What we can learn from the Oklahoma City Bombing in 2023

The Oklahoma City Bombing was one of the most devastating homegrown terrorist attacks in America in modern times.  The event left hundreds injured, homeless, and killed.  The attack tallied up to 168 death, 850 injured, 250 children lost at least one parent and claimed the lives of 19 children.  The culprits of this event were non-other than Mr. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.  These two mass murders were led by an extreme right-wing ideology and belief that the federal government led by the corrupt Jews needed to be stopped and supported the notion of exterminating all Jews and non-white people.  This led McVeigh and Nichols to build a 4800-pound bomb strapped to a Ryder truck and detonated outside a federal building.   Soon after the explosion, an array of theories and opinions of what exactly happened on April 19, 1995 (Oklahoma City Bombing, 2022).  Many believe that the bombing was due to radical Muslims due to the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 at the hands of Ramzi Yousef and Eyad Ismoil.  Few could have expected the perpetrators would have been white, suburban, and "decent" looking men.  During the investigations of the bombing site, forensic scientists found the origin of the blast site, which was a 30-foot wide and eight feet deep crater outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.  About a block and a half, forensics found a truck axle roughly 1000 feet from the crater.  At that point, investigators concluded that a truck was located at the center of this bombing.  Luckily, investigators found the truck's VIN on the axle that was found at the bombing site.  This VIN identified the truck as connected to a Ryder rental truck rented to a "Robert Bob Clean."  Later it was identified that Robert Bob Clean" was an alias Timothy McVeigh was using during the rental process of the truck (Oklahoma City Bombing, 2022).  After 90 minutes after the bombing Timothy McVeigh was pulled over by a local state trooper who noticed that the vehicle Timothy McVeigh was driving was missing a license plate. Shortly after the state trooper pulled over Mr. McVeigh, the law enforcement officer noticed a concealed firearm under McVeigh's jacket.  This led to the state trooper arresting Timothy McVeigh and placing him in jail.

Shortly after, investigators concluded that "Robert B. Clean" was an alias for Tim McVeigh, the name he used at a motel in Junction City, Kansas, roughly 273 miles from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Fortunately, investigators connected Tim McVeigh with the recently arrested Timothy McVeigh by the Oklahoma state trooper.  During the interrogation of Timothy McVeigh, a Forensic Scientist and bomb technician was busy analyzing the bombing site and testing their finding for trace bombing chemicals.  What was constantly found was Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, also known as PETN, and Nitroglycerine which are both found in bombing sites and high explosives.  Forensic scientists used IMS (Ion Mobility Spectrometry) to identify the chemicals surrounding the bombing site and to analyze what was used during this bombing (Saferstein & Roy, 2022). 

The scientist did this by collecting evidence by placing them in plastic bags or jars to avoid contamination of evidence, transporting the evidence to the FBI crime laboratory, and placing samples inside the IMS machine, which is stored inside an ion funnel.  Once the Ions are formed, they pass through a drift cell, which is mass-selected and ultimately detected.  This machine allows forensic scientists to identify chemicals involved in the bombing that was executed in Oklahoma.  After hundreds of samples of evidence were analyzed and identified, it was clear that ammonium nitrate (which is common in fertilizer), nitroglycerine (common in dynamite), nitromethane (which is common in diesel fuel), where the common chemical elements of this bombing site.  So, at this point, forensic scientists know what was used to cause this explosion.  A truck containing fertilizer, dynamite, and gasoline was detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah federal building. The truck used in this bombing was rented out to Robert B. Clean, who later was identified as Tim McVeigh, who was recently arrested by local law enforcement in what seems unrelated.  At this point, all fingers point to Timothy McVeigh being suspect number one for the bombing.  Still, forensics later confirmed it after finding the same chemical agents peppered the bomb scene at the federal building on timothy McVeigh's clothing.  This included trace bombing chemical evidence on two of his tee shirts, both his pockets, and on Mr. McVeigh's pocketknife.  The bomb used in the Oklahoma City bombing is considered an IED (Improvised explosive device) made from "homemade" elements instead of high explosives. Forensic scientists and forensic techs can use several methods to determine the chemicals used, such as scanning electron microscopy, chromatography-mass spectrometry, capillary electrophoresis, and stereomicroscope to identify explosive residue on objects and bomb items (Saferstein & Roy, 2022).  Other techniques in bomb detection include x-ray imaging, vapor detection, inferred imaging, radar-based imaging, and specially trained bomb dogs.  Vapor detection is probably the most accessible tool when looking for explosion residue.  K9 units are now more widely used as of recent times, but sadly during the time period of the Oklahoma City Bombing, k9 units were rare, and no article I could find has any mention of them being used in this event.  X-ray imaging is commonly used in airports and other transportation hubs.  X-ray imaging is a great tool when detecting a bomb that hasn’t exploded yet, and not so much after the event.

