Lt. Gen Newton analyzes the military's response to Savannah Georgia's shooting. He also explains what usually happens during a catastrophic event like this.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well after the shooting at Fort Stewart that wounded five
American soldiers. We are very proud to be joined by
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, former US Air Force Assistant Vice
chief of Staff, and News Nation senior National security contributor.
(00:20):
Thank you so much, sir, for being with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning, Larry. Delighted to be with you, regardless of
the circumstances. But this is a tough story.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It is a tough story, and it hit all of us.
As soon as you hear a story like this, you
run to the TV sets, you run to the radios
to hear more, and you're hoping, you're hoping for the best.
And I guessed we did get the best that could
have happened in a situation like this, and that nobody died.
But I know how we all felt. I don't know
how people that served felt when they heard this, because
(00:53):
my guess is you must see this as a real
violation considering the fact you've been on these camps and
you've been with them, these men. Could you please explain
your first feelings when you heard about this story.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, my first thought harkened back immediately when I was
a senior general officer in the Pentagon. I was part
of the initial senior officer investigative review team that we
put together. As I mentioned the Pentagon in November of
two thousand and nine, if you recall our listeners may
recall when Major Nadal Hassan, an Army major at the
(01:26):
time psychiatrists, killed thirteen fellow soldiers and wounded thirty at
Fort hood In at early morning hours. And so my
first thought was concern for the soldiers at Fort Stewart.
There are fifteen thousand soldiers there by the way, in
sixteen thousand family members. And then once I heard and
(01:49):
started to hear just the initial reports come out, my
first thought in terms of what it was was likely
an insider attack, much like we saw with Hassan in
terms of a weapon firing on fellow soldiers and then
being subdued and apprehended almost immediately exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
The only good thing that came out of this, and
the only thing that should make people proud, is that
you had young men I'm assuming they're young men that
were there that were being shot at. There was somebody
with a gun, an active shooter, and instead of running
out of there or hiding or going for cover. Several
of them went at the man and tackled him. And
(02:31):
if not for that, this could have been a lot
worse being someone that served, being someone that's led these men.
You must be so proud, I am.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And you know we have two million men and women
in uniform and all volunteers, and in this case, and also,
as we've demonstrated in a rock in Afghanistan, and by
the way, our men and women serving overseas a and
over one hundred and thirty five locations around the world
as we speak right now this morning, they run to
the sound of gun and this was a demonstration, however,
(03:02):
of not a combat situation, but still their training kicked
in and the fact that they were able to nearly
immediately subdue this army sergeant in what I'm going to term,
and this is preliminary, obviously, but an extreme case of
work center violence in this case. But the other aspect
(03:25):
of this I want to underscore is at Fort Stewart,
and you would expect this at other installations. I've been
a major installation commander where I had a lockdown situation,
we immediately went into force protection condition Delta, which is
what happened at Fort Stewart, but for the army leadership
as well as a chaining command all the way down
to those soldiers who subdued this Army sergeant in terms
(03:47):
of the timing of this, in terms of putting medical
attention immediately on the scene for those five wounded soldiers,
for Fort Stewart to lock down the installation, to protect
other soldiers in the sixteen thousand and family members there,
and to get those soldiers who are in critical condition.
Knowing that there when Army Hospital wasn't as a Level
(04:08):
four trauma center wasn't going to be provide the care
they needed, they were able to get those remaining critical soldiers.
I understand there's two of them to Savannah Memorial Hospital,
which is forty miles away, into a Level one trauma center.
I believe is going to also be something that will
(04:29):
be textbooked. But nonetheless, now the hard work begins. What happened,
how did it happen, why did it happen, and how
can we prevent this from ever happening again.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Let's start with the gun because you've talked about how
wonderful they were after the fact that I agree with
you one thousand percent, enduring the shooting. But there must
have been a screw up somewhere before the shooting, because
he never should have had this personal gun on his person.
It's supposed to be locked away, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Absolutely, Larry, and first and foremost again as a major
installation commander in this case, it was Breeder General Leubis,
who's the third Army or a third infantry division commander
was on area yesterday, you know, communicated, you know, we
will go back and really understand what happened. But the
concern is is, indeed, how does an American soldier bring
(05:18):
his own personal handgun and fired on his fellow soldiers.
It's not just the gun itself, but the whole aspect
of why and how it led up to this. And
so you're right in this case you should not expect
or will even anticipate someone bringing their personal handgun to
use it on their fellow soldiers. But this is they're
(05:42):
going to be looking at rules and regulations, but protocols
and processes and so forth in terms of how handguns
can get into the hands of of those who in
a very very again very limited, unique way want to
do harm against their fellow soldiers. But the fact is
it was reportedly a nine mail personal handgun. How it
(06:02):
got to the work center is still to be determined.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now apparently some a little bit of motive is is
coming out in news reports that he had some disagreements
with people that he served with and he was a
little bit disgruntled that he wasn't moving up ranks quick enough.
