US Army Fort Irwin

Fort Irwin visit…

Back in 1978 while working at Fort (Ft) Ord, California (CA) I was task to provide US Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) support to a detachment of Military Police (MP) from Ft McArthur CA with duty at Ft Irwin, CA. Seems the Regular Army was using Irwin as a training area for its Armored Divisions even back in those days.

From 1972 to late 1980, Irwin was used primarily as a training area by the National Guard (NG) and Army Reserve components and was controlled by the CA NG. On my arrival at Barstow, CA determined Irwin was not going to be easy to get to or a fun place since the drive to Barstow took all day and I still had 37 miles on a lonely desolate road just to get to the Irwin front gate.

As I made my way off the main high desert highway into the streets of Barstow toward Irwin a sign caught my eye, "Last Chance for Gas for Gas for Next 37 Miles". Those 37 miles seem to take forever to drive and back in those days there was nothing on or near the road, it was not just gas that was not on the road, there was nothing on the road. The views from the road were breath taking if you like sand, blue sky and that desert look.

The road to Irwin was not level, not straight, in good condition, but the scenery and the road blended together to cause mirages on each and every horizon of the road and it was impossible to judge distances based on a glance. My luck held out and my drive to the Irwin front gate was easy even though it took forever, but at least the car and I handled the 109 degree heat, five large dust storms from hell, and the three herds of giant tumble weeds that came from nowhere relatively well.

Just as I thought the sign at Barstow pointing toward Irwin was wrong (my odometer showed 31 miles) the Irwin main gate seemed to rise out of a heat bubble in the middle of the road just ahead. The gate was not visible just moments before, so how was it the main gate to Irwin just appeared in the middle of the road when I should have been able to see the gate long before I got to it?

Time seemed to freeze as my car approached the Irwin gate which was in the middle of nowhere; there were no buildings, no sign of a military facility anywhere. My mind was spinning wondering what the desert had done with Irwin!

The MP at the entrance exit gate to Irwin appeared shocked to see a vehicle at that time of day. MP advised me the distance from Barstow to the Irwin Main Gate was 31 miles but the Irwin main post area where the buildings, people and equipment was another 6 miles down the road and he pointed in the direction of the desert.

 All I could see when looking in the direction Irwin was supposed to be in was the road, the desert and the mountains in the distance. The gate MP saw the look on my face and said the military post was there, but the road dipped and the main post area was in a dip in the road!

The last 6 miles of my drive to Irwin should have been easy with no issues; then again nothing in the high desert is simple. Just as the Irwin main post area was appearing in the middle of the road and spilling out on all sides of the road life got stranger.
Heard a loud roar as two shadows moved over the car and the road moving fast off to the right into the desert. To my astonishment the two shadows were World War II (WWII) vintage fighter aircraft flying low over the road and bearing down on what appeared to be WWII era German Tanks!
Pulled over to the side of the road and watched as a WWII war movie was being made, or at least portions of a war movie…just weird.
My assignment at Irwin was for an entire month till another shocked SA would show up and take over, in those days, only one SA was task to Irwin and only when needed, we were supporting Irwin out of Ord due to multiple training exercises taking place for a three month time frame.

The life and times of an Army CID Special Agent was exciting and even strange at times back in the 1970s at Irwin.

Fort Irwin Digs in 1978…

As mentioned previously Irwin was not an active Army Post when visited by me in 1978 but numerous Active Army units trained at Irwin along with the NG and Reserves using deactivated WWII, Korea, and Cold War facilities owned and operated by the California NG.

On arrival at Irwin about 1700 hrs on a Friday evening checked into the local MP station located on the main road into the Irwin post camp and station. MP Desk Sgt gave me a set of keys to an empty enlisted troop barracks where I would stay for a week while working out of the MP Station. After all at that time I was only a Specialist Sixth Class (SP6) Assistant Special Agent (ASA).

Yep, even though I was an SA on assignment with radios, guns, ammunition and very expensive crime scene gear, I was not authorized to stay in the Bachelors Officer Quarters (BAQ). Did not bother me, I would be spending most of my time in the MP Station and out and about investigating various felony crimes as they were reported and following up on felony crimes reported prior to my arrival.

Parked my low slung 1975 Ford, four-door sedan (just like the ones in the TV show “The FBI”) duty car at the barracks door near the wall of the building for safety, secured it and got ready for the night.
I settled into the one story enlisted barracks now occupied by me and my equipment, secured the high value items in safes and heavy duty wall lockers so I could get to the items but others could not.
During the night there was a storm of some sort, the barracks shook, dust and sand was coming in through the cracks in the building but all was ok, got some sleep and woke bright and early the next day.

Walked out to the duty car and got in not noticing any problems other than lots of sand piled up against the side of the car away from the building. Took a few minutes but was able to get the car moving and away from the building. Got out to check the exterior of the car and noticed there was no paint on the right side of the car! Never had that happen before and knew the CID Operations Officer at Ord was never going to believe a dust and sand storm too half the cars paint away.

Car was operational, had sand all over the interior, would keep the windows up next time I parked the car, then again it was already 98 at 7AM.

Arrived at the MP Station for my first day to find five old felony aggravated assault investigations and three new aggravated assault reports on my desk, great welcome to Irwin and that was just walking into the office…Smiles.

Aggravate Assault With Soup Ladle…

The first aggravated assault case took place three days prior to my arrival and happened out in the desert at a food service area. Seems the server got upset at a soldier in line who made disparaging remarks about the soup being served, the server hit the soldier in the head with the soup ladle several times, jumped over the serving line knocking the soldier to the ground and continued to strike the soldier in the head with the ladle until several soldiers got tire of watching and pulled the server off the soldier who was unconscious and bleeding from the scalp, face, nose, ears and mouth.
The soldier who committed the assault was placed on extra duty but allowed to perform his normal duties with a weapon during the day, and serve food at night. The extra duty involved pulling kitchen duty for a week after serving food!

Unit personnel took the injured soldier from the field site to the Army aid station at the main post area where he was treated for lacerations requiring 75 stitches, bruises, broken nose, and a concussion. Injured soldier was still at aid station (Old Weed Army Hospital now in service as aid station) recovering from his injuries.

Determined the victim of the assault was not able to talk or write due to his injuries and was still in and out of consciousness and not lucid much of the time.

MPs provided me with the location of the suspects unit still in the field on training exercises. Drove my duty vehicle out into the desert on paved, unpaved roads to helicopter pad, where a helicopter took me the rest of the way to the unit.

On arrival at the unit determined the unit had moved five times since the assault took place so the crime scene was not at the location the unit was currently in.

Interviewed unit personnel about the assault, found the suspect on the food serving line still serving soup with the same ladle he used to assault the soldier with! Interviewed the suspect, got his statement, and seized the ladle as evidence.

Quick check of the ladle found it to still have skin, blood and what appeared to be bone fragments in the crevices of the ladle. Would not want to be the server suspect when the members of his unit learned he was serving them with the same contaminated ladle he used to commit an aggravate assault with.

Provided the information obtained to the unit Commander and First Sergeant who decided to leave the soldier in the field performing his duties and allow the punishment of extra duty to stand for the crime!

Hey, my job was to investigate and provide my results to the Commander and his job to take action. Most likely the punishment would change after the CID ROI was filed, but back then you just never knew.