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GS had guns stolen
hobo9650
Member Posts: 2,759 ✭✭✭
Grandson visited me last week from Ft Hood Tx. He returned home today with his wife and daus staying with me for a couple more weeks. Upon arrival at Ft hood he discovered his house (on base at Ft Hood) had been broken into. Four guns gone. One an M24 with a high $ scope (I paid $2500 on GB for the gun and $1700 for scope), an orig Springfield 1903, no update or modifications, a Albanian SKS, and a orig GI bringback K98 mauser bnz 45 t series). They passed up on an AK and several other nice guns.
He call me a few minutes ago all shook up because I gave those guns to him about a year ago.
He had pictures, all kinds of papers, and "on base" registration papers. Already filed reports with Base Security.
Hope CID gets involved.
He call me a few minutes ago all shook up because I gave those guns to him about a year ago.
He had pictures, all kinds of papers, and "on base" registration papers. Already filed reports with Base Security.
Hope CID gets involved.
Comments
Investigators think one or two people involved since they skipped several other guns. Quick in Quick out and very possibly in same chemical unit he is in. The M24 is a great rifle for snipers and I kinda the thief will keep it. (and get caught). The K98 is rare and only a collector would know the true value.
Since the problems Ft Hood has had, especially with the muslim, would guess special attention will be focused on pawn shops within 50 miles.
I'll contact him and ask him to send what he has. I have one or two of the M24 (I think).
Mybfirst thought was would they came back for more the next time he leaves.
Might be safer for the thief(s) if security catches them instead of his buddies.
Check the pawn shops in your area periodically.
Good advice. I had 5 guns stolen from me when I was stationed at Ft Lewis(Off post) and I recovered 2 from Pawn Shops myself. If he sees them in the pawn shop call the cops ASAP.
quote:Does that mean that its another soldier that stole them since it was on base?
Not necessarily. Someone with ID could have gotten a thief on post. I would bet it was someone he knows. Someone who knows he has guns and that person either stole them or told someone else and they stole them.
I hope he gets them back. Those are all odd/one of a kind guns so he has a good chance. The 2 guns I got back were both oddball guns and easy to spot and find(a M700 in 17 Remington and a Winchester 88).
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
I didn't think soldiers were allowed to keep personal weapon in there homes on a military base ?? thought they had to be kept in the armory and checked out when desired.
They can have firearms if they live in base housing. No firearms if they live in the barracks/dorms. ALL firearms on base have to be registed with MPs.
quote:Originally posted by chiefr
Check the pawn shops in your area periodically.
Good advice. I had 5 guns stolen from me when I was stationed at Ft Lewis(Off post) and I recovered 2 from Pawn Shops myself. If he sees them in the pawn shop call the cops ASAP.
quote:Does that mean that its another soldier that stole them since it was on base?
Not necessarily. Someone with ID could have gotten a thief on post. I would bet it was someone he knows. Someone who knows he has guns and that person either stole them or told someone else and they stole them.
I hope he gets them back. Those are all odd/one of a kind guns so he has a good chance. The 2 guns I got back were both oddball guns and easy to spot and find(a M700 in 17 Remington and a Winchester 88).
In Fayettenam, NC. There is more pawn shops then there are gas stations. 98% of the pawn shop loans customers were GIs. I know one person who had a bunch of tools stolen and he found all of them in a pawn shop.
quote:Originally posted by Junkballer
I didn't think soldiers were allowed to keep personal weapon in there homes on a military base ?? thought they had to be kept in the armory and checked out when desired.
They can have firearms if they live in base housing. No firearms if they live in the barracks/dorms. ALL firearms on base have to be registed with MPs.
[;)] Gotcha !
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
I used to work active duty Military Police Investigations there. A burglary isn't typically CID's purview. CID will not become involved unless the theft is over $5000 in value, and then they will try their hardest to devalue any item stolen so that it falls below 5K. That way it falls into the purview of MPI to investigate the crime. We used to say that the CID calculators didn't have a plus (+) symbol on them! MPI will be so swamped that it just becomes a paperwork drill for them.
Due to recent cutbacks & civilian employment draw downs, there are very few Civilian Department of the Army Police Investigators there any longer. The female officer who was wounded by the Fort Hood shooter, previously worked Investigations. The draw down put her on patrol, and then she was laid off altogether!
What they do well at Fort Hood is they have a good Pawn Shop detail. The nearby city of Killeen Texas is loaded with Pawn Shops. The guns if not stolen for someones personal use were most likely taken by a druggy. There is a good chance they may end up being pawned, and will turn up that way. Other than that if someone connected doesn't talk, or there is no physical evidence connecting someone as being involved you can probably kiss the guns good by.
Trinity +++
quote:Originally posted by Junkballer
I didn't think soldiers were allowed to keep personal weapon in there homes on a military base ?? thought they had to be kept in the armory and checked out when desired.
