What are your best security violation stories (Misplaced weapon, Lost badge, Lost key loader, etc)?

SSG Ray Strenkowski — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:25:44 -0400

During my deployment to Bosnia (SFOR6) with the 10th Mountain Division we had several augmentee officers from Active, Reserve and AGR supporting our G6. Late one evening a 1LT Reserve Officer comes back into the HQ looking frantic and searching our office. He tossed the office several times, moving papers, BDU Tops and equipment before whispering to a few of us (I was a SPC at the time) that he can't find his badge.

Cats out of the bag. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. We now have a problem.

Our Deputy G6 (MAJ) informs the G3 that there is a badge missing. aaaannnddd now the entire Eagle Base is locked down. The HQ and surrounding areas are searched and his steps are retraced by many Officers, NCO's and lower enlisted.

The LT comes back into the office after a few hours, sweating - looking like he's taken a beating by anyone who outranks him.... He then takes off his BDU Jacket - Low and behold... He had his badge hanging down his back over his T-Shirt and had then put his Jacket on.

This story lived well after he was long gone.

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Aug 5 at 2015 4:30 PM

SSgt Alex Robinson — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:30:06 -0400

It sounds like sloppiness to me.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 4:36 PM

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:36:54 -0400

Working in the G6 with I corps, we were in Korea down at K-2.

A soldier who worked on the post commanders commo team was in charge of setting up the generals tent. As it took him a few days get it finished, myself and another soldier did our IA sweep to ensure everything was neat and organized before opening ports on the switch cases.

The cables looked fantastic! I was impressed, until it looked a little 'too neat.' So I opened the tent wall to see how the cables were being ran. I see every type of classification; green, red, blue bundled together and then distributed to where the drops were to be placed.

Had the other soldier turn off the ports, logged the violation and told him he had until tomorrow to fix them. His only complaint was that the general was coming in the nxt day, I empathized with him, but bottom line is do it right the first time and we never would have had a problem.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 4:37 PM

CW3 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:37:03 -0400

Dammit, SSG Ray Strenkowski , now I'm cleaning water off the front of my monitor!

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 4:41 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:41:27 -0400

Just a few short months ago, back in March, my unit was partaking in CSTX at "wonderful" Ft Hunter-Liggett. It was after COB for the day, and I was in the male tent getting ready to rack out for the night. My commander comes into the tent and goes to his bunk (next to mine) and told me that someone had left their ACH in the CP. So, naturally, being the Detachment Sergeant, I went to see who it belonged to and secure it. Upon walking into the CP, I find said ACH and low and behold it belonged to my XO. After smiling a bit and grabbing it, I noticed a lone, unsecured rifle. So, naturally I got a little heated and decided to play evil. So, I secured said loose weapon in a spot only I knew about and walked back to the male tent to inform the commander. I noticed one of my NCOs was in the tent and not a weapon near him. So, I walked back out and hid in the shadows to see who truly left it and come running. So, I sat in the shadows for a good hour or two. My NCO had gone back to the CP to finish some work he needed doing. At no time did he run around nor tried to find me about the weapon. The next morning was an interesting one, to say the least.

Response by SSG Kelly Ferguson made Aug 5 at 2015 4:41 PM

SSG Kelly Ferguson — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:41:53 -0400

Yeah you will be a fool to a post a security violation knowing you can brought up on charges because it happened on active duty really

Response by SSG Ray Strenkowski made Aug 5 at 2015 4:44 PM

SSG Ray Strenkowski — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:44:12 -0400

Response by SSG Ricardo Marcial made Aug 5 at 2015 4:50 PM

SSG Ricardo Marcial — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:50:20 -0400

The name in this story have been changed to protect the innocent, and so that if you know them you will not laugh at them.

May 2005, Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan. Cpt Joe "I misplaced my M9" Smith. After lunch we were directed to return to S1 shop to sign documents in order to draw the groups ANA pay. CPT Smith, after several hours reported to a few other that he misplaced his M9. Several days later it was hand delivered to CSM with a note attached. Found under staircase of barrack #???. Lesson learned, never let the CSM know you "misplaced your weapon"

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 4:50 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:50:30 -0400

I have several, but I'll go with this one:
I was in Fort Bragg living on the FOB while training to deploy to Iraq. A 2LT (who was a complete tool) comes in with an M4, looking triumphant.
"Look what I found in the porta-john!"
There were multiple attachments, on top of the weapon itself. A PEC-2, a CCO.
"I'm going to have fun with this! Wait until this guy comes looking for it."
"Sir", I say, "Just bring it to the Mayor's Cell. That guy is going to be in enough trouble already. We don't need them locking down the FOB, and if you get caught with it, you'll get some trouble as well."
"Awww. I just want to hold it for a day or so."
"Sir, just turn it in. If you are feeling frisky, you can try to find the unit and give it to the First Sergeant". There wasn't very many units there at the time.
"Maybe you're right", he says. Starting to throw on his ACU top and gear. "Now where the hell did my weapon go..."
"NO WAY!" I exclaim, loudly so everyone in earshot who had been paying mild attention could hear.

