The U.S. military didn't shoot him in the head. It was "U.S. coalition forces" who did the deed

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1171378298187770.xml&coll=9

Facts sketchy in Iraq death

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
DEAN BOHN
THE SAGINAW NEWS

The remains of Donald E. Tolfree Jr. have returned to Chesaning.

However, the facts surrounding his death are still trying to catch up with him.

"The facts are sketchy," regarding Tolfree's death in Iraq, Greenfelder said. snip

While Associated Press and KBR reports indicate Tolfree drove his tractor truck from Camp Anaconda north of Baghdad -- only to pull out of the convoy and return to the checkpoint where he died from a gunshot wound to the head -- the Associated Press reported that members of the U.S. military shot him. Greenfelder said KBR told Tolfree's daughter, Kristen A. Martin, that members of the "U.S. coalition forces" did it.

Greenfelder said Tolfree suffered "severe head trauma."

[Mortos]

1. From my experience in Iraq

it sounds like the guy, who had only been there a month, got scared or just figured the danger wasn't worth it and turned around and went back to a checkpoint. It was not uncommon for KBR folks, especially truck drivers to quit within days, sometimes hours of arriving.

If this guy decided he wasn't going to drive on a mission, he would be strongly pressured to do "just this one" and if he decided to turn around mid convoy after it left a base, he would be on his own. The convoy commander should have notified somebody that he pulled out of the convoy but communication is sometimes impossible if the convoy is too far away from the point of origin. The civilian employees can only "talk" to the military convoy escorts.

The convoy would absolutely leave someone behind and without protection, the trucker would be on his own and an easy target so I am sure he was hauling ass.

The trucker I met over there were stressed out, over-worked and usually functioning on 4-5 hours of sleep per day. They were totally in violation of the rules that KBR set up to provide safety guidelines. They were supposed to get 8 hours of sleep in every 24 hour period, the ones I talked to laughed at that. I witnessed a near rebellion by TCN drivers (that is third country nationals) who were pissed off about how little sleep they were getting and how much driving they were doing. The KBR safety officer at the camp I was at bullied these guys into continuing. The KBR security representative did the same thing. There are no rules for truck drivers other than deliver your load no matter what and get ready to move again.

It is a shitty job and they are having trouble getting Americans to do it which is why the ratio of U.S. drivers to TCN is progressively leaning towards the TCN. When I first got there they used 15 U.S. drivers to 5 TCN's. When I left it was 15 TCN's to 5 U.S. The TCN drivers benefit KBR in two ways, they are cheap and no one raises a fuss (or even seems to notice) when they get killed.

I feel sorry for these guys that go over there and are totally hung out to dry by KBR in the name of profits. Most of the people I knew who worked for KBR were lower middle class folks who were just trying to make some money to get them out of debt, or pay bills.

There are a lot of people here who have no sympathy for these guys because they consider them mercenaries. They are not. They are the same people that corporations take advantage of all the time to make profits on their labor, the working class.

I hope we hear what happened in this case and it puts the spotlight on KBR's dangerous policies. Maybe an congressional investigation is in order.

[Jonathan50]

2. Thanks for the insight

And thanks for your service