Chris Amico: Journalist

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Army Spc. Eric Huff remembers a knock on his barracks door just after midnight on Dec. 10, the day he was scheduled to leave South Korea after a nearly two-year tour of duty.

Two other American soldiers stood outside. He walked out and shut the door behind him.

Then came a blow from behind, on the head, and Huff went down. His three assailants punched, kicked and stomped on Huff’s face and head, leaving him with a fractured skull.

The next thing Huff remembers is waking up in the base hospital two days later. His parents, who live in the Antelope Valley, were at his bedside.

They traveled with urgency, fearing their son might not live.

According to a preliminary Army Criminal Investigation Division report, Pvt. Henry Hall, Pfc. Demetry Randall and Pvt. Alan Brackens members of the 305th Quartermaster Company, attacked Huff “for fun.”

After knocking Huff to the ground, the report stated, “Hall, Randall and Brackens continued to repeatedly punch, kick and stomp Huff in the face and head. Hall, Randall and Brackens subsequently fled the scene.”

In the course of the Army’s criminal investigation, Hall and Brackens both reportedly admitted attacking Huff.

Major Kate Johnson, a public affairs officer for the 8th Army in South Korea, insisted that the attack is not part of a pattern.

“I have no indication that this is other than an isolated incident with the individuals in question,” Johnson said. “When allegations like that are made, that is thoroughly investigated. There is no previous indication of previous assaults like we saw on the evening in question.”

She added, “If there is any indication from investigation that there’s a pattern of misconduct or a pattern of activity, that would also be thoroughly investigated.”

Johnson also said she knew of no previous or outstanding charges against Hall, Brackens or Randall.

The preliminary CID report is at some variance to Johnson’s understanding of what happened.

The CID report said, “Brackens said all three of them had assaulted other individuals, both on and off Yongsan Garrison on various occasions in the past, with similar motive.”

Only Randall denied involvement in the attack.

“However, shortly after the incident, Randall and Brackens bragged to other soldiers that they had just assaulted someone,” the CID report said.

“Brackens told the soldiers they did not believe they would get caught because they had assaulted numerous other individuals without consequence.”

Capt. Jack Ko, lead military prosecutor in the case, said no formal charges have been filed against Hall, Brackens or Randall.

The report stated the three were in confinement awaiting a preliminary hearing for potential charges of attempted murder.

Yongsan Garrison, in the South Korean capital of Seoul, is the headquarters of the 8th Army and U.S. Forces Korea, which have maintained roughly 37,000 troops in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. United Nations Command and U.S.-Republic of Korea Combined Forces Command also are based there.

Plans are underway to move Yongsan Garrison out of Seoul and to reduce the American presence on the Korean peninsula. U.S. forces could be reduced by a third by 2008.

While preparations are under way to reduce the American troop commitment on the Korean peninsula, the Army is operating at peak capacity to maintain its worldwide mission while as many as 170,000 troops are needed in Iraq and Afghanistan at any time.

Units that once were stable in their base locations now operate in a state of churn.

When the assault happened, Huff, a soldier with the 17th Aviation Brigade, was making preparations to leave Korea. His suspected assailants belonged to the 305th Quartermaster Co.

Huff said he had never met any of his attackers before they knocked on his barracks door.

“I never heard of this stuff,” he said, referring to the assault by attackers who ganged up.

“I remember these guys talking to me. They weren’t really sayin’ nothing. I don’t really know what happened. Then two, three days later I woke up in the hospital.”

Huff, 20, was due to fly home on Dec. 10, after spending nearly two years in South Korea, working in military telecommunications.

His mother, Debra, received a call from Yongsan Garrison around 4 a.m. on Dec. 10. The emergency call came a few hours before she would have left her Lancaster home to pick her son up from the airport.

“I hadn’t seen my son in two years,” Debra Huff said. “I bought a ticket for him to come home, and they say he (wasn’t going to be) coming home.”

She recalled: “They said, ‘Ma’am, he’s been assaulted.’ The first thing I thought was the Koreans.”

Then the official told Debra Huff that her son had been attacked by American soldiers.

“I just dropped,” she said.

Within hours, the Army arranged for Huff and her ex-husband, Eric Huff Sr., to travel to South Korea for the purpose of “assisting with the recovery of Specialist Eric E. Huff Jr.”

The Huffs were not allowed to speak to their son until they arrived at the hospital.

The Huffs believe the only reason they were brought to South Korea was because the Army did not expect Eric to survive.

Huff received multiple head and facial injuries, including the skull fractures.

When the soldier’s father first saw him in the hospital, there were still footprints on Eric’s face and head.

Two weeks later, Huff can walk short distances on his own, although his gait is wobbly. He lost his equilibrium during the attack. The left side of his body tingles and goes numb.

In conversation, Huff stares intently at the floor. His voice is quiet, and there are long pauses between sentences.

“Y’know what the Army told me?” an exasperated Debra Huff said. “He’s young, he’ll rebuild himself. He’s gonna be fine.”

She railed at the Army, which she says has let the base fall into disarray.

She said she told Army officials: “Do you guys understand you got some outta control soldiers over there?”

She added, “I’m scared for other people’s kids over there. The Army’s supposed to be disciplined. They’re out of control.”

Huff enlisted in the Army at 17, after graduating from Lancaster High School. His enlistment is up in August 2006, and Huff said he has no plans to stay in the military.

“I think I’m done with the Army,” Huff said. The attack two weeks ago is “a lot of it, but there’s other stuff, too.”

The 8th Army spokeswoman said, “This situation is a shock to us in the military community. This is not the way soldiers behave.”

“It’s in the family’s interest and our interest, to make sure proper punishment is levied, and that things like this just don’t happen again.”

Johnson reiterated that few details are available to the public during the investigation.

“I think what is important to focus on is that the alleged assailants are in pre-trial confinement,” she said. “We recognize the absolute severity of the crime that was committed.”

Crime is rare on military bases, she said, and especially at Yongsan Garrison.

“It’s a very low incident of crime pertaining to soldiers in military installations,” Johnson said. “If we have a soldier interested in criminal activity, he’s dealt with, and dealt with swiftly. We have very low instance of criminal activity, and certainly not assault of this kind.”

She added, “We had a murder two years ago, where a soldier murdered his wife. And given what I’ve just said about the low incidence of crime, that was a very unusual activity.”