Holloman Sgt gunned down in Mexican Strip Club

[Modus]

You're not stationed there now...

I'm sure there is probably a different Wing CC there now. Things do change.

[kvnhlstd]

With the rival drug cartels killing dozens a week down there I would not be surprised if its a blanket DOD policy about that border town... two weeks ago didn't they have a massacre at a rehab center???

[ChiefB]

Stars & Stripes:

WASHINGTON — Weekend trips across the Mexican border might be a thing of the past for servicemembers stationed in the southwest.
Over the last month, military bases along the United States’ southern border have issued new rules regarding travel into Mexico, requiring their personnel to get advance written permission to make the trip.
Defense Department officials said there is no force-wide ban on vacations into Mexico by military personnel, but they noted commanders at those southwest bases have issued new restrictions on their own because of increased violence and drug activity in border towns.
Those include a number of units that have recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Marines and sailors stationed in California — at posts such as Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Twentynine Palms — and those at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona were informed of the changes over the last few weeks.
Master Sgt. Rhys Evans, spokesman for the I Marine Expeditionary Force, said the goal is to make sure Marines and sailors at those posts are aware of the situation in Mexico and have received some level of anti-terrorism travel training.
"It is important to note that this policy does not make travel to Mexico ‘off-limits,’ but it gives our commanders the necessary tools to promote safety and accountability," he said.
Since 2000 all Marines E-3 and below have been required to get permission to travel into Mexico. Now, Evans said, all personnel must get a liberty chit signed by an O-5 or higher before crossing the border.
Commanders at Fort Huachuca in Arizona issued similar restrictions in December. Angela Moncur, spokeswoman at Fort Huachuca, said so far troops there haven’t resisted the change.
"People are still coming in, getting their travel briefings and then heading out," she said. "We haven’t heard of any complaints because of this."
Commanders at Fort Bliss in Texas have designated eight Mexican border towns as off-limits to their troops, except in cases where leadership allows visits for personal or family emergencies.

ChiefB

[takthekak]

I just was making the point that this guy was from Holloman AFB, NM, far away from Fort Bliss,
TX...Even if they lay down rules for border towns, Holloman is not a border town.

[ChiefB]

Originally Posted by takthekak

I just was making the point that this guy was from Holloman AFB, NM, far away from Fort Bliss,
TX...Even if they lay down rules for border towns, Holloman is not a border town.

Sorry, old man...my post was suppose to support your position...Its up to the regional/unit commanders.

ChiefB

[kobrien22]

Originally Posted by mindtrip99x

I know this sounds mean, and I wish he was still alive, but I wouldn't pay his stupid ass.

WHY THE F would he go to one of the most dangerous cities KNOWING he wasn't supposed to, AND he's a freaking NCO.

No, no 400,000 for his family. Dummy. We lost a brother because of something stupid.

I might be wrong but I heard he was given permission to go down there because he had a sick family member in that area.

[midway]

Although I haven't been able to find the actual document, from internet searches it appears 12AF has had a policy in affect since at least Feb 09 prohibiting 12AF and subordinate unit personnel (which would include the 49FW) from traveling to a number of Mexican border towns (to include Cuidad Juarez) and the entire state of Chihuahua.

[CommunityEditor]

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A gang of gunmen killed an off-duty U.S. airman and five other people early Wednesday at a bar in the violent Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, authorities said.

Staff Sgt. David Booher, assigned to the medical unit of the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., about 90 miles north of Ciudad Juarez, was among those killed, the Air Force said.

Booher was visiting family in the area, according to base spokesman Arlan Ponder. A memorial service in Mexico is being held for him Thursday, and a separate service at Holloman is being planned, Ponder said.

Airmen from 12th Air Force, which includes Booher’s unit, have been banned from traveling to Ciudad Juarez and the rest of Mexico’s Chihuahua state since earlier this year, because of the region’s drug violence. About 1,900 people have died in drug-related killings in Ciudad Juarez this year. The city has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Soldiers from Fort Bliss, just outside El Paso, Texas, across the border from Juarez, also are barred from going to Chihuahua.

Holloman does not have any such restriction for its airmen, Ponder said. Some Holloman units are not part of 12th Air Force.

Four other men were killed outside an elementary school in another part of town Wednesday, raising to 30 the number of homicides in Ciudad Juarez in just four days.

There was no immediate information on a motive for the early morning attack at the Amadeus bar, which also left a seventh person wounded, said Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state. But the methods bore the hallmarks of attacks by drug cartels.

Prosecutors later said four men were found dead outside the rear perimeter wall of the Pedro E. Medina Gonzalez primary school in another part of the city. Classes were in session at the time.

The wall, which abuts the school’s playing fields, was pockmarked by bullets. A sign posted on the government-run school’s entrance said classes were suspended for security reasons.

Elsewhere, the new police chief of San Pedro Garza Garcia, one of Mexico’s most affluent cities, vowed to fire corrupt cops. In an interview with El Norte newspaper, Gonzalo Adalid also promised to create incentives for loyalty so police “will not have to ask for a cent from anyone.”

Last month, soldiers detained 20 police officers from San Pedro, a suburb of the northern city of Monterrey for allegedly collaborating with the Beltran Levya drug cartel.

President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged that corruption permeates Mexican police at all levels. He has deployed tens of thousands of army soldiers and federal police across the country to lead the battle against cartels.


Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/20...lling_110509w/

[HawaiianTSgt]

I am @ Holloman. There has been a restriction since Feb 2009. Lot's of speculation, not a whole lot of details for the public to nit pick on.

Based on info we've heard, I think they're NOT getting any money.

[Silver Fox]

Originally Posted by mocitytx1

I thought Ciudad Juarez was off limits for servicemembers??

Haha that doesn't mean it stops anyone.