No doubt these tactics were used in the Oklahoma City Bombing case.  In this scenario, whole bomb parts could not be found at the bombing site, and forensics had to conduct an explosive residue analysis of the crime scene after the blast.  This includes post-blast items near the bombing site and clothing to test for trace explosive residue.  Forensic experts determined that the trace explosive elements found at the bombing site were also found on Timothy McVeigh. The techniques used to analyze explosives are thin-layer chromatography, chromatographic techniques, gas chromatography, and high-pressure liquid chromatography (Saferstein & Roy, 2022).  The most effective is GC/MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) because it is used to understand the characteristics and identify many different materials, including explosives.  TLC can be used on-site, too, and provide results quickly, but it provides less information than the other forms of spectrometry.  HPTLC (high-pressure thin-layer chromatography) operates very similarly to TLC but provides much more information about a component's quantitative and qualitative traits.  HPTLC also provides an electronic image of the sample under testing.  Finally, we consider high-pressure liquid chromatography, which places the chemical in a solvent during the liquid mobile phase instead of utilizing a gas.  In evaluating these processes, I assume that GS/MS is the most effective spectrometry for explosives.  Though it is preferred, the time to conduct this process is much longer than the TLC.  TLC could provide a quick on-site to help forensics understand what happened there. As well as cost-effective but provides limited information.  The HPTLC would confirm what TLC deduced and provide a 3d image of the components found at the bomb site, yet this process would take longer and not be as cost-effective as the TLC (Benoit, 2016).  Finally, HPLC would be helpful if we needed to separate the mixture to identify and determine how much each component makes up the compound, yet it takes longer to conduct.

The references chosen for this paper are credible.  The first reference I would like to evaluate is the Oklahoma City Bombing reference which source is the FBI.  The information provided by the FBI has historically been reliable.  The next reference I would like to evaluate is the Saferstein reference.  This source has proved itself credible because this reference was suggested by the school that I am currently attending.  Benoit, C proved to be reliable and credible because it has a .gov link indicating that it has been research and verified. All references have proven to be credible and verifiable to be used in this essay assignment.

References

Benoit, C. (2016, July 20). Principles of Explosive Chemistry Examinations. https://www.justice.gov/archives/dag/file/877711/download

Oklahoma City Bombing. (2022, May 10). Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing

Saferstein, R., & Roy, T. (2020). Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science (13th ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://purdueuniversityglobal.vitalsource.com/books/9780135268414

Domestic violence in the military

Domestic violence's consequences are dire when it comes to how this particular violence affects the household, family, and community. But what about domestic violence in military families? In this assignment, I will expand on one of the laws in my home state of North Carolina about domestic violence. North Carolina is home to the most significant military installation in the United States military and is by far the most deployed branch of the military. In this paper, I will explain what North Carolina has done to protect its families from dv and why the United States military considers the protection of its families one of its top priorities. I will also apply four cases to the law mentioned and explain why this law was necessary to protect an innocent victim. So, without any further delay, let us begin.

The law I am referring to is G.S. 96-14.8. This is used to protect military servicemembers as well as their spouses. The law ensures that both parties never lose benefits if the service member misses work and are not charged to the employer if the service member or the service member's sources are involved in a domestic violence case. Several military stressors are constantly applied to the service member and the family, such as scheduled and unscheduled deployments, mental health strains such as PTSD, abnormal social stressors not found in a civilian occupation such as over-toxic leadership, high suicide rate due to substance abuse, and infidelity. Due to stressors like these and much more domestic violence is expected within the military community. In the next paragraph, I will discuss a few local cases at my current duty station and connect this law to why it was created in response to domestic violence.

