San Angelo

Goodfellow AFB Security Forces Mistake Hunters as Possible Armed Threat

By Brandy Ramirez, Sep 2, 2015
 

On Tuesday afternoon, at 4:20 p.m., 17th Training Wing Security Forces responded to a report that six armed men were outside Goodfellow Air Force Base’s perimeter fence, said SSgt. Michael Smith with 17th Training Wing Public Affairs at Goodfellow.

To ensure there was no immediate threat, Smith said Security Forces responders temporarily detained the individuals. After determining these men were hunting near the base and didn’t pose a risk to the installation, the hunters were promptly released.

Smith explained that the 17th Training Wing appreciates the support of the community, especially during times of increased security awareness, and that Goodfellow AFB is committed to maintaining open communication with community partners.

Although that's the case, Greg Simons, who leases a farm field that's adjacent to the base, and who was with the group of six men, said on his Facebook page Tuesday night at 8:29 p.m. that he's "disappointed with our local Goodfellow AFB security for what they did."

"They swarmed our group of six hunters, made them lay on their belly, spread eagle, for almost 30 minutes at gunpoint, two of them on asphalt in almost 100 degree temps and would not let them move, with our hunters pleading with them, " Simons wrote. "One was lying on a red ant bed and they would not let him move. Our local police officers arrived and sorted matters out, assuring the Air Force security that all was okay."

Simons added that Air Force security visited with these same hunters earlier Tuesday and told them everything was good. They even told security who to get into contact with in order to hunt on the property. 

"What's even more amazing is that our local television news was there, and minutes earlier, had finished filming an interview on the importance of hunting to our local economy," Simons said. "Appears they may have also filmed this very unfortunate event. Seems to me that Goodfellow should provide a formal apology to some folks. I'm thankful to our local police department for intervening and providing some relief to this matter."

 

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Comments

Arbigi, Wed, 09/02/2015 - 16:57

There's no "mistake" about it. Six armed persons near the perimeter fence IS a POSSIBLE armed threat that needs to be checked out. I suspect that the security forces stepped through a standard procedure that doesn't permit detainees to move, once down. I also suspect that their procedure will be scrutinized and POSSIBLY modified, but the first priority is neutralizing the threat. Which they did.

As someone who works on Goodfellow, my response is "Thank you!"

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There is a reason these airmen are called "Security Forces". They ensure the safety of all base weapons, property and personnel from hostile forces. It appears they they were just doing their job.

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JPP, Wed, 09/02/2015 - 18:45

"Just doing there job" OUTSIDE of the fence. Don't think so, what happen to private property rights. It seems that they need to gather a little more intelligence about the land that surrounds them instead of going onto someone else's land and flexing there muscles.

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I find the above comments by employees of the government ridiculous. The article says these hunters visited with the security forces earlier. So, the “security forces” knew these hunters where there . . . on private property, exercising their rights to enjoy the opening day of dove season.
While I support our military I do not condone a blatant violation of these hunters’ rights by some over-zealous, automatic weapon toting, extremists. Our military exists to protect our citizens not to harass, threaten, or intimidate them.
If I were these hunters I would seriously look into legal action if the base commander refuses to discipline these lunatic security forces. Let’s see: a §1983 Civil Rights violation, false imprisonment, terroristic threat, kidnapping, deadly conduct . . . .
While the base employees above may think this incident is no big deal, I assure you I do not concur. This is an extremely serious matter. We citizens have rights. The military needs to protect and defend those rights. If the military turns on the citizenry, the citizens will turn on them. And . . . that in my opinion . . . is a very serious matter. Once more, I support our military but I do not support tyranny. But again, I don’t make my living off other people’s taxes.

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Arbigi, Thu, 09/03/2015 - 07:25

"Outside the fence" doesn't necessarily mean "on private property". And if media filmed them, great! But I doubt that security forces were watching TV (or playing on the Internet) during their shift, so they wouldn't have known. If there's video of the actual incident, again, great! It'll get sorted out more quickly. I was busy last night, and didn't watch the news to see if it was there. Bottom line, the article doesn't give enough detail to know who was at fault. I'm sure those details will come out over the next couple of days, and this article may be updated to reflect that.

Now as for us-versus-them mentality of the "WE citizens" statement, I have been blessed to be able to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States for 31 years - the first 20 of those as active duty military. I was born in Texas, and have lived in San Angelo for 18 years. I pay my taxes and I vote.

If you're against your taxes paying people's salaries, I'm going to have to assume that you live off the grid, with no public electric, water,or trash pickup, with a volunteer fire department on standby, and a private security force. Also, that you never drive on public roads or visit public parks.

I DON'T think this is "no big deal". What I do think is that I'm not going to make a judgment until all the facts are in. This article doesn't constitute "all the facts".

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Great job to the GAFB SF who are there regardless to protect military base resources
Don't cry for the land owner or hunters as this is normal procedures to stop and detain threats
Better sorry then something really happen
Great job

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Just curious about procedure. This was apparently private property adjoining the base property line. Instead of trespassing on private property, why didn't the security personnel contact local law enforcement first? If they were concerned, stand the property line and protect the base. If base security forces can act outside the Goodfellow property, what is to stop them from stopping citizens on the streets. Rules exist for a reason. The rule of law is being ignored on a daily basis these days. Anything can be justified with an emotional knee jerk reaction.

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I believe these Airmen did exactly as they were trained. It is their job and only their job to protect that base and it's population. Had those guys not been hunters and had been a threat they would be saying why didn't Security Forces do more to protect the base. Greg Simon should be apologizing to these Airmen for the crap he has stired up. But he supports the military yeah read the comments he is allowing on his Facebook page. Again I say well done troops and I am proud to have you in my community. DEFENSOR FORTIS!

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This story as printed tells of a group of hunters that the Base personnel where well aware of. A local news station did a story on the hunters and according to this story possibly filmed the security forces hold the hunters at gun point. The land in question is presented in this article as being land leased by Greg Simons who in turn allowed friends to dove hunt. If all this is accurate then something is seriously wrong with what occurred. If these airmen did exactly as they were told then maybe the one in command is in error. What is always a concern for an average American citizen who is overwhelmed constantly with bad world and local news is the lack of motivation for doing what is right and lawful by those in charge and those being commanded. What is the recourse for an individual soldier who is told to do something unconstitutional or just plain wrong? I hope when given the option of firing on an American citizen for dove hunting on private property, they continue to make the right choice. How much of this story is true and accurate? The older I get the more worried I become.

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Clear violation of the Possee Comitatus Act, and the senior officer who directed this crime should be fined and put in prison for violations of federal law in accordance with the act.

And now I have a little less faith that our military would stand with the citizen's in the event of a shift in .gov toward further totalitarianism. Seems as though they would just whatever they are told.

I'm sad that not one of those airmen said "no way, not a chance. I don't want anything to do with this."

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I was an eye witness, and i have 23 pic`s. The hunters were on privet land out side the city limits. The call came in at 4:20. The men had been hunting all day. Why storm them at 4:20 in the after noon?. Clearly they were of no threat all day . The opening day of dove season. The base knew there was no threat against them or it sure took them along time to respond to gun fire that started at 9 am. The security force was out of line! Plain and simple. The direction in which they were shooting was AWAY from the base. No guess work I saw it all!

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