imprisoned soldier looks ahead to his future
MEDFORD A handful of old timers sit in a downtown cafe tucked between vacant buildings as old as they are and gossip over a pot of coffee.
With just shy of 1,000 residents, it seems everybody knows everybody in Medford and everybody loves topatagonia alpine guide know everybody s business.
On this day, the caffeine fueled dialogue among the regulars at Make Your Mark Coffeehouse and Deli on Cherokee Street is about the qpatagonia guide pants girdle2uiet, young stranger that s come to town.
He was a soldier, one man offers.
He was jupatagonia guide pants girdle0st released from prison, another chimes in.
I think he s herpatagonia guide pants girdle3e to help for harvest, a third ventures, before offering the tidbit everyone seems mopatagonia better sweater coat natural xsst interested in.
I heard he killed somebody.
Miles away, on the far side of Grant County, in an open pasture, the stranger is running.
A bull with a length of barbed wire wrapped around a leg is sprinting full speed and Michael Behenna is racing to catch up.
Behenna is surprised by the agility of the 2,000 pound animal. Despite any pain or restriction, it seems to run without effort and jump with ease.
The bull plays keep away, hurdling back and forth over a shallow, muddy creek. Uneven terrain and a recent rain storm make for treacherous footing.
As he advances on the bull, Behenna s foot sinks into mud to his knee.
He manages to pull out his foot, but his boot stays planted in the muck. He stoops to retrieve it, balancing a sock covered foot precariously in the air like an awkward flamingo. Behenna lookpatagonia pro purchases up to find himself face to face with the bull.
I think even he was wondering what I was doing out here, Behenna recalled later while patagonia guide pants girdle1walking on the northern Oklahoma ranch where he now lives and works. But these are the kind of moments I love. This is what I had been missing out on.
Today, Michael Behenna, 31, focuses on being the best ranch hand he can be. It s what he can control.
Behenna talks with co worker Sam Chavez.
Behenna says he no longer thinks much about his time in Iraq as a 24 year old platoon leader. Nor does he dwell on the long ago events that altered his life and cost him a half decade behind bars. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth for killing an unarmed Iraqi man, former Army 1stpatagonia outlet store ellenton Lt. Behenna is trying to free himself from his past entanglements.
On April 21, 2008, Behenna and other members of the unit he led, 5th Platoon, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, were heading back to their base after picking up two Iraqi detainees from a desert village in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad.
The platoon, part of the 101st Airborne Division, was traveling in four mine resistant trucks down a narrow gravel road when a bomb exploded near the third truck, sending a mushroom cloud of dirt and smoke skywpatagonia discount code pricelineard. Two soldiers, Spc. Adam Kohlhaas, 26, of Kentucky, and Spc. Steven Christofferson, 20, of Wisconsin, died in the blast.
Behenna declared it his mission to find those responsible for the deaths of his men.
Weeks later, Behenna and his squad were back on patrol when they captured an Iraqi named Ali Mansur. Behenna recognized the name as one he d heard mentioned many times as an insurgent working with Al Qaeda.
The squad took Mansur back to their base to be qupatagonia everlong review venusestioned by intelligence officers. Two weeks later, higher ups ordered the man released becauspatagonia everlong review 42nde of a lack of evidence.
Behenna insisted more questioning was needed. Instead, his platoon was ordered to return Mansur to his home.
On May 16, 2008, enroute to Mansur s village, Behenna ordered the convoy to stop, saying he wanted to check a culvert for weapons.
Behenna took a blindfolded Mansur from one of the vehicles and Behenna, another soldier and a translator led him about 300 feet away to a secluded spot away from the rest of the platoon. An earlier dust storm and evening twilight obscpatagonia guide pants designured visibility.
Mansur was patagonia guide pants girdlestripped and interrogated. Behenna pointed his sidearm at Mansur trying to scare him into confessing to the epatagonia guide pants trolleyarlier attack that killed Behenna s men. At one point, Behenna said he turned away from Mansur, who lunged for his weapon. Behenna said he reacted instinctively and shot Mansur twice, killing him. According to trial testimony, Behenna then ordered the other soldier to throw a thermite grenade at the body.