The first case I will explore is the Air force's desire to have more special agents to investigate domestic violence cases. In a local report, it was mentioned that over 48% of the men had experienced a form of interpersonal violence from an intimate partner. Of course, researchers suggest that the reports may not represent a complete diagnostic of male victims because most choose not to report or mention abuse they may have experienced (Novelly, 2023). The law mentioned in the paragraph prior will protect service members who have been victims of domestic abuse and protect their benefits due to time missed from work due to the crisis (Novelly, 2023). With 48% of the males interviewed admitted to being victims of domestic violence, we can only assume what kind of impact dv had on the service members' quality of work and mental health (Novelly, 2023). The Air Force base mentioned in this article is attached to the base here in Fort Bragg, which makes this Air Force base the most active Air Force base in America (Novelly, 2023). The law in response to domestic violence cases is not only to protect the family and their financial situation, but domestic violence could affect the service members' mental state, which could easily affect national security (Novelly, 2023).

The second case I wanted to acknowledge involved a couple living in Fort Drum, Texas. The husband was stationed there and was later convicted of domestic violence. The woman was a domestic violence victim and was encouraged to relocate. As a service member's spouse and domestic violence were present, she could retain her benefits though eventually, they did separate. So we see this law in effect helping service members and families through the destruction of domestic violence that may have ultimately destroyed the family. When people consider domestic violence cases, monetary and physical damages are usually the only things that people consider. But significantly larger factors, such as military benefits, are involved in the military. For example, childcare, Tricare for health insurance, Basic allowance for housing, etc. Many of these benefits prevent many military families from being entirely destitute. But thankfully, to G.S. 96-14.8 families broken due to domestic violence will be protected, including spouses.

The third case I wanted to be an article about by Army time alluded to the fact that military spouses are considered expendable (Luchetta, 2023). The idea is that the service member is what the army has invested in using training, equipment, food, and board. The article suggests that some wives are considered moral boosters for the service member (Luchetta, 2023). It is widely considered that the military doesn't value the service members' marital partners and considers them as dependents and nothing more than baggage to the army (Luchetta, 2023). This concept is not without merit because the law passed to protect the spouse of service members was passed in 2010 (Luchetta, 2023). That means before 2010, no protection or guarantees after domestic violence cases existed if the spouse needed to relocate.

For the final case, I want to direct your attention to the last case over 30 years ago. A married couple with a history of domestic violence-related calls around 2003 ultimately divorced. Due to the creation of the law in 2010, the wife was not guaranteed any benefits. She also had diabetes. Once they divorced and the husband removed the former wife from his government benefits, the wife could no longer receive the lifesaving insulin she had been receiving for years. During the marriage, the wife never worked and relied on the husband for everything. So when she lost her insulin, it was a serious matter. Ultimately, she could obtain the insulin, but by the time she got back on a regular schedule with her medication, her diabetes was out of control.   This case was what led to the development of the law adaption. 

In conclusion, in the history of the military, spouse have been under recognized especially in cases of domestic violence.  Since the law has pass in the state of north Carolina, many people have been able to either retain there jobs with the military though the strains of domestic violence may have inflicted how the service member was able to conduct their jobs as well as assisted the service members spouse in the event that the spouse is the abused party and they still need to have access to the benefits that they have had the accustom to receiving.  I believe that the military has addressed domestic violence and has worked hard to manage the danger of it and I also believe that this law was useful in helping victims of domestic violence as well.

All References are credible.  In this paragraph I will access the credibility of all references.  The first references that I will access is the Army Times reference.  Historically Army times has been the media outlet the military dispenses information to its own community.  All information is vetted through the army channels before any information is published.  The next reference that I will validate is the National institution of justice reference.  All information found on the NIJ is validated through the DoD.  The following reference that I will verify is the Domestic violence in the military reference.  This reference is a .org reference and certifies its validity.  The Next reference I used in this assignment was from Boise State which certifies that this reference is credible as well.  The last reference that I used in this assignment was an reference from a .mil website.  This website are verified by the Department of defense and certified for validity.