Yup, dumbass left his own weapon in the loo, then had to go again and found his own weapon again. It would have been even funnier if he had taken it to the Mayor's Cell first.
I didn't let that one go for as long as he was in the battalion.

Response by CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 4:54 PM

CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:54:12 -0400

Oh snap! Who had the fortune of telling the good El-Tee the location of his "missing" badge?? O_o

Response by SN Greg Wright made Aug 5 at 2015 5:11 PM

SN Greg Wright — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 17:11:17 -0400

I was newly arrived (Well, a couple of weeks anyway) at a SCIF in Yokota AFB. Fresh out of training, I knew that I was as expected to maintain the security of the SCIF as anyone else, so late one evening a bearded civilian, who I had never seen, tried to enter a code-keyed room that I was just leaving, such that he just grabbed the door and was going to walk in without entering a code. Not seeing a badge or anything, I barred him with my arm and politely told him that I couldn't allow him to enter without proper clearance. He looked at me for a long time, long enough that the silence became rather uncomfortable, but I didn't remove my arm until the Div-O (a CW2 at the time) happened along and barked at me, "Wright, what are you doing?" While finally at the same time the guy said "Son, I run this place."

Turns out, he was the director of the facility, some GS-22 bigwig. And that's how I learned that we could also be working for civilians, directly. Heh. The CW2 took me into his office and explained that while technically, I'd done the right thing by stopping someone I didn't know, perhaps I should have spent more time learning the command structure at the facility.

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Aug 5 at 2015 5:32 PM

CSM Michael J. Uhlig — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 17:32:35 -0400

Many times a lost weapon leads to the loss of rank, job opportunities or even worse. Sometimes leaders should exercise tactical patience when dealing with situations as was done with Colin Powell when he was a very young LT. I encourage you to take a few moments to read this short excerpt about one of our most important recent leaders of our military history. He lost his .45 and goes on to talk about how today there would be an investigation, called in lawyers and there would be a fatal black mark on his record....for those not so familiar with General Colin Powell, I encourage you to spend three minutes for the read - great read and perspectives!

http://www.3ad.com/history/cold.war/feature.pages/powell.htm

Response by CW4 Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 5:37 PM

CW4 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 17:37:04 -0400

That is a very funny story and it happens often. At WOCS school we have wall locker/desk combos called PSA's(personal security areas). This is where we secure our valuables. Well one morning before I left for class, I secured it as I'd always had, this time the inside latch didn't lock and although my outside lock was secured, you could still pull the doors out enough that someone with small enough wrist could reach inside and take items out, such as a personal wallet or other items. So guess who has small wrist, my TAC Officer. She reached inside and ruffled up everything she could, extracting my wallet in the process and ripped my name tag off of the PSA to signify that I violated a pysically security policy. I had to visit my TAC after navigating TAC Alley, which is a story for another day. Afte that I was put on TAC probation and I had to march DT's, which was marching in a T formation with full battle rattle and dummy rifle while my classmates hung out at the grove and watched me. It was embarrassing and valuable lesson for me. Now 8 years later, I can laugh it off.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 5:39 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 17:39:21 -0400

Back in my instructor days while taking some students on a leisurely combat patrol through Camp Bullis, during recovery ops after an ambush by OPFOR, a young troop came up to me and innocently asked "what should I do with this sir?" In said troops hands was the sorriest looking M-60 that I have ever had the misfortune of seeing. Picture if you will the beloved PIG covered in leaves, dirt, and some reddish orange substance. My brain, unable to fully process the horror in front of me, unleashed a tirade of expletive laden questions trying to get the root of how this could have been accomplished in the few moments they had been out of my sight. Once I had fully expressed my displeasure and bewilderment, in a completely respectful and professional manner, I was informed that this weapon did not belong to my squad...

