Special Forces accused of beating up man at Elizabeth City (NC) topless bar

[sabra]

Source: wtkr

Elizabeth City, N.C. - Police say six Army Special Forces solders beat up a man at a topless bar in Elizabeth City, sending him to the emergency room with a fractured skull

Travis Howard never expected to be in the emergency room after a night out on the town with his son Devan.

They were celebrating Devan's 21st birthday at Headlights topless bar in Elizabeth City early Wednesday morning.

Travis says he was sitting alone at a table when out of nowhere, some soldiers in the Special Forces command out of Fort Bragg attacked him, fracturing his skull in four places

"I can remember feeling 2 punches but then my eyes were swelling shut … I don't remember actually seeing a whole lot after that. I went to the ground with my hands to my face and had my hands covering my face and was trying to protect what I had left."

Six soldiers are charged with assault causing serious injury. A spokesman for the Army Special Forces Command out of Fort Bragg says they had just completed training at Blackwater, also known as Xe in Moyock. One of the soldier's stories is that Howard said something to them in the bathroom. Howard denies this.

Read more: http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-special-forces-bar-beating,0,5732950.story

[Soylent Brice]

1. *sigh*

[tinymontgomery]

2. I guess they didn't want that training that Xe

I guess they didn't want that training that Xe gave them to go to waste. Guess they needed the practice before they deployed.

[Bitwit1234]

41. Some training...Six men to jump on one guy

hate to see them in real combat. If it takes that many to go after one person what in the hell kind of training is that.

[midnight]

3. Those guys looked old to be training as blackwater soldiers.

[CurtEastPoint]

6. Nice guys.

[mopinko]

10. why do i get the feeling

that every one of these alleged assholes has a criminal record already?

[awnobles]

20. Haircuts

look a little long, must be "contractors" working "undercover" or spooks.

[Arctic Dave]

25. My thought too. They look like they are not supposed to look "military".

Maybe they are going to work for the peace corp or something.

[arbusto_baboso]

22. These guys are NOT SF. Trust me on this.

There's a certain look to SF soldiers. They ain't it.

They're just some scum that Blackwater is training for their "special ops" which amount to US government sanctioned thuggery.

So, please lets stop calling them special forces soldiers. They're fucking mercenaries, plain and simple. Either that, or the Army has really, profoundly let its standards drop.

[TexasObserver]

26. Agreed. These guys are not special forces. They look like mercs.

They're not in good enough shape to be Special Forces.

These are SF wannabees.

[Lasher]

28. Nothing in the news so far except this one story.

Give it a day, maybe somebody will clear it up. I thought one in particular looked too old to be able to make it through SF training. But the article didn't say it was basic training or anything like that. They could have been learning how to type.

I wonder if Blackwater is training our actual soldiers. It's insane how much we've outsourced so much to the private sector. Wingnuts are never happy with government spending unless the money can be filtered through a rich man's pocket.

[Robb]

34. Huh? There are several stories. Names and ages, too.

Here's one: http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/soldiers-charged-assault-20119

[bitchkitty]

37. Thank you. n/t

[unc70]

38. Later post cites Bragg spokesman confirming.

Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could get your ass kicked in most bars late at night most anywhere, certainly the case in all of NC. Doesn't need to involve anyone with connections to the military. Bragg spokesman confirms these guys were SF; almost no looks good in their mugshot.

To make the local news in NC (or Norfolk VA area), it has to be a rather bad bar fight. There are a lot of fights in and around the bases in NC, was that way in the 1960's when I was growing up near several bases. Saw quite a number of fights, learned a few rules of survival:

Keep your mouth shut. Don't argue with drunks, no matter how wrong or insulting; nothing they say is worth a beating or jail; walk away, but not outside; it's not your job to stop a fight, get professional security or the police; let women deal with men saying or acting inapproriately around them -- a man in public rarely throws the first punch against a woman, unless she is or was his wife or girlfriend, in which case get security or police immediately.

It seems likely to me that the son or his friend said or did something provacative to one SF that other SFs had intervened and later the went over to Howard to "convey" what had happened and what been done if this happened again, probably not holding back in their choice of words. Maybe a problem "accepting criticism gracefully". Just guessing. Video should clear things up.

[tinymontgomery]

39. Your third paragraph is perfect

on how to act in a bar.

[Pavulon]

49. Those guys dont look like Rangers, even old Rangers..

or any other Special Forces types (army or otherwise)I met. Other than that, color me surprised some guys off duty got into a fight at a titty bar. That's a surprise.

[pattmarty]

4. Unfortunately this is the end result of "trickle down" cruelty................

........Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Afghanistan and "black" sites make it fucking okay to just beat the fuck out of anybody. It's happening in our jails right this fucking minute for anyone that actually gives a fuck.

[midnight]

31. True.

[Mojorabbit]

5. On a tangent,

who takes their boy to a topless club for his 21st birthday?

[tsstranger]

8. Oh good,,,,,

,,,blame the victim.

[Mojorabbit]

14. No even close

so please don't go there. I think it is creepy, that's all.

