't seem to make sense. It's like a nagging itch that I just can't scratch. How could he not have alerted someone to the event? Why was there no communication between the two? And yet again, what does this say about the level of protection and training that our men and women in uniform are getting?

I'm actually getting a little scared here for my fellow armed servicemen and women.

TheBorg

reply to post by TheBorg


I can only speak for the USMC, and only back 25 years ago, but we had a Rapid Action Force that would respond to a sentry in distress as well as roving patrols as mentioned by the previous poster..

What you have to remember is that a sentry, just like a cop is "Out There" and visible. Anyone that really want to harm one, can do so.

When your talking a military base, one must assume the perpetrator is also military with some training.. Even the Navy gives them some.

A sentry is like a lock on your door.. Wont stop someone who is really determined, but it may dissuade someone who is just looking to cause trouble..

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


Thanks for your service buddy and Happy Independence Day!!! I like the other poster fear for our service men and women if this continues as a trend. I hope they get to the bottom of this quickly and the guilty party gets tried and judged expeditiously. Hopefully the punishment is severe enough to hinder any one else from acting out in such a beastly manner. I'm under the assumption the murderer is probably one of his shipmates and he knew the person was not a threat at the onset. However, this should be a reminder to the people at DOD to ramp up defensive postures at bases around the country and abroad!

Originally posted by TheBorg


This is a startling story in the sense that this crime was committed on a US military base. The irony of such an event should not be overlooked.

Why were there no more sentries on duty that night?

Why did no one else hear the gunshots?

Is this the way that we protect our country now? We just leave posts so unguarded that anyone can walk up to an on-duty guard, shoot them in cold blood, set fire to the area to cover it up, and leave, all before someone comes to look for them?

To me, there's got to be more to this story than we're being told.

TheBorg

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Who said anything about gunshots??????? Army issued knives can kill can't they????????

reply to post by LucidDreamer85


From the Link

A sailor found dead earlier this week at California's Camp Pendleton was shot while standing sentry

Originally posted by semperfortis

but even with armed posts, unless you are guarding some very sensitive posts, like a nuclear bunker, your usually required to carry no round in the chamber..

Again, I believe this is a long standing military practice..

Semper

I was an armed sentry for the Navy up until October of 2008 and we always had a round in the chamber in our M9s while on duty, a condition 1 weapon. It can be argued that the M9 doesn't have the stopping power for a strong threat however. M4/M16s were carried at condition 3, meaning no round in the chamber.

The major news networks are claiming that he was homosexual.

I bet "they" are going to use this to support the "don't ask don't tell" agenda.