Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth May Get Justice After Electrocution Death

Mom of soldier electrocuted in base shower hails Supreme Court ruling 
The Associated Press
Published: January 21, 2015

PITTSBURGH — The mother of a Pittsburgh-area soldier electrocuted in his barracks shower at a U.S. Army base in Iraq seven years ago says she's grateful the Supreme Court rejected three appeals by a military contractor seeking to stop the case and other lawsuits from going forward.

The high court offered no comment Tuesday in allowing three lawsuits against KBR Inc. over the electrocution and open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan to proceed.

The parents of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, who was electrocuted in his barracks shower in January 2008, filed one of the lawsuits. The suit alleges a KBR unit was legally responsible for what it says was shoddy electrical work common in Iraqi-built structures taken over by the U.S. military. KBR disputes the claim.

Cheryl Harris, Maseth's mother, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Wednesday that she never expected it to take more than seven years after her son's death to get the case closer to a trial. "I'm grateful that we're here," she said.
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Green Beret electrocuted in shower on Iraq base
CNN
Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein
May 28, 2008

Story Highlights
At least 12 U.S. troops have been electrocuted in Iraq from wiring problems

Ryan Maseth, 24, died January 2 while taking a shower on base

"I truly couldn't believe he would be electrocuted," his mom says

Defense Department inspector general, Congress launch investigation

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A highly decorated Green Beret, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth died a painful death in Iraq this year. He died not on the battlefield. He died in what should have been one of the safest spots in Iraq: on a U.S. base, in his bathroom.

Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret, died in his shower January 2.

1 of 2 The water pump was not properly grounded, and when he turned on the shower, a jolt of electricity shot through his body and electrocuted him January 2.

The next day, Cheryl Harris was informed of his death. A mother of three sons serving in Iraq, she had feared such news might come one day.

"I did ask exactly, 'How did Ryan die? What happened to him?' And he had told me that Ryan was electrocuted," she said.

Her reaction was disbelief. "I truly couldn't believe he would be electrocuted ... in the shower," she said.

Maseth, 24, was not the first. At least 12 U.S. troops have been electrocuted in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003, according to military and government officials. Watch mom describe horror, heartbreak over son's electrocution »
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Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said
New York Times
By JAMES RISEN
Published: July 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.

During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007.

And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis.
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Documents reveal electrocutions’ details

Documents reveal electrocutions’ details
Marine Corps Times
By Dan Lamothe
Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 23, 2013

Lance Cpl. Kenneth Cochran was on his way to refuel an electric generator at a patrol base in Afghanistan when disaster struck: He brushed a low-hanging wire and was electrocuted.

That Jan. 14, 2012, incident in Helmand province’s Musa Qala district resulted in a brilliant flash of light at about 10 p.m. that other Marines saw from guard posts. But Cochran, a water support specialist with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, out of Okinawa, Japan, wasn’t found dead until the following morning, when a corporal went to check on the generator because power was out in the nearby combat operations center.

The story gets worse from there. When Cochran was discovered at about 7 a.m., Cpl. Jon-Luke Bateman and a few other Marines attended to him. Bateman, an infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., knelt beside him to cover his remains with a blanket. When he stood, Bateman also came into contact with a live wire, becoming the second Marine electrocuted on the base in less than 12 hours.
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also

Cpl. Anthony R. Servin was electrocuted to death in Afghanistan on June 8th - the third Marine from Camp Pendleton to die from electrocution in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2012, according to the Marine Corps Times

March 2, 2012 The Defense Department announced the death of Cpl. Conner Lowry on Friday afternoon. A Chicago television station reported family members saying they were told he was accidentally electrocuted while riding atop a Humvee.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren, 25, of South St. Paul, Minn., died Sept. 11, 2004, while showering. His family was told he died of natural causes.

Sgt. Ryan Maseth's manner of death has not officially been changed, CID spokesman Christopher Grey told CNN.

Camp Pendleton Marine Electrocuted In Afghanistan

Camp Pendleton Marine Electrocuted In Afghanistan
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
KPBS News
By Beth Ford Roth

Cpl. Anthony R. Servin was electrocuted to death in Afghanistan on June 8th - the third Marine from Camp Pendleton to die from electrocution in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2012, according to the Marine Corps Times:

The latest electrocution occurred after the Marine’s radio antenna touched a low-hanging power line, the Naval Safety Center reported.
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Camp Pendleton Marine killed in Afghanistan electrocuted while riding atop a Humvee

MILITARY: Camp Pendleton Marine killed in Afghanistan
By MARK WALKER
Posted: Friday, March 2, 2012

A Camp Pendleton corporal died in Afghanistan on Thursday when he was apparently electrocuted.

