Fox News reports some of the details from the shooting of four airmen at Terminal 2 at Frankfurt, Germany’s airport by a terrorist gunman from Kosovo;
When he saw the bus clearly marked as U.S. Airforce parked outside Terminal 2, he approached an airman outside and, under the pretext of asking for a cigarette, asked if the servicemen were on their way to Afghanistan.
“When he said yes, he shot the 25-year-old serviceman from behind in the head,” Griesbaum said.
Uka then stormed onto the bus carrying 15 other airmen, yelling “Allah Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and shot the driver in the head, killing him as well, Griesbaum said.
He then shot a 25-year-old airman who was sitting on the bus twice, and then turned his gun on another airman, 21 and fired once, injuring both of them, Griesbaum said.
“Then he tried to shoot a 22-year-old,” Griesbaum said. “He pointed his pistol at his head and pulled the trigger twice, but the pistol jammed and no shots came out.”
Even though there were still six shots in the magazine, the jam prevented any further firing and Uka fled the bus.
Stars & Stripes names 3 of the the victims;
* Senior Airman Nicholas Alden, 25, of Williamston, S.C., assigned to the 48th Security Forces Squadron at RAF Lakenheath in Britain.
* Airman 1st Class Zachary Cuddeback, 21, of Stanardsville, Va., the bus driver, assigned to the 86th Vehicle Readiness Squadron at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base.Staff Sgt. Kristoffer Schneider, 25, of Irwin, Pa., was wounded and is in stable condition at a German hospital, according to his father, Kenneth Schneider, who talked to Stars and Stripes on Thursday.
The fourth victim has not been named.
Nothing says unarmed US troops like a Blue Bird bus in Germany, and Stars & Stripes discusses that with the troops;
“I can’t believe they would send the guys out like that, on a marked bus, make them stick out like a sore thumb, make them targets,” said Kenneth Schneider, the father of one of the wounded airmen, Air Force Staff Sgt. Kristoffer Schneider, 25. “If they’re going to do that, at least let them be armed. Give them a fighting chance.”
Unarmed troops? Hell, what else is new. Best target there is in a non-combat area. Even the dimmest of bulbs knows that we don’t let our troops have the tools of their trade. No different than ICE, (spell that law-enforcement), agents in Mexico chasing those armed better than the Meskin Army, without weaponry. How damned stupid!
Unfortunately, this cannot be laid at the feet of Obumbler, it is congress who would have the right to arm in self-defense while legislating that the biggest of targets are not armed.
I could go on……….
The German government has already called this a terrorist attack, but Obumbles? Not so much.
Asshat.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: “And the fact, when the president came out yesterday and spoke about this, he talked about it as if it was like it was a bus accident, it was a tragedy, It is incomprehensible why he cannot even say out loud this could have been a jihadist attack, part of the war on terror. This was attack on military abroad, an attack on our country, an act of war by a terrorist enemy and if a president can’t speak to that, what does it say against moderate Muslims around the world against jihad and here a president that won’t speak the truth about it? It is demoralizing.
Couldn’t put it better……
Weren’t we in Kosovo helping Muslims? No good deed goes unpunished…fuck ’em…
We knew the thought pattern of this President, concerning terrorist attacks, after Ft. Hood and Little Rock. It’s no surprise then that he doesn’t consider this a terror attack at all. However, he threw the full weight of the federal government behind security for abortion doctors and clinics after a nutbar shot an abortion doctor in church. He didn’t say a word about the murder of an anti-abortion protestor that was shot dead by an abortion advocate in Michigan a few months later, though.
Interesting that he didn’t release the full weight of the federal government for security of our recruiters and recruiting stations after Little Rock; right?
I don’t want to hear anything from any of his supporters that Bobo gives a rats ass about our military. Actions speak louder than words and he has spoken loud and clear with his actions.
This isn’t new stuff. I am old enough to remember the Baader-Meinhof and Red Army Faction attacks in Germany. It’s utterly criminal that servicemen and women are still being ferried around in those blue bird buses most of us remember.
Matter of fact, it is probably the very same buses many of us used a long time ago.
Dumbo can’t say jihad, jihadist or terrorist because we ignorantasses associate those wods with Muslim. ‘Nuff said?
Alden was from SC, my home. His mother just moved from Willianston to Iva (SC) and was called and told by her ex-husband what had happened.
All the airmen were in civilian clothes. His wife, Trish, and 3y/o daughter and 1y/o son are living in England. Alden had already been in Iraq and he and the others on the bus had been training in Germany for Afghanistan.
Well, when your typing finger is faster than your brain you spell “words” “wods”.Sorry.
These guys were security forces. Why were they unarmed?
The bad guys do their homework. Believe it or not military personal are a soft target provided you gain access to them. This attack occurred outside of the installation, but just like the Ft Hood shooting showed, GI’s don’t go walking around with weapons when not in a combat zone. All you need is access which should make all military security personnel even more aware of the importance of their job and it ain’t all handing out speeding tickets during PT hours.
