Newsday 4-8-03
From Dionne Searcey, the embedded reporter with 1-22
U.S. Soldier Held After Alleged Threat
By Dionne Searcey
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
April 8, 2003
Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait - Pvt. Steven Mann sat handcuffed and under armed guard inside a tan Army tent that ruffled in the wind yesterday evening as the members of his infantry unit prepared to enter Iraq.
Military officials detained Mann, 23, of the Bronx, earlier in the day after he allegedly threatened to kill a sergeant. The incident - not Mann's first, officers said - convinced his commander that he was unprepared for the pressures of war.
Mann is expected to be sent to Fort Hood, Texas, in the next few days, and he could face a court-martial.
Reaction to his combative behavior was swift and decisive, and with good reason. On March 23, just several yards from where Mann is being held, a disgruntled Sgt. Hasan K. Akbar allegedly tossed grenades into a tent, killing two officers and wounding 14 others in the 101st Airborne Division.
Lt. Col. Mark Woempner, a commander in the 4th Infantry Division, wanted to make sure nothing like that happened again.
"I'm not taking any chances," Woempner said.
Mann has not been officially charged with a crime. As military prosecutors sort out evidence and consider formal charges, Woempner filed the proper paperwork to detain Mann.
Woempner said Mann's troubles began Sunday when he was assigned to pick up garbage on the grounds of this Army camp. Mann allegedly complained about his sergeant to another soldier, saying, "I've got live ammunition now, and the sergeant better not come near me or I'll kill him."
Then, shortly after midnight yesterday, Mann was practicing urban-combat skills with his unit and for some reason lay face down on the ground and wouldn't get up, Woempner said. A different sergeant ordered him to get up and he refused. They argued, and Mann came "face to face, real close" with the other sergeant, he said.
When he learned of both incidents early yesterday, Woempner immediately isolated Mann from his unit. It was at least the third time Mann had threatened to kill a superior, he said. Twice in recent months at Fort Hood, Mann's supervisor had taken his weapon, meted out military-sanctioned pay cuts and ordered him to psychological counseling.
Yesterday evening, Mann, still wearing his desert camouflage uniform, crossed his feet and quietly read a book in the battalion's command center. He declined to comment on details of the incident.
"I'm kinda nervous and I haven't spoken to my lawyer yet," said Mann, an Alpha Company infantryman. "I know I didn't do it and I'll just leave it in God's hands."
Any possible motivation for such actions was unclear. Akbar, a Muslim who is black, was said to have been angry about racial and religious discrimination in the Army. Both men had access to weapons and ammunition at this camp near the Iraqi border.
Woempner explained why he quickly detained Mann and is working to get him out of the Army:
"Every soldier is a lethal machine, and if you have a psycho, that much more burden is on leaders who already have big concerns," Woempner said.
As he spoke, Mann was next door reading "E.A.R.L.," a biography of DMX outlining the rapper's troubled life. The back cover said: "He fought his way through anger and loneliness and constant betrayal to ultimately find his soul."
Mann said he had a difficult childhood in the South Bronx, too, though he didn't want to elaborate. "I'm just weighing what he went through and what I went through," Mann said of the rapper.
He explained that he joined the Army two years ago "to start a new life and see something interesting." And with that, he returned to his book.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.