UK UK - Corrie McKeague, 23, Bury St Edmunds, 24 September 2016 #5

[guruagain]

Not sure why all my posts on going AWOL are being ignored and it's now a prime option. It's not something anyone with recent military experience would be counting as an option. As I've said before why would he go AWOL? Then need to spend the next few years living like the infamous canoe guy when he could have just PVR'd (handed his notice in) and kept his reputation, contact with his family etc. It's easy to get out these days. I've posted on this before, in the whole RAF from 2007 to 2014 there were only 7 attempts at AWOL (attempts not individual people, so could have all been the same person) these were all in 2013. Meaning that even at the peak of back to back tours of duty in Afghan no-one bothered going AWOL.
If anything it's a lot easier to just take a couple of lines of coke, make an anonymous tip off and get cdt'd and immediately out without any issues.

According to this there were 5 in 2011 in the RAF

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thousands-of-military-troops-locked-up-143920

You need to provide a link to your AWOL stats otherwise they will get ignored.

 

[jessie]

A film crew are in the town this morning filming mammas mias & the cctv cameras again, hopefully this will be on the news advertising the POD with more air time than the normal 30 seconds its gets.

That's good to hear, and from what I've read here it's going to be very busy in BSE with that Xmas Market, so fingers crossed many make the effort to visit the POD too.

What is this 'POD' could someone tell me please? Is it a mobile unit that's parked somewhere central?

 

[guruagain]

Not sure why all my posts on going AWOL are being ignored and it's now a prime option. It's not something anyone with recent military experience would be counting as an option. As I've said before why would he go AWOL? Then need to spend the next few years living like the infamous canoe guy when he could have just PVR'd (handed his notice in) and kept his reputation, contact with his family etc. It's easy to get out these days. I've posted on this before, in the whole RAF from 2007 to 2014 there were only 7 attempts at AWOL (attempts not individual people, so could have all been the same person) these were all in 2013. Meaning that even at the peak of back to back tours of duty in Afghan no-one bothered going AWOL.
If anything it's a lot easier to just take a couple of lines of coke, make an anonymous tip off and get cdt'd and immediately out without any issues.

This link says 54 RAF AWOLs in just 4 years 2007 to 2010 and the one below says at least 20 - 2011 to 2015.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/16803/FOI20082010160944005_AWOL_20002010.pdf

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https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...1_to_2016_and_information_on_prosecutions.pdf

 

[Dcflag]

That's good to hear, and from what I've read here it's going to be very busy in BSE with that Xmas Market, so fingers crossed many make the effort to visit the POD too.

What is this 'POD' could someone tell me please? Is it a mobile unit that's parked somewhere central?

Yeah, don't quote me but I thought near McDonald's. It's just a way of getting passers by to nip in and look without inconveniencing people to come to the station. If you're shopping it would take a minute to just have a look and see if you recognise anyone.

 

[rogerthelodger]

That's good to hear, and from what I've read here it's going to be very busy in BSE with that Xmas Market, so fingers crossed many make the effort to visit the POD too.

What is this 'POD' could someone tell me please? Is it a mobile unit that's parked somewhere central?

Yes Jessie where the footage can be viewed..apologies for the word film crew, what a horrible choice of word, I should of said camera crew, I just typed it as it was said to me :/

 

[goape]

This link says 54 RAF AWOLs in just 4 years 2007 to 2010 and the one below says at least 20 - 2011 to 2015.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/16803/FOI20082010160944005_AWOL_20002010.pdf

------------------

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...1_to_2016_and_information_on_prosecutions.pdf

I think this was the original link I used, though when I rewrote it I've written 7 not 10.

 

[MissJoshuaTree]

You could argue that awol only fits with what we know of the character and family relationship with Corrie. Let's be honest, none of us know him. None of his friends or colleagues have come forward with personal information. I understand especially from the military perspective it's not something you want to tar anyone with, so I think while I agree with you he's unlikely awol, it can't ever be completely eliminated until we have some evidence of foul play.

As for the phone, let's think a minute. Why would a phone go in a recycling bin (full of cardboard and paper presumably)?

If you're minimising your chances of getting caught causing harm to someone would you scatter the evidence doubling your chances of being caught? The pings aren't overly accurate, just because they show it could have been in the bin lorry it equally could have travelled close to Barton mills in any of the may other roads in that direction. It may have not been gone to Barton mills it only has to ping the mast.

I'm thinking he had his phone and the battery went dead. I've never had a phone battery last all day until 5am!

Lack of evidence doesn't support a struggle theory. You have to think he must have had a plan for the night, he wasn't going to sleep in the city all night (Nicola confirmed he didn't mean to fall asleep and he didn't sleep long) so he's either planning to meet someone or planning to walk home. How would meeting someone and waiting two hours benefit him more than getting a taxi home?

If you believe he met someone you have a few options

1) someone he knows that he verbally arranged the lift with
2) someone he knows he arrange the lift with over the phone
3) someone he doesn't know he arranged a meeting with through an app

Which one benefits him sitting outside early hours of the morning in the cold instead of getting a taxi home?

What it comes down to is this, you can't enter or exit that loading bay unseen. You just can't. So if you see Corrie enter, you see Corrie exit. Tony has explained how they indemnify people by gait , measurements of sizes etc so we can assume none of the unidentified are Corrie. To get Corrie out "unseen" would require a vehicle. We have vehicles on cctv so it has to be one of them. The unidentified are most likely witnesses, if you can get a witness to corroborate Corrie getting into a car that's vital evidence.

