www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/22/casualty.hoax.ap -> www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/22/casualty.hoax.ap/
SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) -- Military police are investigating a cruel hoax in which a man wearing an Army dress uniform falsely told the wife of a soldier that her husband had been killed in Iraq. Investigators are trying to determine why the man delivered the false dea th notice and whether he was a soldier or a civilian wearing a military uniform. Whatever motivation was behind it, it was a sick thing to do," said Fort Stewart spokesman Lt. Last month, 19,000 soldiers from the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Divi sion deployed for their second tour of duty in Iraq. At least eight divi sion soldiers have been killed since then. Fort Stewart officials would not identify the Army wife who reported to m ilitary police that a man posing as a casualty assistance officer came t o her door February 10. "Right off the bat, she noticed some things were not right," Whetstone sa id. "The individual's uniform wasn't correct -- there were no markings o r name tags. Plus, the person was alone, and she knew one person does no t make (death) notifications." When the 3rd Infantry first deployed to Iraq for the 2003 invasion, some Fort Stewart families reported receiving phone calls from pranksters say ing their soldiers had been killed. This time around, troops and their spouses got pre-deployment briefings t hat included detailed explanations of how death notices work. Two soldie rs, including a chaplain, in dress uniform always arrive to tell the fam ily in person. Fort Stewart spouses have been spreading news of the latest hoax, said Ar my wife Michelle Dombrowski, who received an e-mail more than a week ago reporting the incident. "I can't believe that someone would do that," said Dombrowski, whose husb and, Staff Sgt. Military police described the suspected hoaxer as being 6-feet, 1-inch ta ll and about 180 pounds with black or brown hair and a pale complexion. He was reported to be driving a blue or green pickup truck with chrome w heels, oversized tires and a Georgia license plate.
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