Is are there processes on the in these UH in
these campuses and you shouldn't call the campus UH inside
(06:27):
these facilities that that pinpoints that that can deal with
that before it gets to this point.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
It absolutely all the services UH United States Army, the
Marine Corps, the Air Force and Navy, and the Space
Force and so forth, that this is the responsibility of
the chain of command UH as well as your fellow soldiers.
In this case. UH, it's almost like having lived in
New York City. You know, you know the terminology. If
you see something, say something. But if there's an indication
of say your fellow soldier, your your UH, you know
(06:55):
men and women are serving with it, there's our issues.
If there are hints of of mental health issues, for instance,
if there's things that in terms of off duty there
are issues with their behavior. In this case, it's reported
that Sergeant Rafford had been charged with a DUI back
in May and had not reported that to his chain
(07:16):
of command as he is required to do so, and
there could have been some some lingering aspects of what
was going on within the army unit and so forth.
He's a logistics sergeant and this is the logistics unit
supposedly with a third Infantry Division. Those things will be
looked at, but nonetheless you are in however, you know,
(07:38):
in the United States Army and the Air Force and
other services, you don't necessarily lean away from those you
serve with. You lean into. And the fact is is
that it's it's one team, one fight, and so forth.
And I have to think that his fellow soldiers really
had not perhaps even contemplator or even anticipated this type
of violence. And I want our listener also, I'll close
(08:00):
on this point for this commentary. But this is very,
very unique situation, and this is not something that we
would anticipate that is prevalent throughout the ranks at all.
You know, we recruit from the best and brightest that
America has to offer, but there's only about a twenty
three percent of the population between ages for men and
(08:21):
women at eighteen to twenty five. And we really try
to make sure that those that we recruit and we
bring into the armed forces that indeed, you know, meet
all the ethical standards and health and mental and so forth.
But something happened along the way. This sergeant has served
in the Army for about eight years or so, but
(08:42):
something has had to happen along the way that the
Army will find out much like we did in the
Deep Investigation, Thorough Investigation Congressioniance about major So.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah, I understand that. Thank you so much. You've been great,
Lieutenant General Richard Newton. You gave us some insight into this.
Former US Air Force Assistant Vice chief of Staff and
News Nation senior National security contributor, Thank you, Sarah, hope
to talk again.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Good to be with you.
Well after the shooting at Fort Stewart that wounded five
American soldiers. We are very proud to be joined by
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, former US Air Force Assistant Vice
chief of Staff, and News Nation senior National security contributor.
(00:20):
Thank you so much, sir, for being with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning, Larry. Delighted to be with you, regardless of
the circumstances. But this is a tough story.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It is a tough story, and it hit all of us.
As soon as you hear a story like this, you
run to the TV sets, you run to the radios
to hear more, and you're hoping, you're hoping for the best.
And I guessed we did get the best that could
have happened in a situation like this, and that nobody died.
But I know how we all felt. I don't know
how people that served felt when they heard this, because
(00:53):
my guess is you must see this as a real
violation considering the fact you've been on these camps and
you've been with them, these men. Could you please explain
your first feelings when you heard about this story.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, my first thought harkened back immediately when I was
a senior general officer in the Pentagon. I was part
of the initial senior officer investigative review team that we
put together. As I mentioned the Pentagon in November of
two thousand and nine, if you recall our listeners may
recall when Major Nadal Hassan, an Army major at the
(01:26):
time psychiatrists, killed thirteen fellow soldiers and wounded thirty at
Fort hood In at early morning hours. And so my
first thought was concern for the soldiers at Fort Stewart.
There are fifteen thousand soldiers there by the way, in
sixteen thousand family members. And then once I heard and
(01:49):
started to hear just the initial reports come out, my
first thought in terms of what it was was likely
an insider attack, much like we saw with Hassan in
terms of a weapon firing on fellow soldiers and then
being subdued and apprehended almost immediately exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
The only good thing that came out of this, and
the only thing that should make people proud, is that
you had young men I'm assuming they're young men that
were there that were being shot at. There was somebody
with a gun, an active shooter, and instead of running
out of there or hiding or going for cover. Several
of them went at the man and tackled him. And
(02:31):
if not for that, this could have been a lot
worse being someone that served, being someone that's led these men.