This of course brought up a completely different set of issues and Air Force "answers". First we verified, via radio transmission (before the wide spread use of cell phones), that none of the other squads were missing a weapon. Of course while accountability was going on I decided to check out the weapon, CATM troop that I am. The reddish brown substance, was rust, so much in fact that we could not open the weapon to clear it out. Did I mention that it had an ammo belt still attached? Step two serial number check, weapon isn't on our books. That should be a good thing right? Nope 100% hands on serial number inventory of ALL weapons, which required recalling two 144 pax flights from field training and two 144 pax flights from range training. Surprisingly enough the PIG still did not belong to us, nor had it replaced any other weapons in our inventory.

That's the fun part of the story, after many phone calls we were able to determine that the weapon belonged to one of the local Army National Guard armories. Who it turns out had not accomplished an inventory after their last field training, 6 months prior.

Response by SGT Roberto Mendoza-Diaz made Aug 5 at 2015 6:25 PM

SGT Roberto Mendoza-Diaz — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:25:46 -0400

I'd remember just once in Iraq when I was walking to morning formation and I realized that I left my M16A2 in my wall locker at the trailer located in the chu. I went back to get my weapon failing to make it in time to formation. When I showed up to work, my NCO inquired why I didn't show up to formation and I replied with "I forgot my id card in my room, Sergeant". Then he said "next time just leave the id card, you won't need it for work". Ufffff ... I dodged that bullet.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Aug 5 at 2015 6:32 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:32:52 -0400

My first field problem as a Tanker I was walking to the TOC when I saw NVGs on the ground. It happened to be my #3 tank's NVGs. We were lucky we did not lose them or run over them. I had talked to the Tank Commander and it did not help his stock.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Aug 5 at 2015 6:38 PM

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:38:51 -0400

I knew a CWO who used to wander around the SCIF with Saddam Hussein's picture on his badge just to see who was paying attention.

Response by MAJ(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2015 9:58 PM

MAJ(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 21:58:29 -0400

These would all be funny if they weren't true.

Response by Sgt Ken Prescott made Aug 5 at 2015 11:53 PM

Sgt Ken Prescott — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 23:53:12 -0400

A cow-orker had to courier some classified material back from Japan.

The Customs agent in LAX opens the outer envelope.

He sees the classification markings, and proceeds to open the inner envelope.

I learn about this because my cow-orker called our mutual boss while I was in a meeting with said mutual boss, and my cow-orker has gone from concerned to worried to perturbed to "Oh jeez I am so f***ed!"

And the Customs agent--in an unsecure environment--starts READING ALOUD FROM A DOCUMENT describing capabilities, limitations, and mission readiness of a piece of equipment whose existence is itself classified...

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 6 at 2015 1:12 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 01:12:26 -0400

Had an Intel officer in the middle of giving a classified brief (a while after making sure we all out our phones outside) answer his phone when it rang...

Response by SSG John Jensen made Aug 6 at 2015 2:15 AM

SSG John Jensen — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 02:15:26 -0400

one of the commo guys in D Co had a big rubber snake - in the field he would lean his M16 against a tree put the snake at the base of it and walk away, and from a distance we'ld watch someone see the M16, sneak up to it, see the snake and the screams were memorable.
This was at Bragg

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 6 at 2015 5:16 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 05:16:34 -0400

On my first trip into the sandbox of Iraq in 2004 we convoyed from Kuwait all the way up to Al-Anbar, I was towards the back end of a mile long convoy. we are on a busy stretch of road, I am sitting in the back of a 7-ton and to my surprise here on the ground is an M249 SAW unattended with a 200rnd drum attached and rounds on the feed tray, one of the security HMMWV's stopped and picked it up. God knows just how long this thing had been sitting and who had left it on the side of the MSR but it wasn't ours. I never got the full story on what happened in the end but you know someone, somewhere was in a world of hurt

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Aug 6 at 2015 12:32 PM

SSG Warren Swan — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 12:32:44 -0400