The Defense Department announced the death of Cpl. Conner Lowry on Friday afternoon. A Chicago television station reported family members saying they were told he was accidentally electrocuted while riding atop a Humvee.

The station, NBC 5 Chicago, also quoted a friend, Owen Yanz, as saying the 6'5 Marine was "doing what he believed in, and that was fighting for us, for our country."

Lowry's death came during a combat patrol in the Helmand province, where most of the roughly 18,000 Marines in Afghanistan are stationed.

The 24-year-old Marine was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.
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Military’s casualty notification system often frustratingly uneven

Military’s casualty notification system often frustratingly uneven for families
By Geoff Ziezulewicz
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 5, 2010


The casualty notification officers somberly relayed their message: It was one of her twin sons, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, who had perished.

They couldn’t provide any more information to Harris, nothing else to help the reeling mother absorb or even comprehend the shock.

“Their job was to convey he died,” Harris said. “That’s it. I actually for a brief period of time thought he’d been murdered. That was even more horrible.”

It wasn’t until the next day that Harris was told that her son had been electrocuted in a shower, but still there were few details. Desperate for answers, Harris started hounding the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, and three weeks later, she found out that an electrical system had shorted out, killing Maseth in the shower at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Baghdad.

“I don’t think I would have been told that unless I had constantly pressured and questioned [the military],” said Harris, who later filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against KBR, the contractor responsible for the wiring. “They told me it was difficult to relay information from Iraq to the U.S. I said, ‘How are you fighting a war?’ ”
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Military casualty notification system often frustratingly uneven

Family electrocuted putting up ham raido antenna

Palm Bay electrocution victims identified
Police said the Palm Bay family was electrocuted when a ham radio antenna struck a live power line

Sarah Lundy and Gary Taylor

Sentinel Staff Writers

10:55 a.m. EDT, October 13, 2009


A Palm Bay couple and their 15-year-old son died Monday night when they were electrocuted while putting up a ham radio antenna, police said.

Yvonne Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Palm Bay Police Department, identified the victims as Melville Braham, 55, Ana Braham, 49, and their son Anthony. They lived elsewhere in the city, Martinez said.

Rescue crews responded to a 911 call about the electrocution shortly after 8:30 p.m. on Alaska Avenue, west of Interstate 95 in south Brevard County.

Authorities say the family was attempting to raise the antenna when they lost control of the pole and it struck an overhead power line.

The impact sent 13,000 volts of electricity through the pole the three were holding, Martinez said.
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Palm Bay electrocution victims identified

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren was electrocuted in Iraq

AP NewsBreak: Sailor electrocuted
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A third U.S. service member has been determined to have been electrocuted in a shower in Iraq, and Navy criminal investigators are investigating, The Associated Press has learned.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren, 25, of South St. Paul, Minn., died Sept. 11, 2004, while showering. His family was told he died of natural causes.

Late last year, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology changed the manner of Cedergren's death to "accidental," caused by electrocution and inflammation of the heart. The Naval Criminal Investigative Services has reopened an investigation into his death, Ed Buice, a NCIS spokesman, said Monday.

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Linked from ICasualties.org

Investigator: Soldier's electrocution 'negligent homicide'

Investigator: Soldier's electrocution 'negligent homicide'
Story Highlights
Manner of death should be changed from "accidental," Army investigator writes

U.S. soldier electrocuted while showering at his base in Iraq in 2008

Investigator: Contractor didn't ensure electricians, plumbers were qualified

No charges have been filed; soldier's family is suing contractor
From Scott Bronstein and Abbie Boudreau
CNN Special Investigations Unit

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division investigator has recommended changing the official manner of death for a soldier electrocuted while showering at his base in Iraq from "accidental" to "negligent homicide," according to an e-mail from the investigator obtained by CNN.

The investigator blames KBR, the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, and two KBR supervisors for the incident, saying there is "credible information ... they failed to ensure that work was being done by qualified electricians and plumbers, and to inspect the work that was being conducted."

The e-mail, written late last year, says the investigation report was being reviewed by CID headquarters for a legal opinion to determine probable cause before the case could be referred to the military court system or the Department of Justice for possible action. No charges have been filed.

