Photo By Erin Thompson | Maj. Stephen M. Badger with his bride (Fayetteville Observer)... read more read more
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by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
On October 27, 1995, a sergeant from the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, opened fire on a training field at Fort Liberty (formerly known as Fort Bragg), North Carolina, killing intelligence officer Maj. Stephen M. Badger and wounding 18 others.
Stephen Mark Badger was born on December 13, 1957 in Salt Lake City, Utah. While attending high school, Badger joined the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. Prior to attending university, Badger, who was a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), embarked on a traditional LDS mission to Milan, Italy, from 1977–1979. After returning to the United States, Badger attended Thatcher Eastern Arizona College for a year before transferring to Brigham Young University. He graduated with a degree in psychology in 1985. Having resumed training with the university’s ROTC program, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg (Fort Liberty since 2023). He was stationed in Italy for three years and, in 1995, was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Task Force, 325th Infantry, as the regimental S-2.
The brigade had planned a four-mile run on the morning of October 27, 1995. One day earlier, the assailant, a 26-year-old infantry squad leader with the 325th Infantry, told another squad member he was “going to shoot the run the following day.” The sergeant had a history of mental health problems and had been referred to a military psychiatrist the previous year. Ultimately cleared for duty, he was promoted to sergeant in March 1995. His squad member reported the comment to his commander, but the threat was not deemed serious.
In the early morning of October 27, hundreds of soldiers assembled on the fort’s athletic field when the assailant opened fire from his position in the nearby tree line. Maj. Badger was struck in the head and killed. He was 36 years old. Eighteen other Soldiers were wounded, including CW2 Abraham Castillo, who was paralyzed from the waist down. Maj. (later Lt. Col.) Guy LoFaro was shot in the stomach and spent several weeks in a coma. Four U.S. Special Forces Soldiers who were exercising near the stadium rushed to the trees to stop the attack. One of these Soldiers was shot in the foot while another, Staff Sgt. Anthony Minor, suffered a broken hand trying to subdue the assailant. Minor later stated: “It was a fight for his life and it was a fight for our lives…We did what we were trained to do.” Several Special Forces soldiers, as well as Badger and LoFaro, were awarded the Army’s Soldier’s Medal for heroism. Sgt. 1st Class Matt Lewis also received a Soldier’s Medal for performing emergency first aid on Castillo. The sniper was sentenced to death in 1996, commuted to life in prison in 2004.
Badger was survived by his wife and eight children, and his body is interred in his hometown of Holden, Utah. He is honored on the MI Corps Memorial Wall at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
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| Date Taken: | 10.25.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.25.2024 15:42 |
| Story ID: | 483966 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 172 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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