They can have firearms if they live in base housing. No firearms if they live in the barracks/dorms. ALL firearms on base have to be registed with MPs.
If all firearms on base have to be registered with MPs, I don't understand why the prime suspects would necessarily be folks that he knows.
Seems to me that anyone with access to that database knows what is in the house.
Brad Steele
His house was registered on the "Post watch list" when he departed on leave the week before. His "friend" mowed his lawn last Thursday and no sign of a "break-in". A vehicle was seen parked near his house Saturday morning. All pawn shops will be visited about twice weekly over the next few months.
I gave 12 guns to him over a year ago. All valuable/unusual guns. I believe they will return for more. hopefully.
Maybe it's time for an early Christmas gift..........Something like this?
http://www.vuezone.com/
Yes. Two (push-type) lawn mowers were taken. They did cut a chain to gain access to a small storage shed. Nothing missing from shed. Only other things missing was a large tin of 7.62x54 (340 rds).
Hoping he will send pics & SN #'s to me. Will try to learn how to post pics on here.
Am shipping a camera system to him that records to CD plus send pics to cell phone.
Don, is correct, anyone having access to the DES weapons registration web sight would know they were there.
I wouldn't even put it past someone with a Law Enforcement connection having been involved.
Back when I worked there we solved a ton of burglaries by busting a few MP's who knew who was on leave, because they registered their houses with the MP Station for a Vacation Watch list.
Not saying all MP's are crooks, they're not, but Fort Hood has more MP's on post than any other. They have the 89th MP Brigade with the 720th MP BN, the First Cavalry Division 545th MP Co, and whatever unit took place of the old 2nd Armored Division MP's. You're talking about several thousand active duty soldiers, and with that many there is a good chance that several are bad eggs. However, that is a far reach. With over three Divisions, a Corps element and all the support units stationed there the chance is very good it was another Joe, and not an MP.
It is also very easy to gain access to the post. There are so many ways to get on post without going through a manned gate, that many civilians are running around the post at all hours.
Trinity +++
Certainly if they can afford those guns they can afford a couple hundred for a gun safe.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
CID does not value items like we do. They have a specific manual that they go by, and in the government's opinion used & old items do not hold their value like we think they should. On average an item can lose 10% of its new value in a 12 month period. I once saw CID lowball a three year old Jeep Wrangler to under $900 so that its value fell into MPI's purview. Long story, but we (MPI) solved that one & then they (CID) wanted the case back.[^]
I wouldn't put much stock on the chain of command getting involved, guns get stolen around there all the time. Lets hope they do, because they can put heat on the CID to become involved.
On the East side of the post there is a large Golf Course, with the Officer housing surrounding the West side of the Course. There was only a six' security fence that fenced off an adjoining main roadway in Killeen. We once had someone cut through the fence, walk across the Golf Course, break into a Generals quarters, and stole his West Point 1911. The MP's checked that quarters hourly, because the General was on leave & still it got broken into. We solved this case (with CID's help), because the gun was sold to a Pawn Shop off post.
My first suspect is any other soldier who is ETSing or PCSing within a 24 hour period of the break in! Especially the ones who knew your GS personally.
Trinity +++
quote:Originally posted by chiefr
quote:Originally posted by Junkballer
I didn't think soldiers were allowed to keep personal weapon in there homes on a military base ?? thought they had to be kept in the armory and checked out when desired.
They can have firearms if they live in base housing. No firearms if they live in the barracks/dorms. ALL firearms on base have to be registed with MPs.
If all firearms on base have to be registered with MPs, I don't understand why the prime suspects would necessarily be folks that he knows.
Seems to me that anyone with access to that database knows what is in the house.
Agreed, besides MPs, information on a members firearms is also shared with the members squadron. Those who live in the barracks have to store their firearms in the base armory which is often managed by MPs. Some GIs will choose to keep their guns at a friends off base instead of the armory. I can relate several stories about what can happen to your firearms when they are stored in the armory.
Each Unit on an Army Post has their own Arms room where their weapons are stored. Some Units may share an Arms Room.
Incoming troops who have not been assigned to a unit prior to in processing can & will store their Firearms at the Arms Room in the MP Station if they have one there.
By AR 190-5 the gaining Unit's Armor must retrieve the Privately Owned firearms within 72 hours of the new soldier singing into the Unit. Failure to do so could cause the soldier to lose the firearms after attempts are made to have the Unit pick them up. While that is in writing, I have never known anyone to lose a gun, even one that was abandoned. We had to jump through hoops to try and find the owners, and if they were out of the Army & out of the State we would have a local FFL holder take possession of the guns & ship them to the owner at their cost.
Trinity +++
I would expand the Pawn shop radius a bit. One good thing about data banks is serial #'s will pop up like soar thumbs. I hope the thieving pos gets caught.
Capt. Jack Sparrow.