A Military Family Treated Shabbily — a Demand for Accountability

by Hal Donahue, veteran and political activist

Our fallen warriors’ families should NEVER need a United States senator to find out how their loved one died. Yet, one did. Thank you, Senator Bob Casey for stepping in when no one else would to help an anguished mother and her family learn how her son died. Another thank you for exposing the weakness and decay developing in the military.

On January 2, 2008, Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated Army ranger and a valuable national resource, stepped into the community shower of his Iraq building. Perhaps looking forward to a relaxing shower, young Maseth reached out to turn on the water and died, a victim of electrocution.

According to a CNN Special Investigations Unit story by Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein from attorney statements, when fellow soldiers kicked down the door, they smelled burning hair, and they rushed over, saw Sgt. Maseth lying there unconscious, and one of the rescuers himself was shocked electrically and sustained a fairly good jolt because the water and the pipes were still electrified. The next day, Cheryl Harris, a mother with three sons serving in Iraq, was informed of his death.. She had feared such news might come one day. An article shortly after his death demonstrates clearly both the anguish of Sergant Maseth’s family and a bit about the man.

"I did ask exactly, ‘How did Ryan die? What happened to him?’ And he had told me that Ryan was electrocuted," Ms Harris said. That was not the full story and after misleading statements, a US Senator, Robert Casey, D PA, was needed to uncover the complete answer to that question. What developed was a story of military officers betraying their troops; DOD civilians protecting private contractors rather than soldiers and very likely negligent homicide.

Now, I know the public has visions of soldiers dying "taking the hill" or "sweeping the skies in sleek fighters" but reality can be so horribly different, mundane even. Roads, of necessity, swept too quickly and soldiers die. A soldier on routine patrol takes off their helmet to wipe the sweat from brow and a sniper takes that moment to put a round through the soldier’s skull. A soldier uses a latrine at a "safe" base and a stray round takes the soldier’s life. These things happen. The US military was the leader in controlling these types of loses.

Because, emotional and family feelings aside, the loss of Sgt Maseth hurt US military capability and reduced our ability to fight the Iraq war. This is the real bottom-line. This is one of the major reasons why we have Red Flag and Top Gun etc; so we can learn to prevent these losses in the confusion of actual war. Things appear to have changed. 

---

Hal Donahue is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force. He served throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East, on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and with the British Royal Air Force. Following retirement, Mr. Donahue was employed as a vice president of several major energy companies. Mr. Donahue has served as a member of the board for several corporate and not for profit organizations. He now to devotes his time to assisting military veterans and working to elect veterans and supporters to all levels of political office. He and his wife of 40 years, Marg, reside in Scranton, PA and are the parents of three children. Mr. Donahue is a graduate of Colgate University with a BA in Economics and he received his MS in Administration from Central Michigan University.