FORT BRAGG, N.C. \u2014 More than a dozen U.S. Army Special Operations Command soldiers were apprehended and questioned last week as part of an investigation alleging drug involvement, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All 15 soldiers assigned under USASOC were questioned and released to their command, while two of the 15 were \u201ccleared of any wrongdoing,\u201d said Lt. Col. Michael Burns, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Army Special Operations Command is the higher headquarters for the Army\u2019s Special Forces soldiers, Army special operation forces and soldiers in support units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c(The Army Criminal Investigation Division\u2019s) investigation is ongoing, and it would be inappropriate to discuss the status of their investigation,\u201d Burns said. \u201cAll soldiers have the right to due process, including the presumption of innocence under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No arrests or charges have been filed at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The soldiers were apprehended by the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division \u201cas part of its ongoing efforts to identify and mitigate the use of illegal narcotics,\u201d CID officials wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is an ongoing investigation; no further details will be released at this time,\u201d CID officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
USASOC is cooperating with the Army Criminal Investigation Division, Burns said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
USASOC maintains a strict policy use against illegal drugs, which are \u201cnot acceptable\u201d nor tolerated, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe overwhelming majority of Army Special Operations soldiers live the (special operation forces) values every day,\u201d Burns said. \u201cThe use of illegal drugs or any other illegal activity goes directly against these values and does not reflect the behavior we demand from every soldier in our formation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leaders are taking measures at every level to ensure the health and welfare of its soldiers and to reduce harmful behaviors in its formations, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This article was published as part of a content-sharing agreement between Army Times and The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Investigators said this is part of an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":86571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","middle-column","home","disaster"],"primary_category":"your-military"}}},"categories":[100,22,6,23,92,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5289],"class_list":["post-48970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-disaster","category-ebb","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OHI3YA6GVVB7RBHO74RBQVAWYY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2023\/01\/09\/investigators-question-15-army-special-operators-in-ongoing-drug-probe\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n