1. FROM: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/21/9605061-8-us-soldiers-charged-in-death-of-fellow-gi
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8 US soldiers charged in death of fellow GI
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A portrait of Army Pvt. Danny Chen is placed on a car in his funeral procession in Chinatown on Oct. 13 in New
York City.
By msnbc.com, NBC News and WNBC
Eight U.S. soldiers have been charged in the death of 19-year-old Private Danny Chen, who was found shot to
death in a guard tower in Afghanistan. It was first thought that Chen may have committed suicide.
The military's investigation found however that Chen, an Asian-American from New York's Chinatown, had been
the target of ethnic slurs and physical attacks at the hands of his fellow soldiers.
Chen was found dead on Oct. 3 with a gunshot wound below the chin; it's not clear from today's charges whether
the eight soldiers are accused of killing him or whether officials are alleging that their mistreatment of Chen led
him to take his own life.
Last week, hundreds of supporters held a vigil and demanded answers in Chen's death. A group of community
leaders at the vigil said it had a meeting at the Pentagon recently about the treatment of Asian soldiers in the
military, and wanted the commanding officers to be punished.

2. At the vigil last Thursday, the soldier's family ramped up pressure on investigators, reading aloud letters Chen had
sent home, reflecting the state of isolation he was in from being harassed by his comrades and superiors.
"'Feb. 27, 2011: Since I am the only Chinese person here, everyone knows me by Chen,'" read his cousin Banny
Chen. "'They ask if I'm from China a few times a day... They also call out my name Chen in a goat-like voice
sometimes for no reason.'"
"'People crack jokes about Chinese people all the time. I'm running out of jokes to come back at them.'"
Chen's death is one of several recent cases of alleged hazing in the military, according to OCA, a national civil
rights organization serving Asian Pacific Americans.
One of those was apparently Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, who was hazed by fellow Marines, according to a U.S.
military report on his April 3 death. The military charged three Marines -- accused of beating Lew hours before he
killed himself -- with hazing and they face court martial, The San Jose Mercury News reported.
Elizabeth OuYang, New York branch president of OCA, said in October that some 3,000 Asian Americans were
recruited to serve in the U.S. military in 2009.
Lawyer Mathew B. Tully, an expert in military law and a former Army soldier, wrote in an article earlier this year
that the "military’s zero-tolerance position on hazing has not completely eradicated the practice" of hazing.
"While some instances of hazing are as easy to identify as the marks they leave on victims, verbal or psychological
offenses are not as black and white," he wrote. "For example, in 2007 three Marines based in Yorktown, Va., were
charged with hazing subordinates after making them stand in formation for five hours and perform cleaning duties
to the point of exhaustion, without food or sleep."
According to an official statement from the military, 1st Lt. Daniel J. Schwartz, Staff Sgt. Blaine G. Dugas, Staff
Sgt. Andrew J. Van Bockel, Sgt. Adam M. Holcomb, Sgt. Jeffrey T. Hurst, Spc. Thomas P. Curtis, Spc. Ryan J.
Offutt and Sgt. Travis F. Carden, all of C Co., 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat
Team, 25th Infantry Division were charged Wednesday in connection with the death of Chen, an infantryman
assigned to C Co. at Combat Outpost Palace.
According to the statement:
 Schwartz is charged with eight specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty.
 Dugas is charged with one specification of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, four
specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, and one specification of Article 107, UCMJ, making a false
official statement.
 VanBockel is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, three
specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, four specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one
specification of Article 119, UCMJ, involuntary manslaughter, one specification of Article 128, UCMJ, assault
consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of
Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
 Holcomb is charged with four specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, two
specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, two specifications of Article 93,UCMJ, maltreatment, one
specification of Article 108, UCMJ, destruction of military property, one specification of Article 119, UCMJ,
involuntary manslaughter, two specifications of Article 128, UCMJ, assault consummated by battery, one
specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, reckless
endangerment, and one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, communicating a threat.
 Hurst is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, two
specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, two specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one

3. specification of Article 119, UCMJ, involuntary manslaughter, one specification of Article 128, UCMJ, assault
consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of
Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
 Curtis is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, one
specification of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, six specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one
specification of Article 119, involuntary manslaughter, four specifications of Article 128, UCMJ, assault
consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of
Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
 Offutt is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, one
specification of Art 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, four specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one
specification of Article 119, UCMJ, involuntary manslaughter, three specifications of Article 128, UCMJ, assault
consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of
Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
 Carden is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, two
specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, and one specification of Article 128, UCMJ, assault.