Navy Corpsman accused of setting off grenade to avoid duties

Navy: Corpsman Set Off Grenade to Avoid Duties
The Virginian-Pilot
by Dianna Cahn
Mar 17, 2014

NORFOLK -- In the moments before the grenade exploded, two Afghan men sat in the back of a medical clinic on a small military base, waiting to see an American medic.

Petty Officer 1st Class Omar Pescador-Montanez, a Navy corpsman, was the only other person in the building.

It was Aug. 2, 2013, and the summer heat was oppressive at the base housing Navy SEALs and Afghan Special Forces.

One of the men waiting worked for U.S. forces at the compound in southeastern Afghanistan. He escorted the other man -- thought to be an Afghan soldier -- complaining of leg pain.

In actions at the heart of a criminal case against him, Pescador-Montanez suddenly ran into the room and told the men to take cover; he thought someone had thrown something into the building.

Nothing happened. All three ran outside and didn't see anything. Then Pescador-Montanez ran back into the building. There was an explosion.

Pescador-Montanez, who deployed to Afghanistan with SEAL Team 10, has maintained that he came under a grenade attack that injured him.

The government isn't buying it.

The Navy accuses the corpsman of creating the entire scene, exploding the grenade to get out of his duties, and then lying about it.
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