Europe is starting to see more of this. I have a friend from Sweden who told me there were areas in her own country that she didn’t dare go if she didn’t want to be beaten by muslims. It looks like Germany is starting to have problems, also.
this is inexcusable…its time to arm our soldiers and airmen for their own defense when not in a combat zone, most people have no understanding of the fact we are totally defenseless against these types of random attacks when not armed…i remember going on leave and being driven around in a bus on the way to the airport in kuwait, and feeling totally naked, we were and are a soft, easily hit target there and elsewhere
David, David, David; don’t you know that soldiers are very dangerous when they’re armed? You guys can’t be trusted when you’re armed. The police are highly trained and you’re not, so it stands to reason that it’s ok for them to be armed, but not you.
please note the sarcasm in my post.
Back in the eighties, the Marine Corps stopped requiring Marines to travel in uniform; now they are often fobidden from doing so, precisely to avoid painting a big target on their backs. It still grates on my nerves when I see Soldiers and Airmen on flights and in airports and bus stations in their uniforms. Even more so when it’s a utility uniform which for Marines is a big no-no off base. Have we learned nothing about force protection since 1983 when 241 Marines, Soldiers and Sailors paid for those lessons with their own blood in Beirut?
Most Soldiers I know don’t fly in uniform, the only ones I’ve seen recently are those who are on leave from initial entry training. The Army has changed a bit since I joined; for Exodus in ’01 we had to wear “A”s, now IET Soldiers come home in ACUs. I think it is a stupid policy, but I can see why the Drill Sergeants would want to be able to pick out their trainees at the airport. Shaved heads and uniforms are hard to hide.
As for stupidity, as much as I love the history and esprit de corps of the 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade 101st had the most asinine policy I can think of back in ’03. We had a battalion pulling security at Mosul (formerly Saddam) Dam and used it as a Brigade R&R spot (for us lucky Soldiers who did not get leave or a trip to Qatar). The trip from Tal Afar to the dam was about two hours on locally contracted (read: ragged) buses and we were not permitted to carry our weapons with us. The A/C and pool wasn’t bad, but on my second an final trip the innovative enemy introduced us to a new concept: the IED (remember, this was Northern Iraq in around August 2003, hardly an enemy stronghold). Fortunately, the IED was detonated between my bus and the one following us, but besides the gun trucks we had exactly one M9 which my squad leader had the foresight to borrow from the platoon medic.
On recruiting duty, we sometimes find ourselves in bad areas and the uniform makes us stand out. We drive late-model vehicles, usually carry laptops with sensitive information, and I learned from the bums in DC that civilians tend to know that we have guaranteed pay, especially at the start of the month. One of my comrades somehow found a loophole in the regulation that permitted him to carry; within a week of command finding out a new message came down from Fort Knox clarifying the policy. Situational awareness is the watchword, but sometimes that is not enough. I’d feel much better with even the little .32 in my pocket.
Rode the blue bus once upon a time from Frankfurt to Spang and back. My son is in Afghanistan fighting for the red, white and blue. He came home for the holidays an wore his class A’s on the flight back from the Stan. When he showed up on my doorstep he had no civilian clothes and spent over $300.00 the next day purchasing civies to go around town. The day he left(Christmas morning)I drove him to the airport in his class A’s because he wasn’t allowed any casual clothes in Afghanistan. Sorry to say the bullshit rules haven’t changed much in 20 years despite the war.
As an officer and a pilot I would have been in deep kimchee for wearing my utility uniform (flight suit) in 1986 during TDY travel, but in 2011 my son would be in trouble for not wearing his class A’s. The day my son left I looked at him and said “Do you hear me now”, I think he finally got it.
Can’t see an easy fix. The military sets the uniform requirements for travel, but they can’t provide security worldwide. In a blue bus, or in class A’s in a taxi, US servicemen are always a target.
When I was flying missions over Bosnia I was issued a UN passport in case I was shot down. It said I was a UN “Expert on mission”. That passport only worked with the Bosnians not with the Serbians.
Bottom line is US servicemen are always a target, and its not feasible to keep their movements a secret, so invariably they can become targets. I felt like one on a flight to Turkey in 1989 and I’m sure my son felt like one on a flight to Afghanistan in 2011 but I’m not sure the military can do anything to decrease the threat other than assigning bodyguards to each traveler.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d assign a bodyguard to every soldier redeploying and would happily volunteer and carry my own weapons (3×9 Scoped 30.06, Beretta 9MM, Gerber MK II Double bladed boot knife (pilot special)). However, I fear that my son and yours will take the same chances we did, and hopefully will survive to opine and bitch about the stupidity of their leaders.
P.S. The last line doesn’t apply to me since I served under the “Gipper”.
I would like to see Purple Hearts awarded. I would also like to see service members permitted to carry side-arms (condition 3) if they have qualified “Expert”. While in NATO countries, the U.S. should insist upon an armed local (police/military) escort.
We didn’t do anything when they went after the recruiting station, we didn’t do anything when the went after the bases, we didn’t do anything when they went after our soldiers preparing to deploy……so we will likely do nothing now that they are going after us in NATO countries.
This policy of keeping US troops disarmed is insanity. When I was in the AF Reserve (Loadmaster), we were armed with M9’s but they had to be turned into the armory where ever we landed at. So when we’d go downtown for crew-rest (Kuwait and Jordan to name a few), we were totally unarmed. I said (to myself) fuck that and started taking my personal Glock with me, unbeknownst to most of the rest of the crew. Obviously that’s in violation of many rules, but saying how we traveled through the same intersection in Kuwait that an American contractor was murdered at three hours earlier, I figured I’d take my chances.