[jberryhill]

9. They gave him a choice between that and Chuck E. Cheese /nt

[Scurrilous]

33. LOL

:thumbsup:

[Heywood J]

12. I got taken out to a bar when I turned 19 (drinking age at home).

Personally, having either of my parents take me to a topless bar would be a bit cringe-worthy, but I've known people for whom this wouldn't be unthinkable and I wouldn't be surprised to hear it.

[Mojorabbit]

15. The drinking age was 18 when I was growing up

and going out with my parents when I hit that age was not on the top of the list of things I wanted to do.
I am not surprised people do this. I just think it is creepy.

[paulsby]

19. it's awesome

a man, his son, and some boobs.

unfortunately, when you add in a skull fracture, it's not so awesome

"leave the skull fracture, take the boobs"

[WileEcoyote]

16. It's North Carolina

Upon entering please set watch back fifty years.

Coming to think of it, my own son's 21st birthday is coming up. I will give him a hundred bucks in poker chips. Either that or a new baseball glove.

[AlbertCat]

21. Upon entering please set watch back fifty years.

As a person who lives in NC, I sorta disagree. It really depends on where you are entering. If it's the swamps of Elizabeth City, you may need to set your watch back further. But not so everywhere. NC is a skizoid state. Xe, or whatever they're calling themselves these days, is an embarrassment and I wish would move....actaually disolve. Whatever happened to the head guy....wasn't he in court for all kinds of creepy stuff?

Erik Prince.... from Michigan, not NC. Where is he now?

[formercia]

23. I used to be stationed there

We used to train JSOC folks near the Blackwater facility. I guess they closed down the base and privatized the operation.

[struggle4progress]

40. I'll guess you don't know NC very well. The Western part is more

conservative usually than the Eastern part. Obama carried NC in 08, the first time a Dem has won the Presidential ticket here since the Carter era. Our Congressional delegation is typically split, with the Dems currently a bit ahead. Dems currently hold the General Assembly and top state offices. The Triangle probably has the highest per capita concentration of PhDs of any part of the country and votes reliably blue

[pecwae]

45. No he doesn't know NC well.

But, this proved as marvelous a time as any to do a bit of South bashing.

[daleo]

29. Oh noes!

Dad let him see boobies and he's only 21!

[Mojorabbit]

30. If he hasn't seen boobies

by the aqe 21, well....
I was showing mine by the time I was 15 but that was back in the 70's. Maybe kids are more prudish these days. :)

[midnight]

32. That came to my mind too?

[TorchTheWitch]

35. you have noooooooooooo idea!

See that all the time. Oddly enough, at this club you only have to be 18 to get in. At least he didn't take his son for his 18th birthday (although that happens at the under 18 BYOB places all the time, too).

[tsstranger]

7. So,,,,

,,,,they say the guy "said something" in the bathroom. They then decide that it takes six highly trained killers to fuck this guy up?

I support our military but these SF assholes are nothing more than chickenshit punks.

[Heywood J]

13. Exactly. Six guys and not one was sober/sane enough to ignore

something that might have been said. It doesn't matter whether he said something in the can or not. Shattering someone's skull means you intended to kill or maim them. It's among the strongest bones in the body.

[Robb]

11. Sounds like the son's friend might've had a hand in it, too

...Sadly the only one not in the fight (bouncer) didn't see who threw the first punch: http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/soldiers-charged-assault-20119

[november3rd]

17. So, Howard had it coming?

One of the soldier's stories is that Howard said something to them in the bathroom.

Oh. That's different, then. Nobody's allowed to say anything to an American soldier in a strip club bathroom without risking a skull fracture and ER trip. That's fair. Everybody knows that.

What's that about land of the free and home of the brave?

Yipe.

[whatsthebuzz]

18. Why in the hell was Blackwater training Army Special Forces?

Very strange to me. I personally knew lots of people in the 5th SFG at Ft. Campbell (just friends; I wasn't in the Army myself) and they were some of the nicest and most professional soldiers out there. But I guess Blackwater (made up of people who used to be in Special Forces, from what I've heard) is now doing the training. That just seems so odd to me.

[EFerrari]

42. I don't know if you can call them a CIA front but Prince is or was

a CIA asset.

[defendandprotect]

24. The most brutal and violent army we've ever raised . . . and Bloodwater even worse!

[KansDem]

27. Maybe their motto should be: "We beat them up here so we won't have to beat them up over there."

Great! Now when I go out on the town I have to worry about saying the wrong thing to some hyped-up Blackwater-trained merc!

[TorchTheWitch]

36. roll out the club video tape

There is no square inch of any bar these days that's not covered by video cameras particularly go-go bars. Some of them even have them in the public restrooms illegally.

[EFerrari]

43. Video won't load.

[No Elephants]

44. Five trained members of special forces to beat up one just 21year old kid,

and the kid's still alive?


Seriously, how "special" could these cretins possibly be? No wonder we can't get out of Iraq.

[boppers]

46. Spotless record FAIL.

You can't get in if you already have a mugshot. They're done.

[toopers]

47. In most cases I do not believe in "an eye for an eye" type of . . .

punishment. However, in this case "tit for tat" definitely seems appropriate!

[Lagomorph]

48. When out of nowhere...

I find that a bit silly. It's almost never "out of nowhere".

They're still thugs and need to cool off in a cell.