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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Missouri National Guard accused of looting after Joplin tornado?

When I read the headline, I could feel my blood pressure go up. I thought about how this would look when National Guards showed up to help but a few decided to help themselves. But,"One man's trash, another man's treasure" seems to apply here. They were told the items would be destroyed anyway. I changed my mind as soon as I read the rest of the article.

Do you think they should have been punished for this?

4 Guard Troops Looted Store After Joplin Tornado
May 31, 2012
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
by Matthew Hathaway

ST. LOUIS - The Missouri National Guard, after initially refusing to divulge reports about suspected looting by soldiers after the Joplin tornado, publicly released them this week under orders from Gov. Jay Nixon.

The investigative memos show that one day after a devastating tornado struck Joplin last year, four soldiers assigned to look for survivors pocketed video game equipment and a digital camera they found at a ruined Wal-Mart.

The heavily redacted documents do not identify the soldiers involved in what the documents refer to as incidents of "theft," but the memos give the soldiers' ranks: one sergeant and three specialists.

All the soldiers were demoted and had letters of reprimand placed in their personnel files, said Major Tammy Spicer, a spokeswoman for the Guard.

The soldiers believed that the merchandise was going to be destroyed, according to a memo written by Captain Matthew J. Brown, who investigated the matter.
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