Missing Soldier

As tough as it is for a parent, It happens and there's not much that can be done about it.

This is what's called MIA. There are still 10's of thousands of MIA from WW2 up.

Unfortunately, today's citizens want answers NOW. The population has grown very impatient with everything.

I feel for her, and all parents of MIA, KIA, but it is war and bad stuff happens.
 
That is a tough one for everybody. The military does what it can do, yet the track record isn't always what it should be. There is enough body of evidence that has surfaced which strongly indicates, for instance, that not all Korean War POWs were repatriated (and wished to be repatriated), and that some wound up finally in China and the USSR. The same can be said for the Viet Nam War. I understand that the one Navy Pilot that was shot down during Desert Storm has had his status changed recently from Missing, Presumed Dead to Missing.

Now where is Sgt Mauphin ? There is at least the possibility that he is no longer in Iraq but in a country friendly to the insurgents, or he was the one in the video last June.

On one level, the Army will do eveything possible to try to recover him, but on another level, it is not a high priority item. Could the military do more ? Probably... Could the military do more without expending precious resources needed for higher priority missions ? Probably not...that is the sad truth...however, when one accepts the soldier's lot, one has to accept the possibilty of capture and all that capture implies.

As an aside there was probably one group of soldiers who would not have been captured and those were the old Army Security Agency troops. At least in some locations, the ASA MP's were supposed to kill the ASA troops in case their location was overrun and capture was imminent. I know this sounds more like GI-folklore...but I have seen compelling enough evidence to suggest that at least in some cases and situations it was true, of course like a lot of intelligence things, it is always open to interpretation, so I cannot say conclusively...but I would bet money on it.

Regards,

Mark
 
Okay, knowing the MP's we had for Field Station that is a scary thought. They would have had to get through the LS guards first.
Almost as good as when we had guard duty after Beirut. We were only given 3 bullets. As we figured 1 for the LS guard maybe 1 for who ever's coming through the gate and the 3 for us. :D
 
As an aside there was probably one group of soldiers who would not have been captured and those were the old Army Security Agency troops. At least in some locations, the ASA MP's were supposed to kill the ASA troops in case their location was overrun and capture was imminent. I know this sounds more like GI-folklore...but I have seen compelling enough evidence to suggest that at least in some cases and situations it was true, of course like a lot of intelligence things, it is always open to interpretation, so I cannot say conclusively...but I would bet money on it.
Click to expand...

When I arived at my duty station in Germany, I had to undergo a security briefing before I could go to my assigned work location.

We were showed where the slabs of thermite were stored, where to place them and how to set them off to destroy our secure equipment.

A Colonel told us that if we could get out, we would be evacuated even before our familes, if we had any over there.

If we could not get out before being overrun, the MP's had orders to shoot us.

We had to sign a document stating that we understood this and all the other intelligence restrictions we were informed of during the breifing.

This was in Germany. I have no doubt that my brothers in arms who were were in a more hostile area were told the same thing and probably a few actually gave their all under these orders.

If the poster quoted above bet some cash on it, he would probably win... as it was NOT GI folklore.
 
Mark is also a an MI weenie. [lol] We were told about being gone before families,etc too. Just not sure our MP's could hit the broadside of a barn though. [lol]
 
"Just not sure our MP's could hit the broadside of a barn though. "
Ms.WW

Well you know what we used to say: "The most dangerous thing in the world is a 19 year old with a .45 and an MP armband. :D (BTW, for you equipment weenies out there I know that the 9mm was adopted in 1985, although I was issued a 1911A1 as late as 1991, and that particular pistol was four years older than me and I was born in 1948, and the technical name for the armband is a brassard, but I'll be damned if I ever heard it called that.)

Regards,

Mark
 
Our MP's were dangerous.One had a ND into the ceiling because he didn't clear it in the barrel. They were an interesting lot. Now if it had been the brits we'll let's just say they were an interesting bunch. [lol]
 
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