Fort Carson:Army shreds documents on friendly fire deaths

Army shreds documents on friendly fire deaths
John Byrne
Published: Thursday November 20, 2008


In late 2006, two American soldiers from Fort Carson died in Iraq. The army said the privates were killed by enemy action. But in October of this year, Salon revealed that the two men had in fact been killed by friendly tank fire.

Now, Salon has found that the documents related to the men's deaths were shredded just hours after the story was published.

"Three soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo. including two who were present in Ramadi during the friendly fire incident, one of them just feet from where Nelson and Suarez died were ordered to shred two boxes full of documents about [Albert] Nelson and [Roger] Suarez," reporter Mark Benjamin writes. "One of the soldiers preserved some of the documents as proof that the shredding occurred and provided them to Salon. All three soldiers, with the assistance of a U.S. senator's office, have since been relocated for their safety."

The night the Salon story ran, Oct. 14, 2008, a staff sergeant told three soldiers to shred two boxes of documents relating to the privates' deaths.
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Brigadier General Anthony Cucolo, right, presents Jean Feggins the American flag that draped the casket of Pfc. Albert M. Nelson, of Philadelphia, during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 1285-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711
DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died December 4, 2006, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered from small arms fire while conducting security and observation operations. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado.

Killed were:

Private First Class Albert M. Nelson, 31, of Philadelphia.

Private First Class Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21 of Miami.

The incident is under investigation.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/amnelson.htm