Sgt. Ryan Maseth's manner of death has not officially been changed, CID spokesman Christopher Grey told CNN.
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Military:Electrical review turns up 3,700 fires

Electrical review turns up 3,700 fires
The ongoing Central Command review of electrical malfunctions that have killed at least seven troops and a contractor at U.S.-occupied buildings in Iraq has uncovered more than 3,700 fires at those facilities from May 2007 to August 2008.


The total dwarfs the 483 fires at contractor-maintained facilities reported to Congress at a July 30 hearing, which the command’s 15-member Task Force for Safety Actions for Fire and Electricity now says was the five-month figure for one region, not all of Iraq.

But not all of the 3,726 fires reported were a result of electrical malfunctions, the task force says. Only about 820 were definitively characterized as electrical fires, with about 275 of those resulting from “fluorescent light ballast” malfunctions. The causes of the vast majority of the fires were “undetermined.”

On average, 4.2 fires per day have taken place over the past five weeks at U.S. facilities in Iraq, the task force said. These ranged from power strip flare-ups to full-blown fires, Maj. Gen. Tim McHale, who leads the task force, said in a Sept. 15 telephone interview.


Most, but not all, of the 86,000 U.S.-occupied buildings in Iraq are managed by KBR Inc., McHale said. KBR and Army Contracting Command came under fire in that July hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, whose members were particularly incensed over what is now reported as 18 deaths — an increase of two from earlier reports — because of inadvertent electrocutions, most of them involving U.S. troops, recorded in Iraq since 2003.
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Demolition worker electrocuted at store has died at hospital

Demolition worker electrocuted at store
September 10, 2008
WALPOLE
A 47-year-old man was killed yesterday when he was electrocuted while doing demolition work inside a Wal-Mart in Walpole, police said. The man, a native of Brazil identified as Romulo Santos, was killed about 1 a.m., said Deputy Chief Scott Bushway of the Walpole Police Department. A construction crew renovating the Wal-Mart had severed an electrical wire, and Santos was trying to reattach it when he was electrocuted, Bushway said. He was pronounced dead at Norwood Hospital.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/10
/demolition_worker_electrocuted_at_store/

Warning issued over bad wiring long before soldier's death

Wiring warning came long before soldier's death
Sgt. Justin Hummer says he filled out a work order in 2007 that warned of his quarters in Iraq: "Pipes have voltage, get shocked in the shower." Months later, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in a shower in the same quarters. A follow-up investigation "found nearly all of the same problems" also reported previously by a contractor, a House panel report says. full story
Inspector: $560M 'wasted' on Iraq repairs

DoD IG backs off Iraq electrocutions report

DoD IG backs off Iraq electrocutions report

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 30, 2008 18:33:10 EDT

An interim Pentagon investigation found no “credible evidence” that contractor KBR, Inc., was aware of life-threatening conditions at the Baghdad building where a Green Beret was electrocuted in January while taking a shower.

At a Wednesday hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, however, the Pentagon’s acting inspector general backed off that report, which had been released to Congress this week, trumpeted by the committee’s Republican staff and reported Tuesday by the Associated Press.

“We have absolved no one,” said Gordon Heddell. “Let the record be clear on that.”

Heddell admitted that his investigators had not known of new evidence that the committee’s Democrats said demonstrated culpability on the part of KBR, which holds a multibillion dollar contract to provide a wide variety of services in Iraq, including building maintenance.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/military_eletrical_kbr_iraq_073008w/

Report appears to clear KBR in Sgt. Ryan Maseth's death

Report appears to clear KBR in soldier's death
The Associated PressPublished: July 29, 2008

WASHINGTON: An interim Defense Department report has found no evidence KBR was involved in the death of at least one U.S. soldier electrocuted in Iraq.

The inspector general's report said while electrical systems in Iraq were known to "pose a hazard to personnel," there is no evidence Houston-based KBR Inc. was aware of any life-threatening hazards at the Army barracks where Sgt. Ryan Maseth died.

Maseth, an Army Ranger and Green Beret from Pittsburgh, was electrocuted in January while showering.

Details of the IG report explain that an ungrounded water pump on the roof of Maseth's barracks failed and electrified the water pipes. Additionally, a circuit breaker failed because tar from roof repairs appeared to have leaked into the panel.

Maseth's mother, Cheryl Harris, has filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania against KBR over her son's death. Her attorney, Patrick Cavanaugh, said the inspector general's conclusions do not change their position that KBR is at fault in Maseth's death.
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US troops collateral damage now to contractors?

