The next day, he was indicted on two felony charges: harboring an escapee and maintaining a vehicle or dwelling place to manufacture a controlled substance. He wore camouflage but sat in a cubicle. Fort Bragg is the largest military base in the U.S. and the command post for the Armys most elite units, such as Delta Force and the Green Berets, which have borne a disproportionate burden of Americas never-ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, undergoing not just combat trauma and moral injury but a lot of traumatic brain injuries as well. In the bed of the truck and on the ground beside it were two dead men. Its real strange, says Bill Lavigne Sr., father of the slain Delta Force soldier, that something like this can go on at Fort Bragg, and nobody seems to know nothing. You would not believe how many people I have reached out to. Lloyd Austin, citing, Senators Press Pentagon for Answers on Rash of Overdose Deaths, Pentagon Finally Stops Hiding Military Overdose Epidemic, These Kids Are Dying Inside the Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg, DeSantis Disney Appointee Said Tap Water Might Be Turning People Gay, He Believes Hitler Went to Heaven and Wants to Take Over the Lutheran Church, Trump, Jan. 6 Prisoners Collaborate on Cringe, Alex Murdaugh Juror Says Cellphone Video, 'Big Liar' Testimony Led to Guilty Verdict, The National Stay Up Late to Perform 'Tropic Morning News' on Fallon, David Lindley, Multi-Instrumentalist Who Shaped the Sound of Soft Rock, Dead at 78, How Deem Spencer Learned to be Vulnerable on His New Album adultSW!M. Receive Daily Banned News StoriesTHEY Don't Want You to Know! One of the largest military installations in the world, Fort Bragg is home to approximately 54,000 military personnel and includes the Special Forces, the Airborne Corps, and the Joint Special Operations Command. He would leave his phone and wallet for sure, but not his glasses. He tells me I should go smoke in the back because theres going to be a shooting.. El tipo que peg el tiro aqu, she says, pointing to a small black hole in the wall: The guy who fired a shot through here., The other woman, whom Ill call Estella, tells me the story in English. Drugs were in involved in the deaths of Joshua Diamon and Matthew Disney. Fort Bragg cannot explain why dozens of soldiers are dying in their own bunks. She used to rent a house from him in Carthage, another little town on the periphery of Fort Bragg. Could there be a serious drug problem going on at Fort Bragg? We have not ruled anything in or out as the investigation continues.. He was a very hostile individual. Lavignes death.. He changed dramatically in a short period of time, says his father, who came from Michigan to stay with him after the shooting. Congress has finally taken notice of an unprecedented wave of fatalities at Fort Bragg, some 17 months after Rolling Stone first brought attention to an apparent drug crisis at the base. This data emerged amid increasing awareness of rising rates of drug use notably of cocaine and steroids in the Special Operations Forces. *Weve adopted it as such, its not ours. Fort Bragg Advocate-News obituaries and Death Notices for Fort Bragg California area . The next day around 7 p.m., one of the campers called 911. He was taken home that same night by some of his Delta Force teammates. The sheriffs office refused to share a full investigative report on the incident with the Leshikar family, which, Swain says, is department policy. | According to officials, 33 of the fatalities are of undetermined causes. . They all knew Billy., Laura echoes Nicoles account when I speak to her separately. Get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers in memory of a loved one in Fort Bragg, California. Over the past 20 years of continuous war, from the snowy passes of the Hindu Kush to the desert scrublands of Somalia, JSOCs budget and autonomy have continuously grown, and so has the scope of its mission. Billy Lavigne joined the Army right out of high school, in February 2001, to get free corrective eye surgery and money for a new dirt bike. Col. Kara Soules, a press officer for JSOC, also did not respond to questions. That was the only drug he was for; everything else he was against. When a friend or babysitter could be found to look after the kids, the group of five parents, all in their mid-thirties, went out on the town in Fayetteville. His father didnt always know where he was in those days. In just18 months, Fort Bragg lost over 80 soldiers from sudden and unexplained causes. Search Fort Bragg obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. They do what they want.. He was repeatedly arrested for possession of untaxed liquor, failure to return rented property, and permitting a minor to consume alcohol. At bars like ODonnells Pub in Southern Pines, they are easily identified by their signature off-duty style, which incorporates elements of biker culture, and is characterized by beards, tattoos, muscles, sun-faded baseball caps with tattered brims, and concealed handguns. A small boy about waist high is dancing next to a laundry hamper to music from the television. The DMED is the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branchs web-based tool to remotely query de-identified active component personnel and medical event data contained within the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS).. With multiple police pistols pointed at him and officers shouting at him to drop the gun, Lewis raised his weapon and shot himself in the forehead. Their deaths came despite an effort that spent. The man on the ground, who had been dropped by a single bullet to the right temple, was 44-year-old Timothy Dumas. He called me and said, Mom, Ive got a gun to my head. Click a Banner Below to Get Started, ~Everything on this site should be considered as entertainment ONLY, nothing else!