Military’s death probes leave some families feeling betrayed
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Shaila Dewan
THE NEW YORK TIMES

DAGSBORO, Del. — When Tricia and Gregg White were told by the Marines in 2004 that their son, Lance Cpl. Russell White, had been killed in Afghanistan in a gun-cleaning accident, their hearts went out to the Marine who had been holding the gun.

The Whites headed to Camp Lejeune, N.C., to visit the Marine, Lance Cpl. Federico Pimienta. The Whites had been told he was on suicide watch.

"I immediately put myself in his parents’ position, and I just couldn’t imagine," Tricia White said. "We didn’t want two people to die because of what we thought was an unfortunate accident."

But their forgiveness came months before they learned that the cause of their son’s death wasn’t a gun-cleaning accident. It was before they learned that Pimienta had lied to investigators and that he had been repeatedly chastised for mishandling weapons. It was before he failed to appear at his court-martial.

And it was before persistent questioning, guided by intimations of a darker explanation from their son’s platoon mates, enabled the Whites to piece together what had happened in the bunkhouse at Bagram Air Base on June 20, 2004, when White, 19, was killed by a shot to the head.

What they learned, in their minds, did not add up to an accident. But it did leave them feeling forsaken by military authorities and incredulous at what they say was the incompetence of the initial investigation into White’s death.

"I had lost faith in the entire system," White’s brother Adam said in June at Pimienta’s court-martial on unauthorized absence charges. "I figured we were never going to receive any justice."

The Marines say there was no attempt to mislead the Whites, and that the investigation and prosecution were appropriate.

More than a dozen families have said they were misled or overtly lied to about the cause of their loved one’s death in Afghanistan or Iraq. These families — about half from the Marines and half from the Army — said the military was slow to investigate or take possible violations seriously, or that the information that they did receive was riddled with contradictions.

A recent study by the Army shows that the families of seven soldiers were misled about their deaths.

Pimienta was convicted of making a false statement and of manslaughter. The courtmartial recommended a sentence of 12 years and a dishonorable discharge, and the defendant was demoted. But to the Whites’ disappointment, a Marine commander reduced the sentence to six years and the dishonorable discharge to a bad-conduct discharge.

Ellie