Area: alt.alien.visitors
From: charlefr@qm.wv.tek.com (Steve Frost)
Date: 27 Dec 1994 18:26:21 GMT

The following was written by Linda Moulton Howe and is reproduced with the 
consent of ISCNI.

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5) ARMY COVERS UP BATTALION CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH UFO?

National City, California -

John T. Vasquez, currently a California resident with an honorable discharge 
from the U. S. Army, has been filing Freedom of Information Act requests for 
data about an incident he insists occurred on September 2, 1977 at Fort 
Benning, Georgia. Vasquez said he joined the U. S. Regular Army on July 27, 
1977 when he was 23-years-old. His first assignment was Echo Company, 1st 
Advanced Infantry Training Battalion in the 1st Infantry at Fort Benning, 
Georgia near Columbus, south of Atlanta on the Alabama border. The Commander 
of Fort Benning then was Major General William J. Livsey, Jr.

By September 1, 1977, John Vasquez says he was shifted to Delta Company, 1st 
Battalion, 1st Infantry, where he was to participate in Advanced Individual 
Training (AIT). The next day, September 2, 1977, a mandatory formation of 
the 1200 men in the lst Battalion was scheduled for 7:30 PM in which company 
commanders would introduce themselves and their staffs.

All 1200 men were outside in their companies in formation under a clear 
night sky when someone yelled to look up. John Vasquez saw a light that 
looked like a star moving in a zigzag motion. Then he saw some of the men 
start running away out of formation. As the light came closer to the ground, 
Vasquez could see that the men around him looked like they were asleep with 
their heads hanging down and eyes closed. He panicked and ran with half a 
dozen other men who were running under a barracks building to hide. Vasquez 
and the others could see the bright light continue to move outside and heard 
some of the men scream.

Eventually, without clear memory of what had happened, John Vasquez found 
himself standing again with all the other men in his Delta Company 
formation. They all felt nauseous and disoriented and no one around him knew 
the exact time because various wrist watches showed different times. 
Everyone was ordered back to their barracks and Vasquez remembers going to 
sleep and not waking until late the next morning. After that, no one seemed 
to remember much about the night before and nothing was discussed.

But on September 16, 22 and 29, John T. Vasquez entered the Martin Army 
Hospital for physical therapy to relieve severe muscle spasms. His medical 
records state John Vasquez's assignment was "D-1-1," which in military 
parlance translates as Delta Company, lst Battalion, lst Infantry.

Then he was shipped off to Germany in October 1977 and had no further memory 
of the September 2 events until he started having nightmares in 1989. Since 
1991, he has filed dozens of FOIA requests for his Delta Company Army 
records. The consistent response from a variety of agencies has been that 
there was no Delta Company and no John T. Vasquez at Fort Benning, Georgia 
in September 1977.

Frustrated, John Vasquez is now trying to find anyone else who was in Delta 
Company, lst Battalion, lst Infantry on September 2, 1977 at Fort Benning, 
Georgia.  Anyone with information, please contact Vasquez's lawyer:  Jeffrey 
Schwartz at (619) 234-5678.

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Peace -

-- 
-Steve Frost               "If looks could kill, they probably will
charlefr@qm.wv.tek.com      In games without frontiers, 
                               War without tears."  -Peter Gabriel