Tragic negligence

Roger That Slab

A week?? Did I read that right? I find it incredible for someone to leave live ammunition in their weapon for a week (didn't he clean it?). Is there no inspection after live fire, no "rodding-off-the-range". Small unit negligence to say the least. I suppose I could go on but it would only serve as piling on.

A reminder for all of us that handle weapons regularly to ALWAYS use good safety practices.

Old Tanker,
He left the live-fire evolution to go to medical. His gear stayed with the platoon. He spent several days on light duty, then rejoined his platoon in the field for the force-on-force exercise. The ammunition wasn't in his weapon for the entire week, it was in one of his magazine pouches. He would have had to clear his weapon in order to leave the firing line. Doesn't excuse it, but at least somewhat explains how the oversight happened.

That infernal buzzing racket is Col. Cooper spinning in his grave, God rest his soul.

B-52, you're right. And Slab, you're right on target too-- there are two casualties here, one dead and one with a life sentence, no matter what he gets from a court martial. Time has proven those four rules sacrosanct. I have not yet seen a firearms incident that could not be mapped back to at least one violation, and usually more than one. Let all of us heed the lessons.

Are blank adapters still in use? If so shouldn't it have stopped the round. This would have severly injured the shooter, but nobody else would have been injured.

My only comment, other than this was pure stupidity and lack of attention to detail at all levels, is their is no difference between weapons handling in combat and in training/home station environments. We handled weapons and ammunition just as respectfully in combat as we did in pre-deployment training, more so in fact. The instantaneous switch from 'locked and loaded' on a convoy to weapons clear in the gate and individual Marines and sailors clearing weapons before going into the chow hall was quick yet could have yielded distastrous results, if not for the supervision of NCOs and constant, repetitive training and counseling on weapons handling.

As an avid shooter/hunter, I and my kids have always been taught the mantra that "Lots of people die from unloaded weapons" It's the primary responsibility of anyone picking up a gun, to treat the "business end" with constant lethality. Sad to say that a dumbass ended the life of one of our Heroes.

The waste of lives pisses me off, and this was a serious waste... complacency, ignorance, and nobody was aware enough to do the right thing on a training range.

One common thread that runs through major submarining incidents (i.e., collisions and groundings) is complacency. What is complacency? It is letting regularly performed evolutions become routine. It is a responsibility of the leadership to ensure this does not happen. This incident is not just one NCO's fault. I hope the USMC leadership takes a hard look at how this command operates and fixes whatever issues led to this in the firs place.

I love how you old farts make comments about a story in which you only hear one side. Sgt. Hohman is a battle tested Recon Marine and not neglegent. The charges have since been dropped. He was in the ER when his gear was reconstituted for him and did not recieve it back until he was at the next training exercize. He had on a BFA and the magazine, which was reloaded for him, was filled with blanks on top. It was the first round that knocked the BFA off and the ensuing rounds that killed the fellow Marine.

It would be hard enough to live with the fact that you killed another Marine. It probably doesn't make it much easier when you have to read what other people think when they do not have all the facts.

I love it how people put in their "two cents" from their own experiences or rather lack of "real" experience. Get the facts from the whole situation before you make your judgement. Caleb was puking up blood on a training exercize and was rushed to the ER during a live fire training exercize. He was then pulled out and rushed back into training. His mags were already loaded with blanks and he conducted his training, still in a daze of whatever his sickness was. He conducted the training exactly like he was supposed to and sadly a fellow Marine was killed. Let me ask all you "know it alls" if you would of unloaded all of your 30 round magazines (full combat load worth)and then re-loaded them as you were being rushed back into training? Absolutely none of you! All of you, just like him would of looked at the mags and noted the blanks in them and loaded your weapon. You can't see live rounds at the bottom of a 30 round mag. All of you to include myself would of done exactly what he did. If you think otherwise, you are either full of you know what, a POG, or some wannabe gun-store owner. The poor kid is a highly decorated war hero and a highly motivated and dedicated Recon Marine Sniper. He has to live with this totally screwed up situation for the rest of his life for something that should of never happened and with no control from him. The fallen Marines family also has to live with the screwed up situation forever too. I am a former Force Recon Marine, currently a contractor in Iraq and most importantly HIS OLDER BROTHER! I am sick of you know it alls making your point before the court martial is even over. Just go back to your computers or gun stores and wait until the final verdict and facts come out.

I missed Morgan's comment because I was in Iraq at the time. Mike, all your account does is convince me that the leadership screwed the pooch by "rushing" (your words) Sgt Hohman into a training exercise. For what it's worth, my original post was not directed at one specific person in the incident - regardless of your brother's role in the incident, complacency caused that Marine's death.

To Morgan and Mike, This marine was my spotter through the battle of Fallujah Op Phantom fury. This " fellow Marine" that you speak of was probably the best person that I have ever had the privileged of serving with. He was killed do to the gross negligence of Hohmans' part. I have read the 3 different official reports of the incident, and you ave no freakin clue what went on other than what this asshole says went on. Caleb fired at at Seth because Seth was OP4. To fire blank rounds through and M4 colt assault rifle you have to have a piece of equipment called a BFA or blank fire adapter, which is basically a plug in the end of the barrel that forces the gas of the expended cartridge onto the bolt carrier to cycle the bolt to chamber another round. This Hohman fired at Seth because he was OP4, ok makes sense so far, but at some point the live rounds that where in the magazine blow the BFA off the end of the rifle. This is a noticeable occurrence. It feels different and most of all it it looks different especially at night which is when this happen. So BFA blows off and some how Caleb doesn't notice, so he is blind or deaf one or the other. First round impacts Seths arm, second round in the upper chest, Seth goes down. As if that is not enough then Caleb decides that he needs to do a dead check on Seths lifeless body. Ya great judgment call. Walks up to Seth and aims in and puts a live round in Seth's head from the range of 4 feet. I don't know how most of you where trained but we weren't allowed to engage within 3 meters with blank rounds especially in a training environment. Maybe we just have hire standard that Force Recon but I doubt it, And from all the 1st Force Recon Marines I know of this is not the standard they where held to. If this guy was acquitted of all charges then he should talk to Seth's mother and explain his action and convince her that he did nothing wrong. If can do that and she excepts his side of the story then I will except it. Until then I hope the SOB burns in hell.

I credit most (if not all) of this tragic accident to the deterioration of the Reconnaissance community. The fact that a 0321 could not check his magazines for a live round before a training exercise is inexcusable. That is a simple fact. While I understand his friends and families desire to rush to his aid, someone without that basic skill should not have been in our community.

Jake-
I agree with everything that you are saying. If someone isn't smart enough to double check their gun, they shouldn't be shooting it. I went to school with Seth and I can honestly say that Garden City lost a great man.