From US Military

Department of DefenseDictionary of Military and Associated Terms
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf
collateral damage — Unintentional or incidental injury or damage to persons or objects thatwould not be lawful military targets in the circumstances ruling at the time. Such damage is not unlawful so long as it is not excessive in light of the overall military advantage anticipated from the attack. (JP 3-60)
link provided from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_damage

KBR doesn't seem to care. The Pentagon didn't care enough when the problem first became clear and safety was being disregarded. What is behind this ambivalence and neglect? Is this more of the same kind of attitude that allowed the troops to be exposed to contaminated water? More of the same when they were not provided with the vehicles that could spare their lives? More of the same when contacts were given to inept companies supplying substandard uniform pants that separated in the crotch? Even worse, substandard body armor? Are the troops now collateral damage to the contractors making money off what they are doing to the troops as long as they get paid? Who is being held accountable for any of this? Anyone at KBR? Anyone at the Pentagon?

Failure to Fix Base Hazards Worried Pentagon Official
By JAMES RISEN
Published: July 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — A Pentagon safety expert told senior Defense Department officials earlier this year that their failure to heed warnings to fix widespread electrical hazards on American bases in Iraq could leave the Pentagon liable for multiple electrocutions of American soldiers, according to internal e-mail correspondence released Friday.


In a May 5, 2008, e-mail message, a safety official at the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Pentagon organization in charge of supervising defense contractors in Iraq, noted that the agency had failed to act after its own comprehensive safety survey in February 2007 found widespread electrical problems at American bases that had led to a series of deaths, injuries and fires.

But top D.C.M.A. officials responded to the assertion by saying that they had never heard of the safety survey, indicating that they had no knowledge of the longstanding electrical problems.

In January 2008, 11 months after the comprehensive safety review, Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, a Green Beret, was electrocuted while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad, apparently because of poorly grounded electrical work in the building. A subsequent Pentagon review of its records found that at least 13 American personnel had been electrocuted in Iraq since the war began in 2003
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Electric shocks for troops daily event in Iraq

Why does KBR/Halliburton keep getting contracts when what they do ends up making the troops suffer? Tainted water? Being electrocuted? Nothing seems to get the interest of Congress enough to put a stop to any of this.

Evans family, via South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Ten buildings were destroyed late last month at a Marine base near Falluja, Iraq, after an electrical fire broke out.

Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said
By JAMES RISEN
Published: July 18, 2008
WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.

During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007.

And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis.
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Families, ex-employees testify about KBR role in electrocutions

Contractor under fire for Iraq electrocutions

Families, ex-employees testify about firm’s role
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 11, 2008 18:09:22 EDT

Halliburton KBR improperly installed electrical wiring or failed to fix known electrical hazards at U.S. bases in Iraq that resulted in the deaths of 11 service members and two civilians, family members and former employees of the contracting giant testified at a Congressional hearing.

Electrical hazards in showers, swimming pools and work spaces have killed 10 soldiers, one Marine and two civilian contractors since 2003.

Sen. Robert Casey, D-Penn., expressed frustration that the latest electrocution that caused the death of Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth Jan. 2, 2008, occurred four years after an Army Corps of Engineer report warning that these electrical hazards on bases were a “killer of soldiers.”

“That’s October 2004 and we are sitting here in 2008 and we are still talking about this,” Casey said, describing his disgust that Maseth, a Special Forces soldier, lost his life while taking a shower in his barracks in Baghdad. “That’s an abomination.”

Maseth’s mother, Cheryl Harris, testified at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing, telling lawmakers that she has learned that KBR found the electrical hazard during an inspection of her son’s barracks 11 months before his death. She listed deficiencies such as that “the building’s main circuit panel, the secondary feeder panel and the water tank were not grounded.” In addition, the “wiring leading into the secondary electrical panel was not sized properly for the main [circuit] breakers, did not have proper thermal coating, and did not meet U.S. or British electrical codes.”
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DOD tried to cover up electrocution death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth

Green Beret electrocuted in shower on Iraq base
Story Highlights
At least 12 U.S. troops have been electrocuted in Iraq from wiring problems

Ryan Maseth, 24, died January 2 while taking a shower on base

"I truly couldn't believe he would be electrocuted," his mom says

Defense Department inspector general, Congress launch investigation


By Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein
CNN Special Investigations Unit

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A highly decorated Green Beret, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth died a painful death in Iraq this year. He died not on the battlefield. He died in what should have been one of the safest spots in Iraq: on a U.S. base, in his bathroom.


Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret, died in his shower January 2.

1 of 2 The water pump was not properly grounded, and when he turned on the shower, a jolt of electricity shot through his body and electrocuted him January 2.

