40 Censored Military History

1999-0615, Adultery, the Military Response to the Clinton Affair
Many leaders in the Military felt it was hypocritical to court-marital Soldiers for the same offenses the President was getting away with. The following relaxed guidance is provided to Commanders in determining if they should charge a Soldier with adultery:
The accused marital status, rank and, position.
The other party’s marital status, rank, and position.
The Military status of the spouses of the involved duo.
The impact of the affair on the duty performance of the duo.
Whether the affair continued once discovered by Army leaders.
The impact on the couple’s units. Whether either participant was separated at the time. Whether the adultery is ongoing or took place a long time ago.

1999-0705, Gay, UCMJ, Official Report: Gay Murder and Ft Campbell.
PFC Barry Winchell, 21, of D Co, 2nd Bn, 502nd Infantry Regt, 101st Airborne Div, Fort Campbell, KY, an 11-H, heavy weapons specialist is struck in the head with a baseball bat and killed while he slept in his bunk. His roommate PVT Calvin Glover, 18 and SPC Justin Fisher, 26 were convicted of the murder.
Their first sergeant, 1SG Roger Seacrest was an abusive NCO who drove down the moral of the unit and led many Soldiers to drink in the Barracks. He is the only leader held responsible for the actions of Glover and Fisher.
The 1SG was relieved for cause. As soon as the 1SG left unit moral improved tremendously. The Army IG, DoD IG, CID, and a special task force sent by the SECDEF Louis Caldera and led by Army LTG Michael Ackerman spent two-months investigating Gay rights at Ft Campbell found little if any anti-gay activities. Gay rights organizations were disappointed in the IG findings.
The general state of the Barracks is a good indication of unit discipline or lack of. There is a direct correlation between a well-maintained barracks and a positive CMD climate.
Why did Glover kill Winchell? Winchell had beat-up Glover in a fist fight the day before, Glover was mad at "himself" for being beat up by an openly Gay guy who was dating a pre-op transsexual that he brought to the Barracks often, he was stupid-drunk after drinking a keg of beer over the 4th of July weekend.
SPC Fisher was sentenced to 13-years in the brig and PVT Glover received life.

