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American Morning
Police Shooting Of Green Beret Caused By Communications Breakdown
Aired February 26, 2002 - 08:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities in North Carolina this morning are calling it a tragic mistake. Indeed it was tragic.
They say Sheriff's Deputy Randall Butler was unaware the two men he pulled over on Saturday were Green Berets in training from nearby Ft. Bragg, who were participating in a military exercise.
The soldiers, apparently thinking Butler was a civilian part of the exercise, tried to disarm him. He opened fire. He killed one of the soldiers, wounded another. No criminal charges have been filed against the deputy. The Army says the shooting was a result of a breakdown in communications.
Joining us now, from Raeford, North Carolina, is Thomas Brokenbear Squire. He is a retired Green Beret, spent 23 years in the Army, and currently trains special ops soldiers for the military. Mr. Squire, nice to have you with us.
THOMAS SQUIER, U.S. ARMY GREEN BERET (RET.): Thank you, Jack. Good morning.
CAFFERTY: These -- these military exercises, dubbed "Robin Sage," have been going on in the area around Ft. Bragg for 50 years. The civilians, in that part of the country, often participate in these exercises. And I guess the mystery is how something like this could have happened. What's your take on it?
SQUIER: Well, I can't really speak for the Army, and I wouldn't presume to. But, just looking at the facts, I would say it was a communications breakdown. And it seems like, unfortunately, the principles in this scenario all did what they were trained to do and supposed to do.
CAFFERTY: In what way? Explain what you mean by that?
SQUIER: Well, the police officer involved apparently took the action that he was trained to do. When you spray somebody with mace, and they keep coming after you, and when another person says "kill him," and he's unaware that they're soldiers on a training exercise, then he's doing what he's been trained to do in defending himself.
And the soldiers, believing that he was part of the plan, were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Taking him prisoner, perhaps, or whatever. I don't have all those details. But those are the kind of things that normally occur. But this has been going on for years and years, and this is why I cannot understand how such a breakdown could happen.
CAFFERTY: Would 9-1-1 have anything to do with the problem, this tragic situation, developing the way it did? I was reading some of the statements you made on the subject. And you seem to think there might be a connection, just that everybody's a little extra edgy, and --
SQUIER: Well, these days, the president is telling everybody to watch out for terrorists and be on guard. And, in this part of North Carolina, in the South, we've, you know, over and over had problems with militia groups. And so a police officer by his self, and he can't get help is naturally going to be on edge.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SQUIER: And also, people don't understand about this training. This -- they say it's a 19-day exercise, but this 19 days culminates two or three years, in some cases. This is actually called "Phase Three." And I've heard it referred to as a final exercise or final exam. But, it's more like the last quarter of the last football game of a season.
CAFFERTY: So it's make or break for these -- for these people that have gone through all of this rigorous training. Their performance during these exercises determines whether or not they get into the Green Berets, right?
SQUIER: That's exactly right, and they've -- the Army, at the time I went through, 20 years ago, said it cost $60,000 to train these people. They go through a selection phase where they even qualify for the training or not. Then they go through Phase One, where they learn individual skills, like reading a map and land navigation and building shelters, and all that sort of thing. And that's a fixed time, maybe three months.
And then they go through their basic MOS training, their military occupational skills, and there are six or seven different MOSes involved. And for the medics, that could be as long as a year and a half.
And in the way they train now, sometimes they even interject language training in between, while they're waiting for these phases to come together. So these things are planned. I don't know for sure, but I would guess that this Phase Three class would be named 1- 02. They have four a year. And it would be 1-02, 2-02, 3-02, 4-02.
CAFFERTY: Right. Let me ask you this, Mr. Squier. Obviously, there's going to be an investigation and changes will be made, of some kind, in the wake of this. If the Army called you and said, "What should we do to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again?" What would you tell them?
SQUIER: I would say, when they put these training schedules out, to make sure that somebody responds back, "Yes, we did get it," and make sure it's posted with these other agencies and maybe even in a newspaper. Because it's been going on so long, there've been other newspaper stories about how the training effects the area, that you'll see soldiers going through. And so, I think we just need to reinforce the communication process and make sure when the Army tells people, that they tell the army they know what's going on.
CAFFERTY: All right, Mr. Squier, we're going to have to leave it there. Let me thank you for giving us some insight into this situation down there in Ft. Bragg. I thank you for appearing on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning.
SQUIER: Thank you very much.
CAFFERTY: All right, Thomas Brokenbear Squier, retired Green Beret, currently an instructor at the Special Warfare Center and School down in North Carolina.
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