Associated Press
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - Two soldiers who were shot by a sheriff’s deputy were participating in an exercise that has been conducted for decades in civilian areas outside the boundaries of Fort Bragg.
About 200 soldiers training to join the elite Special Forces participate in the “Robin Sage” exercises held in 10 counties in central North Carolina and in the Uwharrie National Forest.
One soldier was shot to death and another wounded Saturday by a Moore County sheriff’s deputy. Officials said the deputy had stopped their pickup truck because he thought they were acting suspiciously, and opened fire when the soldiers advanced on him, thinking he was part of the exercise. The soldiers were wearing civilian clothes and had a disassembled weapon in a duffel bag.
The exercise, part of the qualifications course, or final exam, for soldiers who want to wear the Special Forces green beret, has been conducted without incident in the area since the mid-1950s, an Army statement said.
Special Forces soldiers returning from Afghanistan have said their work there was a “mirror image of what they are trained to do in Robin Sage,” said Maj. Rich Patterson, a Special Forces spokesman.
The Robin Sage exercise began on Feb. 16 and will continue through March 2, he said.
But because of the shooting, Patterson said, the Army will again contact the counties that were previously notified about the exercise. It has been standard procedure to notify county and municipal authorities in the 10-county area each time the exercise is conducted, he said.
The 10 counties make up a fictitious country called “Pineland,” covering an area roughly bordered by Fort Bragg and Charlotte to the east and west, and by High Point and the South Carolina line to the north and south.
Soldiers are tested in survival, tactics and dealing with people, as well as ethics, judgment and decision-making.
Maj. Gary Kolb, spokesman for the Army Special Operations Command, which includes the Special Forces, said it has been standard procedure for years for students to wear civilian clothes and ride civilian vehicles during the exercise.
Kolb said Saturday’s exercise wasn’t meant to include local law enforcement, so “we would not have notified any of the agencies involved that this was taking place.”
But he said police in the Moore County town of Robbins had been involved in an exercise with the same group of students several nights before.
“When we know ahead of time a training scenario involves local law enforcement, we will coordinate with those agencies ahead of time,” he said.