You must be so proud, I am.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And you know we have two million men and women
in uniform and all volunteers, and in this case, and also,
as we've demonstrated in a rock in Afghanistan, and by
the way, our men and women serving overseas a and
over one hundred and thirty five locations around the world
as we speak right now this morning, they run to
the sound of gun and this was a demonstration, however,
(03:02):
of not a combat situation, but still their training kicked
in and the fact that they were able to nearly
immediately subdue this army sergeant in what I'm going to term,
and this is preliminary, obviously, but an extreme case of
work center violence in this case. But the other aspect
(03:25):
of this I want to underscore is at Fort Stewart,
and you would expect this at other installations. I've been
a major installation commander where I had a lockdown situation,
we immediately went into force protection condition Delta, which is
what happened at Fort Stewart, but for the army leadership
as well as a chaining command all the way down
to those soldiers who subdued this Army sergeant in terms
(03:47):
of the timing of this, in terms of putting medical
attention immediately on the scene for those five wounded soldiers,
for Fort Stewart to lock down the installation, to protect
other soldiers in the sixteen thousand and family members there,
and to get those soldiers who are in critical condition.
Knowing that there when Army Hospital wasn't as a Level
(04:08):
four trauma center wasn't going to be provide the care
they needed, they were able to get those remaining critical soldiers.
I understand there's two of them to Savannah Memorial Hospital,
which is forty miles away, into a Level one trauma center.
I believe is going to also be something that will
(04:29):
be textbooked. But nonetheless, now the hard work begins. What happened,
how did it happen, why did it happen, and how
can we prevent this from ever happening again.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Let's start with the gun because you've talked about how
wonderful they were after the fact that I agree with
you one thousand percent, enduring the shooting. But there must
have been a screw up somewhere before the shooting, because
he never should have had this personal gun on his person.
It's supposed to be locked away, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Absolutely, Larry, and first and foremost again as a major
installation commander in this case, it was Breeder General Leubis,
who's the third Army or a third infantry division commander
was on area yesterday, you know, communicated, you know, we
will go back and really understand what happened. But the
concern is is, indeed, how does an American soldier bring
(05:18):
his own personal handgun and fired on his fellow soldiers.
It's not just the gun itself, but the whole aspect
of why and how it led up to this. And
so you're right in this case you should not expect
or will even anticipate someone bringing their personal handgun to
use it on their fellow soldiers. But this is they're
(05:42):
going to be looking at rules and regulations, but protocols
and processes and so forth in terms of how handguns
can get into the hands of of those who in
a very very again very limited, unique way want to
do harm against their fellow soldiers. But the fact is
it was reportedly a nine mail personal handgun. How it
(06:02):
got to the work center is still to be determined.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now apparently some a little bit of motive is is
coming out in news reports that he had some disagreements
with people that he served with and he was a
little bit disgruntled that he wasn't moving up ranks quick enough.
Is are there processes on the in these UH in
these campuses and you shouldn't call the campus UH inside
(06:27):
these facilities that that pinpoints that that can deal with
that before it gets to this point.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
It absolutely all the services UH United States Army, the
Marine Corps, the Air Force and Navy, and the Space
Force and so forth, that this is the responsibility of
the chain of command UH as well as your fellow soldiers.
In this case. UH, it's almost like having lived in
New York City. You know, you know the terminology. If
you see something, say something. But if there's an indication
of say your fellow soldier, your your UH, you know
(06:55):
men and women are serving with it, there's our issues.
If there are hints of of mental health issues, for instance,
if there's things that in terms of off duty there
are issues with their behavior. In this case, it's reported
that Sergeant Rafford had been charged with a DUI back
in May and had not reported that to his chain
(07:16):
of command as he is required to do so, and
there could have been some some lingering aspects of what
was going on within the army unit and so forth.
He's a logistics sergeant and this is the logistics unit
supposedly with a third Infantry Division. Those things will be
looked at, but nonetheless you are in however, you know,
(07:38):
in the United States Army and the Air Force and
other services, you don't necessarily lean away from those you
serve with. You lean into. And the fact is is
that it's it's one team, one fight, and so forth.
And I have to think that his fellow soldiers really
had not perhaps even contemplator or even anticipated this type
of violence. And I want our listener also, I'll close
(08:00):
on this point for this commentary. But this is very,
very unique situation, and this is not something that we
would anticipate that is prevalent throughout the ranks at all.
You know, we recruit from the best and brightest that
America has to offer, but there's only about a twenty
three percent of the population between ages for men and
(08:21):
women at eighteen to twenty five. And we really try
to make sure that those that we recruit and we
bring into the armed forces that indeed, you know, meet
all the ethical standards and health and mental and so forth.
But something happened along the way. This sergeant has served
in the Army for about eight years or so, but
(08:42):
something has had to happen along the way that the
Army will find out much like we did in the
Deep Investigation, Thorough Investigation Congressioniance about major So.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah, I understand that. Thank you so much. You've been great,
Lieutenant General Richard Newton. You gave us some insight into this.
Former US Air Force Assistant Vice chief of Staff and
News Nation senior National security contributor, Thank you, Sarah, hope
to talk again.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Good to be with you.
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