I know most of you have heard the story I tell about the woman who was falsely told her husband was dead and then beaten and raped when she let the man in. It's happened again. Be careful what you put out on the internet. OPSEC and PERSEC are important.
ETA: The woman in the latest story wasn't physically harmed, but she very easily could have been.
Re: It's Happened Again
I did.
A woman whose H is in my H's RGT but different BTN was a regular poster on another forum. I'm sure you can guess which one. She never posted a lot of info at once but posted enough bits and pieces that someone was able to figure out who she was and where she lived.
While her H was deployed, a man showed up at her door in uniform and told her her H had been killed. When she let him inside, he beat her, raped her and left her for dead. She lived and managed to call the police. By the time the police got there, he had cashed over $1000 worth of checks and made a bunch of charges on her credit card.
OMG. I've never heard this story either. That is so sad and terrible.
This is sickening. How and why would people act like this?
Blah.
This is about more than being careful what you put on the internet. Simply living in an area where everyone knows half the base is deployed whilst driving around town with a support our troops magnet and post decal could make you a target as well. So can speaking about your H's deployment in public or any of the myriad of ways people can find out your spouse is deployed, no matter how careful you are.
It's key to know exactly how your post or command would notify you in case of a casualty and to be aware of who you let in your home.
From the article tx posted:
"Notification of death or serious injury will always be made by a member of the same branch of the U.S. Armed Forces as the service member. Notification officers will always be in a dress uniform and never in any type of field (camouflage) uniform. Notification officers will always present paperwork with information about the service member to include full name, date of birth, social security number and the names of family members that should be notified of the injury or death. If the family of a deployed service member believes they are the intended victim or victims of a hoax involving individuals claiming to be members of the U.S. Armed Forces, they should call the Oklahoma National Guard at (405) 228-5000 and report the incident."
Click me, click me!
Exactly! J's unit has started laying out how a death or injury notification will go down step by step at every pre and mid deployment meeting. They also send out a deployment handbook to every wife registered with the FRG that contains the same info. Personally, all FRGs should do the same.
FWIW, these tricks are not new. When my mom's engagement announcement was in the newspaper (late 60's), someone called my mom and told her they had kidnapped her fiance and would not harm him if she paid the ransom.
She figured it was a hoax (my dad worked off shifts, and they had spoken recently). She told them she didn't have any money, so they could keep him.
Exactly. DH's family couldn't figure out why I was pissed when they decided to attack our house with yellow ribbons when DH left for his last deployement. I asked if they were going to put up ultrasound pics in the windows too so they knew I was pregnant as well- let them know how easy a target I was. I let up one that replaced the one we had has up for years, but the rest came down.
They also freaked when we wouldn't put the "It's a boy" sign in our yard either when DS was born. Shocking.
We were given a short list of names of the people that would come (rear det, chaplains, etc). It wouldn't necessarily be just them, but at least one of the people on the list would be coming with for notification if something happened. And we were able to meet them all as well.