1999-0821, UCMJ, Murder of a Female MP, Korea.
A night of drinking turns into murder.
In the early morning hours of Saturday, August 21, 1999 Sergeant First Class Jeanne
Balcombe was on duty at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea. She was a platoon sergeant in the 55th Military Police Company. She was conducting checks that night when she saw one of the soldiers in her platoon who appeared to be drunk and was underage consuming alcohol. The soldier had been drinking with the 20-year old, Private First Class Jacob M. Bowley who also a member of her platoon. The soldiers were on a four-day pass and SFC Balcombe removed their pass privileges and brought the underage soldier to the Camp Red Cloud medical clinic to have his blood drawn to test for alcohol.
Soldiers getting caught underage drinking in in Korea is very common and there was nothing unusual about this incident until PFC Bowley barged into the medical clinic shortly before 4 A.M. with a gun. After PFC Bowley had his pass privileges removed by SFC Balcombe his anger boiled over and he was determined to get back at SFC Balcombe.
Messer testified that Bowley was angry the pass was taken away that night. [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 29, 2000]
To exact his revenge, he needed a weapon. Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) Corporal Suh So-so worked as a military policeman in Bowley’s unit and was on duty that night which meant he had his 9-mm pistol on him. Corporal Suh who had no reason to suspect an attack from a member of his unit, was taken by surprise when Bowley approached him and then viciously attacked him. PFC Bowley left Corporal Suh on the ground badly beaten and then took his sidearm. Now that he was armed Bowley next headed to the Camp Red Cloud medical clinic to confront SFC Balcombe.
SFC Balcombe who was unarmed at the time tried to intervene to stop the gunman and in the ensuing confrontation she was shot three times by Bowley to include once in the head killing her. After the confrontation, Bowley repeatedly said, “She took my pass away!” Investigators also believed that Bowley was attempting to shoot the soldier having his blood drawn because he told SFC Balcombe that Bowley was the one that provided him with the alcohol. However, the confrontation SFC Balcombe had with Bowley provided enough time for others in the clinic to flee.
Other witnesses recounted grisly details during the first day of the hearing for PFC Bowley, who pleaded guilty last week to murdering Sgt. 1st Class Jean Balcombe. Balcombe, 33, worked for 1st Platoon, 55th Military Police Company, at Camp Red Cloud.
CPT (Dr.) Edward McDaniel, officer in charge of the medical clinic, testified that Bowley silently walked into the facility on the morning of Aug. 21. Another soldier asked Bowley what he was doing, McDaniel said.
“Moments later, he reached behind his back and pulled out a weapon,” McDaniel said.
“He pointed it in the direction of SFC Balcombe and SGT Huh.
“I was screaming, ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot.’”
McDaniel and SGT Huh Dong-pil, a Korean soldier assigned to the 168th Medical Battalion, heard three shots. Huh, who said he was within two arms’ lengths of Balcombe, escaped into a nearby room.
“The situation was very bad and dangerous,” Huh said. “I was in a panic.”
Blood seeped under a door in the room where he hid, Huh said. After two more gunshots, he said he heard a “gurgling” sound and Balcombe’s breathing. [Stars & Stripes – Jan.
26, 2000]
Bowley after the murder fled in a military police Galloper Jeep from Camp Red Cloud. At the exit gate for the camp he brandished his gun at the gate guard to let him through. The Galloper was later found parked near the Uijongbu City Hall. Bowley then made his way via train to the southeastern city of Busan. Once there he attempted to withdraw cash from an ATM at the Yangjong-dong branch of the Seoul Bank branch in the city. A Korean national at the bank saw the suspicious looking soldier and reported it to the police. Bowley a short time later was apprehended by Korean police at 11:40 am at the bank. At the time of his apprehension he was cooperative as he was taken to a police car, but once in the police car he tried to pull out the gun he had concealed in his waistband. A scuffle with the police ensured and they were able to disarm him. Even during questioning Bowley was out of control and had to be restrained to his chair by the Korean police.
The Trial
PFC Bowley was charged with murder, aggravated assault, and five other charges after the killing of SFC Balcombe.
As the case went to trial PFC Bowley decided to plead guilty and his defense lawyer asked the judge to show leniency during sentencing blaming drinking caused by the stress of being in Korea for his actions:
During her closing statement, defense attorney CPT Donna Hansen said Bowley’s guilty plea showed he had taken responsibility for his actions.
In asking for a 10-year sentence, Hansen said Bowley had the potential for rehabilitation.
“What Jacob Morgan Bowley did is wrong, but he is not evil,” Hansen said. “Punishment is a must, but the degree of punishment must be tempered.”
Heavy drinking and difficult duty in Korea put stress on Bowley, Hansen said. The murder represented “an aberration to the real Jacob Bowley,” she said. [Stars & Stripes – Jan.
31, 2000]
Bowley also took the stand pleading for leniency as well blaming stress and drinking for what he did:
PFC Bowley testified at his sentencing hearing Friday that he wished he could “erase this nightmare” begun when he fatally shot a military policewoman in a fit of rage.
“I wish I could stop the suffering I’ve caused, but there’s no going back,” said Bowley, who pleaded guilty last week to murder in the Aug. 21 shooting of Sgt. 1st Class Jeanne Balcombe, 32, of the 55th Military Police Company at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea.
“All I can do is say that I’m sorry, but that will never be enough.”
Bowley made the statements during unsworn testimony, meaning he could not be questioned by government prosecutors.
Unsworn statements carry less weight in court during deliberations.
Bowley said he wishes he knew why he took a gun into the medical clinic at Red Cloud and shot Balcombe to death. Balcombe belonged to the same unit as Bowley.
“I shot an MP,” Bowley said. “I shot my platoon sergeant. I have to live knowing that I could do something like that.”
Bowley said he had a drinking problem, and alcohol “was pretty much the only way I
could find to release tension.” He said he tried to enroll in a treatment program, but that noncommissioned officers in his company wouldn’t let him. As a result, his drinking continued, Bowley said.
Reading from two prepared statements, Bowley apologized to the slain woman’s husband, Mr. Michael Balcombe, who flew from McMinnville, Ore., to attend the sentencing.
But Bowley said he felt he could someday become a productive member of society.
“Still, I beg for mercy,” Bowley said to COL Ronald White, the military judge. “I ask that I have another chance for life. Sir, I ask you to give me that chance.” [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 29, 2000]
It must have worked because the judge in the case, COL Ronald White sentenced
Bowley to 56 years in prison, but he was given the possibility of parole after 10-years. Bowley wanted another chance at life and the possibility of parole left that opportunity out there for him.
Why Did He Do It?
The violence perpetuated by Bowley seemed to be out of character for him if you believe what his friends and family from his hometown in New Hampshire had to say: Bowley’s father, Freeman Bowley, who lives in Henniker, N.H., told The Associated Press his son was “just a wonderful kid. He loved the Army. He was having a great time.”
“All I’ve heard was there was an altercation at the base where he was at and one person is dead. And it’s not Jacob. And he’s involved in the questioning somehow,” he said. He said his son has been serving at Camp Red Cloud since November and was planning to go into the criminal justice field after leaving the Army. [Stars & Stripes – Aug. 24, 1999] Others in his hometown called him a “teddy bear” and a “gentle giant”:
Other testimony Thursday came from numerous people who knew Bowley from his hometown of Hillsboro, N.H. All said they were shocked to learn of the murder, many describing Bowley as a “teddy bear” and a “gentle giant.” [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 29, 2000] Clearly the so called “gentle giant” had some lingering anger management issues that was made worse by the drinking and drugs he was doing while in Korea. In 2007 while confined at the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Bowley wrote a letter that was published by a Buddhist publication called Mindfulness Bell that discusses his anger and substance abuse issues and how Buddhism helped him address these problems:
I was confined in the summer of 1999, twenty years old and more a prisoner of my own mdeep inner fears than the walls around me. Wrapped up in the great speed of the world, I had been able — with the help of drugs and alcohol — to maintain in my mind an impressive illusion of control. Here in prison the reins were clearly not in my hands; I knew no way to keep up my speed. Forced to stop, or at least slow down, I had to face the bitter truth: my will did not rule the world. This disappointment was too much for me to contend with day after day, so I closed my eyes in anger. I would rage against the whole world until it consented to the perpetual gratification of my senses. [Mindfulness Bell]
You can read the rest at the link, but Bowley in the article said that he would like to become a monk whenever he is released.
The Aftermath
SFC Balcombe was 32 at the time of her early death and left behind a husband Mike Balcombe who was a retired Army NCO and two young daughters. Her family was living in her home state of Oregon during her one-year tour of duty in Korea. SFC Balcombe was buried in McMinnville, Oregon at the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
She was buried with full military honors by an honor guard from Fort Lewis,
Washington. SFC Balcombe had previously served at Fort Lewis and all the soldiers in the honor guard either knew or served with Balcombe there. Her husband Mike was presented her Soldier’s Medal, the second-highest honor that can be bestowed during peacetime. The medal was posthumously awarded to SFC Balcombe because of her actions confronting Bowley which allowed other soldiers to escape the medical clinic. Additionally, in front of the Camp Red Cloud medical clinic a marker with a tree was planted in honor of SFC Jeanne Balcombe. It can still be seen there today. A final honor for SFC Balcombe was that in 2016 she was inducted into the National Army Museum.
As for Bowley I could not confirm whether he was paroled. However, I was able to find a Jacob M. Bowley that lives in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, that is the same age as the Private Bowley that was incarcerated.
Additionally, the Jacob Bowley in the listing is related to a Freeman Bowley. Freeman Bowley is the name of Private Bowley’s dad as identified in the prior Stars & Stripes article. So, I think it is a safe assumption that Private Bowley has in fact been paroled. If he has been paroled, it seems like pretty light punishment to be in jail for less than 20 years after committing murder. Hopefully he lives the rest of his life trying to atone for taking away a fine
NCO from her soldiers and more importantly a wife and mom from her husband and two kids.

