This podcast contains adult themes and graphic violence.

Listener discretion is advised.

A commercial-free version of this podcast is available on Patreon.

For $1 per month, Patreon.com forward slash Beyond ContemptPontempt Podcast.

I'm Renee, and this is Beyond Contempt Your Crime.

Thank you. I'm Renee, and this is Beyond Contempt True Crime. So today I'm switching it up and bringing you a story that took place on the forward operating base Ramrod in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

There were members of the army from the rank of private first class to staff sergeant who committed atrocious murders against people who were innocent locals.

You're listening to episode 32, the Maywand District Murders.

The Army's forward operating base was known as Ramrod and was in Maywand in the southern Kandahar Providence of Afghanistan. In 2008, it was a volatile area

where the Taliban seemed to have the upper hand. They launched many attacks with landmines,

ambushes, suicide bombers, and improvised explosive device or IED attacks. Army platoon emotions were running hot.

They felt defeated from all the one-sided incidents they experienced while on patrol.

There wasn't much engagement with the Taliban,

other than to see the fighters, known as squirters,

fleeing from explosions on motorcycles.

The members of the Third Platoon Bravo Company felt hamstrung by this elusiveness, and they wanted

to engage in combat. Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs joined Bravo Company at the Forward

Operating Base, or Fob Ramrod, in November 2009.

A well-liked NCO, or non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Robert Samuel volunteered for patrol,

but was unlucky when he got caught in an IED attack. Even though he was medically evacuated from Ramrod, he lost his legs.

This event added to the emotional intensity experienced by the members of the platoon.

Gibbs felt guilty that he wasn't out on patrol. He was one of the more experienced officers

...