CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The safe word was to be repeated if the military exercise became too intense.
Those were the rules as 5th Special Forces Group Master Sgt. John J. Hasenbein and his team went through a role-playing training exercise at Fort Knox on March 22, 2019.
Following the role-playing scenario, Hasenbein was criminally charged with an alleged assault that occurred during the training exercise. After being charged, he was met with more issues, including harassment and witnesses in his case being tampered with, according to Desiree Hasenbein, his wife.
“My husband is a respected Special Forces member who has served for over 20 years in the Army,” Hasenbein said. “He has over 45 months of combat deployments throughout his decorated career. A review of his record would reveal nothing but stellar evaluation reports, awards, and decorations. He is also a loving husband and father to our three children. He now faces a court-martial despite following the instructions he was given by his unit and F3EA.
“Two witnesses who dared to provide a favorable statement for him, which was the truth, have been unfairly pressured into changing their account. My husband has been ostracized and embarrassed.”
Thursday, Feb. 27, a rally was held near Gate 4 to bring awareness to the Hasenbein case, and what he and his family describe as an injustice.
“We are out here spreading the word, making it public, about what’s going on, and supporting those who have been through a similar situation. Letting them know we hear you and we see you,” Desiree Hasenbein, said at the rally. “I want to spread awareness. The trial is March 2. We want to prove his innocence.”
The accusations
According to a charge sheet, Master Sergeant (E-8) John (Jay) J. Hasenbein, U.S. Army is accused of “wrongfully and recklessly engaging in conduct” at Fort Knox on March 22, 2019.
Hasenbein is accused of assaulting one of the role players, Mr. Altameemi, who was playing the role of an HVI (High Valued Individual) and in that scenario a terrorist. During the exercise, Hasenbein is charged with striking the role player in the head and torso with his fists, feet, and knees and inflicting substantial bodily harm to Altameemi including a traumatic brain injury, nasal bone fracture, blunt facial trauma, and a scalp hematoma.
According to his charge sheet, “Hasenbein allegedly held the muzzle of a pistol to the head of Ahmed Altameemi and hit him in the head repeatedly with the muzzle of the pistol, conduct likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm.”
The Mission
During the training conducted by a private company, F3EA, MSG Jay Hasenbein, and three other SFCs came in contact with the HVI role player, Altameemi.
The role-player resisted restraints, broke free of cuffs twice and was taken to the floor by multiple soldiers in the training, according to an investigation report.
Six minutes later, the role-player was moved to another floor where the alleged assault occurred.
Altameemi gave a statement saying despite using the safe word, he was hit on his body and kicked while handcuffed. He said he was bleeding and said the safe word.
“They didn’t stop even when I told them it’s a “real world,” he wrote. “They were too aggressive and they treated me like a real target.”
During an official investigation, one soldier involved in the takedown of the role player said he asked Altameemi if he wanted to stop the exercise by saying the safe word, “real world” and Altameemi gave a negative response. He also said in their training they are taught to escalate as the role player escalated so when the role player escaped his restraints he believes Hasenbein was enforcing his training to detain the player, prevent injuries or death to any of the soldiers and himself, in terms of the scenario.
It is contested in other statements as to whether Altameemi said the safe word and whether the soldiers were to “accurately practice a real-life scenario” using more aggression as the role players. Their task was not to worry about the comfort of the role player, but rely on the role player to use the safe word if they became uncomfortable or “treat the scenario or the role players ” to a realistic standard.
According to the administrative investigation, “the exercise lacked clear and concise guidance regarding the rules of engagement and level of force that the soldiers could use when executing training scenarios with F3EA role-players. The company also did not articulate clear boundaries and a CO [commanding officer] failed to fill the void with guidance on the use of force levels. Both failures led to circumstances surrounding the injured role-player. While some ambiguity is necessary for realistic training, base-line guidance is necessary to mitigate risk appropriately.”
Desiree Hasenbein agreed with the findings.
“I truly believe both F3EA and 5th Special Forces Group recognize that they are to blame for what happened to Mr. Altameemi; however, neither for whatever reason are willing to accept responsibility,” she said. “They have chosen my husband as the scapegoat, despite him doing nothing wrong.”
Desiree Hasenbein hopes that bringing awareness to the case will lead to her husband getting justice.
Messages to the 5th Group media office went unanswered as of publication.
The trial is scheduled for March 2 at Fort Campbell Army Base.