The next day, Cheryl Harris was informed of his death. A mother of three sons serving in Iraq, she had feared such news might come one day.

"I did ask exactly, 'How did Ryan die? What happened to him?' And he had told me that Ryan was electrocuted," she said.

Her reaction was disbelief. "I truly couldn't believe he would be electrocuted ... in the shower," she said.

Maseth, 24, was not the first. At least 12 U.S. troops have been electrocuted in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003, according to military and government officials. Watch mom describe horror, heartbreak over son's electrocution »

In fact, the Army issued a bulletin in 2004 warning that electrocution was "growing at an alarming rate." It said five soldiers died that year by electrocution, with improper grounding the likely culprit in each case.

The Army bulletin detailed one soldier's death in a shower -- eerily similar to Maseth's case -- that said he was found "lying on a shower room floor with burn marks on his body."

Maseth's mother says the Army was not immediately forthcoming with details about her son's death.

At one point, she says, the Army told her he had a small appliance with him in the shower on his base, a former palace complex near the Baghdad airport.

"It just created so much doubt, and I know Ryan, I know Ryan, I know how he was trained, I know that he would not have been in a shower with a small appliance and electrocuted himself," she said. Watch "I can't make sense around Ryan's death" »

The Army refused to answer CNN's questions about the case, citing pending litigation by Maseth's family.

Maseth's mother says she pressed the military for answers, eventually uncovering more details about her son's electrocution. The surging current left burn marks across his body, even singeing his hair. Army reports show that he probably suffered a long, painful death.

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http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/28/soldier.electrocutions/index.html

Flawed Wiring Still Kills G.I.’s

Despite Alert, Flawed Wiring Still Kills G.I.’s

By JAMES RISEN
Published: May 4, 2008
WASHINGTON — In October 2004, the United States Army issued an urgent bulletin to commanders across Iraq, warning them of a deadly new threat to American soldiers. Because of flawed electrical work by contractors, the bulletin stated, soldiers at American bases in Iraq had received severe electrical shocks, and some had even been electrocuted.


The bulletin, with the headline “The Unexpected Killer,” was issued after the horrific deaths of two soldiers who were caught in water — one in a shower, the other in a swimming pool — that was suddenly electrified after poorly grounded wiring short-circuited.

“We’ve had several shocks in showers and near misses here in Baghdad, as well as in other parts of the country,” Frank Trent, an expert with the Army Corps of Engineers, wrote in the bulletin. “As we install temporary and permanent power on our projects, we must ensure that we require contractors to properly ground electrical systems.”

Since that warning, at least two more American soldiers have been electrocuted in similar circumstances. In all, at least a dozen American military personnel have been electrocuted in Iraq, according to the Pentagon and Congressional investigators.
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Verdict in electrocution of Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum Upheld

Verdict in electrocution of soldier upheld

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 10:13:27 EST

LITTLE ROCK — A federal appeals panel on Tuesday upheld a $6.5 million verdict against a private contractor in the death of an Arkansas soldier who was electrocuted when he leaned back against the metal exterior wall of a latrine.

Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum died June 19, 2004, following an exercise at a firing range at Fort Benning, Ga. Marcum’s estate sued The Shaw Group Inc., which was under contract to demolish several abandoned metal latrines at the Army base. Marcum, 21, was from Prescott, Ark.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis turned away The Shaw Group’s requests for a new trial or a ruling that the company was not responsible.

The Shaw Group, based in Baton Rouge, La., argued that it had no duty to have demolished the latrine, noting that the Army had given it an extension for the demolition work.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_electrocution_022608/

Another non-combat death in Iraq

01/04/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, Pa., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 2 of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Ryan D. Maseth


Editor & Publisher -- The father of a local soldier has questions after learning of his son's death in Iraq and is anxious to bring his other son home. Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, 24, from Shaler, (Pittsburgh, PA) died in Baghdad on Jan. 2. Doug Maseth was told his son was electrocuted in the shower but there are no other details. Maseth says he's devastated.

"I could have put this to rest a lot better if he would have been shot or he would have got killed by an IED," he said. "I'd have said, 'OK. That's what happened.' How can you justify getting electrocuted in a shower?" While he waits for answers, he's making arrangements for Ryan's twin brother, Brandon, to come home at least temporarily. "I don't want to lose another boy," Maseth said. "Who wants to lose one? I don't [want to have] the chance of losing two." Right now, the loss of Ryan is all he can bear. "I'm heartbroken," he said. "I watched him from when he was born all the way up 'till now and I just ... turned into a good young man - taken away so fast."