~. Her brother was the same way. Its the last thing we spoke about.. Image in illustration by Alamy. He was two years younger than Lavigne and had recently completed Special Forces selection, a rugged, punishing Fort Bragg program known as the Q-course. The Navy SEALs have been seared by repeated scandals in recent years, but until Lavignes mysterious death in December, Delta Force had been spared accusations of drug use in its ranks. What followed has never been adequately explained. In this one, he is sitting in what looks to be a restaurant booth, dressed in a gray vest and a purple dress shirt. It was his last hoorah, says Nicole, who spoke to her brother for a final time on St. Patricks Day. In addition to Rolling Stones investigation of Fort Bragg, the senators letter to Secretary Austin cited a number of other alarming reports, including: evidence of rising overdose deaths among veterans and in military hospitals; an incident in March of this year in which five West Point cadets nearly died from taking fentanyl-laced cocaine; and the June 2021 death of Pfc. Fort Bragg lost over 80 soldiers from sudden and unexplained causes, and stopped reporting on the deaths after June 2021, Atty. CID rejects any notion that anything but a complete and unbiased investigation was conducted, Grey says. In late May, a 21-year-old enlisted man from California was killed beheaded, in fact while on a camping trip with six of his fellow paratroopers; once again, no arrests have been made in the case. He never responded again., UPDATE: After this story went to press, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesperson gave this statement to Rolling Stone regarding how the command handled Billy Lavignes legal trouble: Due to his length of service, Master Sgt. On Friday night, there was a thunderstorm. She and her whole family had gone into the back bedroom to hide. I have to prove that he was not in his right mind, she says. Army authorities wont disclose the total number of soldiers stationed there who died in 2020, but Lavigne was one of a spate of homicides and suicides that brought the tally up to at least 44, pushing Fort Bragg to a decisive first-place finish in a race no one wanted to win. Weve been looking for him all day. Sens. According to officials, 33 of the fatalities are of undetermined causes. Hearing her father call her name, she went and let him inside. The two were found dead on the same day in June 2021, just two weeks after airborne master sergeant Martin Acevedo III was caught trafficking cocaine. Lavigne himself turned up dead a few years later, shot in the chest and left in the back of his own truck. I hurt Sarah, and my career is ruined. I talked to him for a long time. On several occasions, various people at Fort Bragg have offered to sell him tabs, Romero says, including the soldier from the camping trip. One day in late November, she says, she was working on a customers car when she turned around and there was Billy, wearing a black ski mask and carrying a crossbow. The Alcoholic Suffers by Mrs. Marty Mann, Executive Director, National Council on Alcoholism, New York via Billy W. Old School Addict and Hope Dealer! Video NA Speaker Get ready for Tucker: Pfizer Tapes, Mutating Viruses For Profit, Director Assaults O'Keefe (Videos). It continues, "The deaths and non-fatal overdoses at Fort Bragg, Fort Bliss, West Point, and in states with high military populations like Alaska, . Billy joined Special Forces in 2006, became a Green Beret, and over the next decade averaged about one deployment a year. Asia Graham, a Fort Bliss soldier who died of an overdose of fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoids after she reported being sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier. Shipping Policy Matthew Disney, 20, were found dead in their barracks room on Friday in a suspected illegal drugs overdose. What role do these bioweapon shots have on the number of unexpected and undetermined deaths? They were joined by Lavigne, the girls godfather, whom she called Uncle Billy, and his daughter, who was like a younger cousin to her. Many of the issues are directly related to the covid-19 vaccines, including Bells palsy, myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolisms and neurological disorders. Army vet Timothy Dumas, 44, was found shot and killed alongside Lavigne. A soulless expression would come over him, like he was looking through you, when he got to drinking, Nicole says. Sparks, Ruth Fort Bragg, CA . Sept. 26, 2022. And he fell down on the ground and Uncle Billy kept shooting him. Fentanyl Involvement as a Proportion of Deaths Across Substance Groups, 2017-2021. Macho as Leshikar might have been, when his little girl told him that he had to wear a dress to attend her tea party, he didnt argue. Enrique was blind as fuck without his glasses, Romero says. He was the oddity amongst the special-forces guys I was introduced to., In the one picture of Lavigne that exists in the public domain, his official Army portrait, his head looks like a white egg, and his face has the pale and drawn appearance of a man who has just shorn off a beard and shaved his scalp to the skin. They say get a lawyer., I just dont know whats going on with our military right now, says Mabey. At age 37, William Billy Lavigne II was a true Tier 1 operator, a master sergeant on the Armys most selective and clandestine task force. Thirteen killed themselves. Nor would the base discuss the perplexing incidence of young men turning up unresponsive in their bunks, such as 19-year-old Caleb Smither, whose body was so decomposed when they found him that he couldnt have an open-casket funeral. He was trying to get into Buddhism. And Rolling Stone covers a "staggering" number of soldier overdose deaths in Fort Bragg. Latner, David Arno Fort Bragg, CA . Shes not the only military family member who wants answers. Could these deaths indicate a surge in suicides and overdoses? Enrique Roman-Martinez of Fort Braggs 82nd Airborne Division was beheaded during a camping trip with six other soldiers. But in each case, the charges were dismissed. Find service information, send flowers, and leave memories and thoughts in the Guestbook for your loved one. Other operators that were there. To hear that such a high-powered group of senators had taken up the cause was very encouraging. Just because it was dismissed doesnt mean it didnt happen, says Ballard, who believes that military personnel are given special treatment within the criminal-justice system in the counties around Fort Bragg. Personnel numbers are also kept secret, but two years ago, a retired Delta Force colonel, a veteran of the Iraq War, told me that the unit is made up of about 250 operators, plus another 2,000 support troops. On February 9, 2022, Seth reported the death of 83 soldiers at Fort Bragg in the 18 months ending in June 2021. Updated: Mar 26, 2022 / 11:17 PM EDT. Finally, one womans face lights up. Lavigne was transported downtown, but did not remain long in the police station. She and her husband, a Navy submariner, were moving to North Carolina, and stayed for a time at Leshikars apartment.