Reference

Cohen, R. (2023, February 2). Air Force launches another study on improving aid to abuse survivors. Air Force Times. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/02/02/air-force-launches-another-study-on-improving-aid-to-abuse-survivors/

Domestic Violence Courts | National Institute of Justice. (n.d.). National Institute of Justice. https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/courts/domestic-violence-courts

Fact Sheet: Domestic Violence in the Military. (2018b, December 10). VAWnet.org. https://vawnet.org/material/fact-sheet-domestic-violence-military

Luchetta, J. (2023, February 21). Senate passes bill that would give domestic violence, military spouses unemployment benefits. Boise State Public Radio. https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-government/2023-02-21/senate-passes-bill-that-would-give-domestic-violence-military-spouses-unemployment-benefits

Military Health System. (n.d.). Domestic Violence Resources for Military Partners. https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Centers-of-Excellence/Psychological-Health-Center-of-Excellence/Real-Warriors-Campaign/Articles/Domestic-Violence-Resources-for-Military-Partners

Novelly, T. (2023, January 30). Air Force Wants to Hire More Special Agents to Investigate Domestic Violence. Military.com. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/01/30/air-force-wants-hire-more-special-agents-investigate-domestic-violence.html

Our mission of this Blog

Something near and dear to this organization is covering subjects rarely discussed in the 2a community. You don’t hear conversations about social issues about any other demographic other than right-leaning concepts. 2a, liberty, freedom, and independence are the subjects of most firearm organizations and platforms. But we want to be different. Here at CBTA, we want to ensure that everyone is heard! What makes America incredible is the pursuit of independence and freedom. Freedom from fear, helplessness, and worry that a crisis can and will happen to anyone.

These blogs will address every American and their needs from a social perspective.

In our first blog, we will cover the subject of a vulnerable population from a racial or ethnic population. The vulnerable group I am choosing to discuss is the Native American population in the United States of America. I choose the Native American population because though they predominately polluted this mass of land that we consider America, they represent less than 1% of the total population in the USA. The population of this group of people is only the beginning of their plight. Other aspects I would like to consider are living on the reservations, rampant sexual abuse of women, mental illness, and lack of employment opportunities on an Indian reservation.

What makes the plight of this country's native American population even more disparate is that due to little to no coverage of this population, few people even know that they are in such a dire situation. As a society, we learn about struggles because people in positions of influence or power speak on specific systematic struggles. For example, the terrible conditions in the inner city became evident due to the ongoing civil rights protest, discourse, and infamous court cases that forced the public to recognize the problem. For the most part, the African American and Spanish-speaking populations have been able to utilize these aspects of social consciousness (Whyatt, 2023). Still, sadly the Native American population has not been in the same way that other minority groups have. I have a theory on this matter of the power of representation. African American have made so much advancement in this country due to representation in sports, Hollywood, politics, and government. These people are public figures and garner a measure of social influence and political sway that can influence how the legislature is produced and created. Sadly, the native American population is not represented in society as other minority groups are. The Native American has slipped through the cracks of the criminal justice system due to jurisdictional borders, neutered through government assistance programs, and are in a position to never obtain financial freedom due to the land that they live on they can never own. In this assignment, I will cover two current cases I believe will reveal how dire the native American plight is. Without any further delay, let us begin. The first case I will cover involves human trafficking within the native American population. Sexual assault within the native American community is incredibly high. One in two native American women will be sexually assaulted, often from outside the community. Native American women are also at a higher risk of being placed in the sex trade due to jurisdictional loopholes (Whyatt, 2023).

