Lt. Col. Tom Bryant, a public affairs officer for the Army Special Operations Command, confirmed that Atwater is assigned to the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, which is at Fort Bragg, N.C.

“The Army and federal and local authorities are jointly investigating, and some point I’m sure there will be some additional information available,” Bryant said

Bryant said Atwater is currently with Special Forces, and that his rank is sergeant first class.

According to Odessa American reports, Atwater is a member of the Green Berets and was a 1999 graduate of Midland Lee High School. He joined the Army under the delayed-entry program at the Army Recruiting Station in Midland and went to Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., for basic training. Records state Atwater has served at least three tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Name: ATWATER, TREY SCOTT
Address: 3806 PERMIAN CT, MIDLAND, TX 79703
Attorney:

Offense Class Court County Warrant Number Arrest Date Bond Fines Disposition Years Months Days Hours
HOLD FOR USMS US FED WESTERN DISTRICT DETAINER 12/31/11 $.00 $.00 PENDING DISPOSITION 0 0 0 0

If you were going to attempt to put a bomb on a plane and then detonate it by remote, seems like the most effective way to do that (barring having someone on the inside like a baggage handler or a technician plant the explosive in the service area of the plane prior to take-off) would be to have several passengers bring on the components separately and then have one of them assemble it during the flight.

There is absolutely no reason for a soldier to take C-4 off base and back to his family get-together for show-and-tell. Maybe a twelve-year-old might think that’s cool, but not a 30 year old man making a career out of the military. The repercussions would mean the end of his military career especially after taking that material on a commercial flight. This is not something a soldier would do lightly.

The online marketers are out in force where ever this story is being reported claiming that it isn’t that odd for a soldier to do something like this because, as they say, many soldiers take things like grenades off base. But grenades and C-4 are two totally different animals. You can show off a grenade to someone and they know immediately what it is. C-4 looks like a block of clay, not too impressive to say the least. You take a grenade and you’re just showing it off, you take C-4 and you have a purpose.

Atwater explained that his special operating procedure was to carry at least two blocks of C4 on any operation. When he left Afghanistan he packed his bags along with the C4. The bag had been in his garage in North Carolina since he returned home. He used the bag to pack children's items and did not notice any C4 in the bag before flying to Midland.

Atwater was surprised when officials found the C4 in the bag at the Midland airport.

The complaint also says Atwater had been detained by TSA agents at the airport in Fayetteville, North Carolina on December 24 on his way to Midland. TSA located a live military smoke grenade in his bag. The report says Atwater was admonished and the grenade was confiscated, but Atwater was allowed to continue on to West Texas.

The FBI didn't find out about the smoke grenade until after Atwater's arrest in Midland.

"When I asked him about the December 24 Fayetteville incident after TSA informed me of it, Atwater acknowledged that it had occurred, but said he had forgotten to mention it to us during our initial interview," the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit filed in the case.

MIDLAND, Texas — A congressman says two 2.5-pound blocks of a powerful, military-grade explosive were found in a soldier’s luggage at a West Texas airport.

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway of Midland said Thursday that federal officials gave him details of the Saturday find in Trey Scott Atwater’s luggage at Midland International Airport. Officials previously hadn’t said how much of the material was found.

Conaway also said he takes the 30-year-old Fort Bragg soldier “at his word” that he was unaware the explosives were in his bag.

Federal Magistrate Judge David Counts released Atwater on a $50,000 unsecured bond, court documents show. He was released into the custody of his supervisor at Fort Bragg, N.C., where the demolitions expert is stationed. Two members of the U.S. Army were in Midland to escort Atwater back to Fort Bragg, according to the office of U.S. Atty. Robert Pitman, who agreed to the conditions of the soldier’s release.

SEALs are given access to the best weapons. While they get their pick of the newest and most exclusive arms on the planet, the temptation to profit from the access proved too great for Navy SEAL Nicholas Bickle.

Bickle was found guilty Friday of 13 federal charges for moving a catalogue of small arms and five pounds of C-4 explosive.

The former sailor faces up to 125 years in prison and a $3.25 million fine, but sentencing guidelines could offer prison time of less than 20 years.

Bickle is free on bail and under electronic monitoring in San Diego. He faces sentencing January 20.