The arrival of a birthday card in the ship’s mail addressed to Capt. Ronald Murray Gero, who was turning 56, marked the beginning of the end of his command of the guided-missile submarine Ohio.

It appears various members of the crew started collecting evidence, and then:

A subsequent command investigation — obtained by Navy Times through a Freedom of Information Act request — found that the relationship bore the hallmarks of an extramarital affair, but acknowledged that the participants likely did not have sex.

Here’s a News Tribune piece on SPC Wagnon.

Soldiers who fought in Iraq alongside Spc. Michael Wagnon don’t recognize their friend when they read reports of his alleged role in a plot to kill civilians while deployed in Afghanistan this year with a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade.

Milblogging has alerted us to the new Social Media Handbook released this week to the Navy.

Here is an official press release from JBLM.

Five soldiers from the same Washington state-based unit have now been implicated in the killing of three Afghan civilians, an Army spokeswoman said Monday. The Army said Friday that Spc. Jeremy Morlock had been charged with three counts of premeditated murder and one count of assault. On Monday, Lt. Col. Tamara Parker, a Joint Base Lewis-McChord spokeswoman, said “there is enough evidence to say that five may be charged,” although Morlock is the only one charged so far. A second soldier is being held in confinement in Kuwait, and the others three remain with their unit in Afghanistan, she said.

Seattle Times has this:

An Army spokeswoman said Saturday the murder charges against a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier accused of killing three Afghan civilians could lead the military to examine its screening of soldiers.

The screening issue may relate to this Fox News piece.

Morlock, who entered the military in June 2006 and was first deployed last July, has a criminal record. The Seattle Times reported that Morlock’s wife sought a domestic-violence protective order against him two years ago in a case that was resolved. Last year, he was charged with assault and disorderly conduct and was reportedly found guilty of the latter charge. Morlock also was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving an injury or death when he was 15, the newspaper reported.

If recollection serves he joined at a time when waivers were more easily gotten for past civilian offenses. But the military, largely due to good recruiting numbers, have stopped moral waivers.

Here is the kirotv.com initial:

Ten Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers deployed in Afghanistan are at the center of a criminal investigation. Ten soldiers of the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are accused of deliberately killing three Afghan civilians, using illegal drugs and conducting other illicit activities such as conspiracy and assault. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr broke the story and said the assault may have happened after one of the soldiers told his commander of the incident. “Turned it into his commanders and may have been assaulted by other troops, beaten up we are told for blowing the whistle on all of this” Starr said.