Reservation law enforcement funding relies on the reservations, not state or federal funding. It has been said that one known reservation that not a single female has not been sexually abused.  A sad reality for many parents and mothers being that they are preparing their children when, not if, they are sexually assaulted.  In many cases this is due to domestic violence and few actual reported cases within the native American community.  Unfortunately, the resources available to reservation law enforcement are scarce due to low funding. Many reservations have out-of-date vehicles and technology, and once the suspect leaves the reservation, the reservation law enforcement no longer has any jurisdiction (Whyatt, 2023). In essence, a suspect could rape a person. The suspect only needs to cross the street if the street represents the jurisdictional border. Reservation law enforcement would be out of the jurisdiction and cannot arrest without the adjacent city/county/state law enforcement department.   With this massive loophole between jurisdictions, Native American women are more likely to go missing and enter the sex trade. The case of my hometown state of Montana involving human trafficking involves Kimberly Bearchaw Irons, who grew up on a Native American reservation in Montana and went missing in 2021 (Whyatt, 2023).  One day she was assumed to be kidnapped due to a home invasion, leaving her infant baby unattended. She was declared missing later that year though she occasionally kept in contact with her father. Suddenly, the calls stopped, and no further contact was made. Ms. Irons was last seen in two locations: one in a strip club and again at an airport. After the second sighting, Ms. Irons was never seen again. This case mirrors thousands of missing women cases at native American reservations nationwide. The generational implications of women being kidnapped and sexually assaulted ruin families, demolish community morale and promote a sense of hopelessness within the community on Native American reservations. This form of abuse is categorized as neglect because the assistance the native American communities require is not available for these communities. Funding in how effective law enforcement is (The Importance of Data Collection for Violence Against Native American/Alaska Native Women, n.d.-b). More clear jurisdictional boundaries protect members of Native American reservations. I believe this type of abuse stems from racism, systematic oppression, and distrust from members of this community toward strangers (The Importance of Data Collection for Violence Against Native American/Alaska Native Women, 2021).

The following case I will cover is the socioeconomic disadvantage of a member of the Native American community. It is no mystery about the employment opportunities for many on the reservations. It is said that 28% of the total native American population in America lives at or below the poverty line (Whyatt, 2023). This lack of opportunity develops several societal issues, such as substance abuse which is currently destroying the population on Native American reservations. Right now, native Americans are 3.9 times more at risk of becoming dependent on some form of substance abuse. The consequence of this reality has influenced poor health, both mental and physical as well (Zandamela, 2023). With alcohol abuse playing a significant factor in the native population's quality of health, the native population is also at a higher risk of dying of alcohol-related illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver disease. Substance abuse also has a significant impact on the quality of life of families as well as communities (Zandamela, 2023). Sadly, due to the lack of resources and available trained personnel, behavioral health services are often not accessible to those on the reservation. Interestingly, due to the high demand for mental health services on the population on the reservation, a surge of mental health and substance abuse scams has become a reoccurring event. These scams guarantee promises of hope, often leading patients to be more economically devastated (The Importance of Data Collection for Violence Against Native American/Alaska Native Women, 2021).  Due to this neglect, mental, which sadly can turn into physical abuse becomes common on native American reservations.

In conclusion, the plight of Native American reservations is severely underrepresented and must be discussed more frequently. Some of the sources that were used in the development of this assignment I personally felt was particularly disturbing and has motivated me to do additional research.  I believe that it is so important for us as a civilization to be more aware of the plights of other groups of people because it is easy for people in the middle class in America to get caught up in our own worlds and not really care about the struggles of other groups of people.  It is also important to consider statistical data because it provides an actual numerical calculation of the severity an ongoing systematic problem can be.

References

The Importance of Data Collection for Violence Against Native American/Alaska Native Women. (2021). National Sexual Violence Resource Center. https://www.nsvrc.org/blogs/importance-data-collection-violence-against-native-americanalaska-native-women#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAlmost%2080%25%20of%20Native%20women,Nation%20of%20Oklahoma%20to%20NPR.

Whyatt, R. (2023, March 2). Violence Against Native Women Has Colonial Roots. Progressive.org. https://progressive.org/magazine/violence-against-native-women-has-colonial-roots-whyatt/

Zandamela, C. B. &. T. (2023, February 17). Sexual Assault on Native American Reservations in the United States - Ballard Brief. Ballard Brief. https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/sexual-assault-on-native-american-reservations-in-the-us