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Mystery Deepens Over Green Beret Who Detonated Cybertruck Outside Trump Las Vegas Hotel

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The mystery surrounding why a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel on New Year’s Day continues to baffle investigators, even after police released a 70-page final report on Monday.

Authorities confirmed that the attacker, 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty Green Beret, left behind a digital manifesto now deemed classified by the Department of War. The report reveals that Livelsberger, described by peers as a “Rambo-type patriot,” filled the rented Cybertruck with fireworks, gasoline, and camping fuel before setting it off outside the hotel’s main lobby. As the vehicle erupted in flames, Livelsberger allegedly shot himself, resulting in six hotel guests being injured in the blast.

While the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) described the event as a “premeditated attack involving a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device,” Livelsberger claimed in a note that it was not a terrorist act. Instead, he called it a “wake-up call” to Americans, criticizing the U.S. for “feckless leadership” and warning the nation was “near collapse.”

“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call,” he wrote in a notes app message. “Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives.”

Investigators discovered that Livelsberger had recently suffered a personal breakdown. He was on leave from his post in Germany when his wife left him over alleged infidelity just six days before the explosion. Sources said he departed his Colorado Springs home the next day, rented the Cybertruck through the car-sharing app Turo, and drove to Las Vegas.

The report also confirmed that Livelsberger sent one of his final messages to Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor, though the contents of that message remain undisclosed.

The FBI and Army Criminal Investigations Division were among the multiple agencies involved in the probe, which initially explored whether the attack was politically motivated due to its proximity to a Trump-branded property. Officials, however, say no conclusive link to political extremism has been found.

The LVMPD emphasized that they have no control over the release of the classified manifesto, citing the Department of Defense’s jurisdiction.

Despite the official closure of the case, many questions remain unanswered — from the contents of Livelsberger’s manifesto to his true motives on the night he turned a luxury electric vehicle into a giant firecracker.

Photo credit: Flickr

Former Green Beret Charged Spying for Russia

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A former Army Green Beret living in northern Virginia was arrested Friday, charged with divulging military secrets about his unit’s activities in former Soviet republics during more than a decade of contacts with Russian intelligence.

Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, told Russian intelligence he considered himself a “son of Russia,” according to an indictment made public after his arrest.

“Debbins thought that the United States was too dominant in the world and needed to be cut down to size,” prosecutors alleged.

The indictment also states that Debbins was motivated in part because of bitterness over his Army career and a desire to establish business contacts in Russia. . .

The case against Debbins is the second Justice Department prosecution announced this week accusing a government or military official of transmitting U.S. secrets to a foreign country. The other case, in Hawaii, charged a former CIA officer with spying for China. (Read more from “Former Green Beret Charged Spying for Russia” HERE)

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Green Berets Have Growing Doubts of Duties With Skittish Political Leadership

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8_302015_ap091118015014-58201_c0-205-3888-2471_s561x327They were the first troops to hit the ground in Afghanistan while al Qaeda’s dirty work still smoldered back in the United States.

On foot, helicopter and horseback, Army Special Forces showed that if the U.S. was to win a long counterinsurgency war against Islamic extremists, the special skills of Green Berets would be fundamental.

Nearly 14 years later, these soldiers, some of the military’s smartest and best trained, are still creating lots of headlines, but not necessarily for heroics.

In recent months, the Army has disciplined, admonished and ended the careers of a number of Green Berets for actions that the soldiers themselves believe were part of combating an evil enemy. Pristine standards for fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda are not achievable, some in the community say.

“There is certainly a belief that upper echelons of leadership have morphed into political positions, and leaders are a lot less willing to risk their own career to support their soldiers,” Danny Quinn, a former Green Beret team leader and West Point graduate, told The Washington Times. (Read more from “Green Berets Have Growing Doubts of Duties With Skittish Political Leadership” HERE)

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Memo Shows Green Beret Fighting to Stay in Army Was Severely Reprimanded for Shoving Afghan Rapist

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Green Berets honor President Kennedy in ceremonyA decorated Green Beret being forced out of the military in a matter of months was taken to task in 2011 by a top Army general for confronting an accused Afghan rapist, according to an official reprimand obtained by Fox News – bolstering claims he is being discharged over the incident.

Fox News first reported last week that Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland is being kicked out, and that his supporters suspect it is because of his actions standing up for a young Afghan rape victim. This has outraged his colleagues, as well as Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who calls it a “black mark” for the U.S. Army and wants Defense Secretary Ash Carter to reverse the decision.

The October 2011 “memorandum of reprimand” obtained by Fox News indeed makes clear that Martland was blasted by the brass for his intervention after the alleged rape.

In the memo, Brig. Gen. Christopher Haas, then-commander of Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command Afghanistan, accused Martland and his Green Beret team leader of a “flagrant departure from the integrity, professionalism and even-tempered leadership” expected of Special Forces soldiers.

“Your behavior is inexcusable and incompatible with the high standards of performance, military discipline and operational readiness of Special Forces,” the memo states. (Read more from “Memo Shows Green Beret Fighting to Stay in Army Was Severely Reprimanded for Shoving Afghan Rapist” HERE)

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Here’s the Unlikely Story of a Green Beret Turned NFL Prospect

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Green Beret, Texas Longhorn football player, NFL’s most improbable prospect – had just finished fixing a sat-com radio in the rear of an M-ATV, light-armored, mine-resistant vehicle. Now he was scrambling to get back to the relative safety of its cabin.

This was July 2014. This was on a thin ribbon of road on the edge of Tagab, a small village in the Kapisa Province of Afghanistan . . .

Boyer was part of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Special Forces Group, which he linked up with as a sort-of summer job, leaving major college football where he was Texas’ starting long snapper for the field of battle, only to return to the States, and his team, on the eve of preseason camp.

On this day, on the side of that road in Tagab, there were a dozen Americans and 100 Afghan soldiers they’d helped train, running a sweep for Taliban through a collection of mud huts not far from the Pakistani border.

Boyer’s convoy of maybe 25 vehicles had come under gun and mortar fire as it approached a town. Chaos ruled the day. The group was left scanning for muzzle flashes in order to target and return fire. Providing cover for medics charging into dirt fields to aid the injured. Trying to gain perspective amid clouds of smoke, courtesy of something burning behind the village walls. This is what Boyer was long used to, battle hardened via years of deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was 33 years old and long past panicking. (Read more about the green beret and his story HERE)

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