1999-1231, Military, Statistics for the year 1999:
Between 1996 and 1999 the military had 9,500 reports of sexual misconduct of all kinds.
37 percent of the women who reported being raped had been raped once previously.
14 percent of the women who were raped in the military reported being gang raped.
Homosexual chapters from the military:
588 Males as per request.
130 Males caught in the act.
215 Girls as per request.
41 Girls caught in the act.
Female Failure Statistics, DOD statistics show:
43 Percent of white female Soldiers fail to finish their first enlistment because of physical problems, pregnancy, and failure to adapt to the Military or other reason.
33 Percent of black female Soldiers do not make it to the end of their first enlistment.
Military sociologists blame the high dropout rate on white women who are less willing than black women to endure the physical and psychological demands of Military life because they feel they can always make it in the civilian world. Black women feel they are tougher than white women are and can put up with more stress.
25 Percent of white women fail BCT.
18 Percent of black female recruits fail BCT.
61 Percent of female troops are minority.
$35,000 (59,000-2022), Cost to recruit and train each new Soldier.

2000-0101, Drugs, 13 Ft Bragg, MPs Accused of Selling LSD and Weed.
13 members of the 16th MP Bde charged, with dealing and using drugs.
The MP's drug us was found through random urinalysis. Ft Bragg conducts 37,000 drug tests each year, 1-percent come back hot.