"No sh*t there I was"...and YES I was! The Stan 09. I was the Team SGT for my ETT and as an additional duty I was the commo SGT. On this day, I was filling radios for a mission and mind you I had personally signed for this COMSEC from a very nice and helpful GB. We left and went on the mission assisting another team and their ANP counterparts with no problems UNTIL we get back. While dismounting and stowing away gear, one of the Soldiers come to me and states his team leader (a CPT), gave one of the MIBITTRS to the ANP while we were out. INSTANT SECURITY VIOLATION!!! I went to the CPT and sure as sh*t he admitted to doing it, and the ANP officer got out of the pickup holding the radio in his hands. I told him what he had done wrong, and it had to be reported which I did. That "nice" GB turned into a nice "I'm going to chew your ass" GB, and read me the riot act, being I had signed from him the fills, he had to report it also. The CPT was PISSED and saw nothing wrong with what he had done and even tried to justify it as nessicary. Out of all of that the GB afterwards was again nice to me, and acted like nothing ever happened. He went home, I went home, and the CPT who did this got his Bronze Star, and claimed he was on orders to Benning to take over one of the Ranger Companies.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 8 at 2015 8:09 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 20:09:37 -0400

Back in 2007 in Iraq, I had a tank commander who realized that after a 10 mile drive back to the FOB his weapon was not on the tank. We had to drive back out to the patrol area only to have him dismount and realize he left it on the front slope. No repercussion were seen.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 8 at 2015 10:59 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 22:59:17 -0400

I was on gate guard in Darmstadt, Germany (about 30K south of Frankfurt). There was a convoy rolling in from an FTX. Strapped across the tie down hooks on the front was an M16. It is so lucky that the weapon did not fall off somewhere along the autobohn. Maybe it was an unconscious SP4 mafia helping hand, but I just picked it up and asked the driver if anyone was missing "this". They had no idea it was gone.

I don't know how I would have handled it differently today as a seasoned NCO, but I suspect it would have involved pulling the vehicle aside and talking with the unit's leadership.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 29 at 2015 1:42 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 13:42:53 -0400

My first deployment too Iraq a LT lost a Hyde and they tore our patrol base apart. We all had to move out to the Motorpool with all of our belongings and throw them in the dirt for inspection. I'm sure it all paled in comparison to what they did to that highspeed LT.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 7 at 2016 7:57 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 19:57:35 -0400

I had a CPT at one point who was having trouble emailing a secret document. He got the brilliant idea to scan it into the unclassified printer and email it from there. He thought it was okay because he was sending it to a secret email address. We didn't have a printer for two months.

Response by PO1 Eric Booker made Dec 26 at 2016 6:33 PM

PO1 Eric Booker — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 18:33:43 -0500

We ran a "Security Alert" one night in port. There are no "drill" SA's on a ship carrying nukes back in those days. Anyhow...I was assigned to guard "hold 4" and the exclusion area. I see a shape headed toward me so yelled "Hit the deck"...they did not. I racked my .45's slide back and forth and yelled it again. This time, it went straight down. I approached it then became clear that it was the old man in civies. Anyone's who's ever been aboard a ship knows how dirty a weather deck is....and he was wearing a white polo and khaki's. I started apologizing profusely buy he in turn said "It was my fault...It was my fault..." TECHNICALLY during a security alert there are only two people allowed to be walking around after the perimeters were secured; The CO and the NWO(Nuclear Weapons Officer) but being in civi's I couldn't tell rank so...on the deck they went. I was sweating bullets for a while but he assured me nothing would come of it but a "BZ" for doing what I thought was in the best interest of the security of weapons.

Response by TSgt Eddie Mixon made Dec 27 at 2016 1:59 PM

TSgt Eddie Mixon — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 13:59:25 -0500

McChord AFB, 1977, graveyard shift. We had to swap out a load of missiles on an alert F106. No missile weenies working night so we check a tractor out of AGE yard to go get the fresh load and carry the old ones back. "In a hurry." We open the gate to the missile storage barns, drive in against the traffic arrows and open one of the bays. All four members of the load crew enter the bay. Just as the load crew chief asks if the airman that rolled the door up pinned the chain, we hear the door come rolling down behind us. Of course it rolls down hard enough that it goes beneath the top grars and starts back up the wrong side, jamming the door solidly closed. After several attempts to pry it open, The SSgt. decides we have to hit the Duress Button in the storage bays. This prompts a Security Police response. Our pickup and tractor re sitting outside the bay running. One airman gets tired of waiting and starts banging on the door. One of the cops told me later that sounded like an M60 going off and they almost responded in like form. They managed to pry the door up enogh for us to pass out our ID's. CE got the door open. The cops didn't haul us in, just had a good laugh at our expense. We did our swap, and was discussing the incident the next morning when 2 E9's in our shop heard the words duress button. That is when we found out that when you hit one of those the entire base gets shut down, nobody in or out until the problem is identified. Nobody ended up busted or Article 15'd. but we learned several lessons that we shared with the other load crews.