For anyone unsure about the area shown on cctv the find Corrie website has a video someone has taken that walk from the takeaway down to the doorway he sat in and then to the loading bay.

For some reason the footage on the Find Corrie website will not play, did you manage to play it? Could you perhaps post the link please?

 

[soundssuspicious]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Air_Force_Police

I didn't know that the RAF police headquarters are at honington, they have dogs and all the search skills , very strange that they are not involved more,

Indeed!

 

[goape]

Indeed!

Unless you've had dealings with them, then slightly less surprising.

 

[soundssuspicious]

Unless you've had dealings with them, then slightly less surprising.

If the RAF aren't bothering to search for him there must be a good reason...

 

[Dcflag]

For some reason the footage on the Find Corrie website will not play, did you manage to play it? Could you perhaps post the link please?

http://www.findcorrie.co.uk/2016/11/06/bury-st-edmunds/ That's the one I watched, it plays for me on my iphone

 

[Ironside]

If the RAF aren't bothering to search for him there must be a good reason...

They are "bothering" to search for him actually.

From a Suffolk police press release 11th November
https://www.suffolk.police.uk/news/missing-persons/corrie-mckeague

"Specialist RAF search teams have joined Suffolk police officers and Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue volunteers to carry out line searching of wooded areas too. New searches are being considered as the enquiry continues."
and
"In addition to RAF military police investigators, RAF search personnel and intelligence staff, Suffolk Constabulary are also receiving assistance from other specialist teams from other forces including CCTV viewers from Metropolitan Police."

 

[MissJoshuaTree]

http://www.findcorrie.co.uk/2016/11/06/bury-st-edmunds/ That's the one I watched, it plays for me on my iphone

Thank you, it works from your link

 

[goape]

If the RAF aren't bothering to search for him there must be a good reason...

What I meant was there aren't that many of them, less when you look at the wide range of different skills and specialisms they are trying to cover. They'll do what they can I'm sure.

 

[Ironside]

'm a bit hesitant to go into the hub myself and view the footage, especially if they are busy. As I'm all the way over in Gloucestershire at the moment, I don't want to waste police time looking at footage when I know it's highly unlikely I will recognise anyone.
What are your thoughts?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Personally I wouldn't go look at the cctv if I wasn't from the area or knew the area well. By all means go and hand out flyers and go rambling but with respect I think it is a bit intrusive to go see the footage itself. People from BSE and surrounding area shouldn't be made wait to view it because someone else who can't actually help identify anyone is looking at footage.

Also if you are going rambling try and find out where Sulsar etc. haven't searched yet as there is no point travelling all that way to go over ground that has already been covered by a trained search team.

 

[goape]

Personally I wouldn't go look at the cctv if I wasn't from the area or knew the area well. By all means go and hand out flyers and go rambling but with respect I think it is a bit intrusive to go see the footage itself. People from BSE and surrounding area shouldn't be made wait to view it because someone else who can't actually help identify anyone is looking at footage.

Also if you are going rambling try and find out where Sulsar etc. haven't searched yet as there is no point travelling all that way to go over ground that has already been covered by a trained search team.

I agree, even if you go in to look when there's no queue while you're in there someone local may come along and decide not to bother waiting, without meaning to you may stop a vital identification being made. I think it's all very well us being armchair sleuths but we're not going to get Corrie back or put someone behind bars and what we really shouldn't do is jeopardise the police being able to do that.

 

[soundssuspicious]

Personally I wouldn't go look at the cctv if I wasn't from the area or knew the area well. By all means go and hand out flyers and go rambling but with respect I think it is a bit intrusive to go see the footage itself. People from BSE and surrounding area shouldn't be made wait to view it because someone else who can't actually help identify anyone is looking at footage.

Also if you are going rambling try and find out where Sulsar etc. haven't searched yet as there is no point travelling all that way to go over ground that has already been covered by a trained search team.

Good point. What's the use of non-locals going to view images of people they'd not even recognise?!

Besides, these people can't have been in the bin area the same time as Corrie, so it's all rather pointless...

seems mighty strange that the police, RAF and press seem so, so disinterested....

Normally, if a serviceman disappeared under strange circumstances they'd be all over the place searching...And the press would be full of it....

The only people arranging things is Corrie's mum and Tony......

 

[Dcflag]

I agree, even if you go in to look when there's no queue while you're in there someone local may come along and decide not to bother waiting, without meaning to you may stop a vital identification being made. I think it's all very well us being armchair sleuths but we're not going to get Corrie back or put someone behind bars and what we really shouldn't do is jeopardise the police being able to do that.

I also agree, I'm not very far away from bse but I know the chances of me knowing anyone on that cctv are very very slim so I'll trust the police are showing it to who needs to see it in the local area and am more than happy to take the time to look if it's released to the public just in case.

The hub is just showing the unidentified 23 isn't it?

 

[PurpleWitch]

Do the guys at the bases get to go out every weekend or is it only every other weekend. noticed that RAF Mildenhall posted on their Facebook on 23rd September giving advice about staying safe and drinking.

 

[goape]

Do the guys at the bases get to go out every weekend or is it only every other weekend. noticed that RAF Mildenhall posted on their Facebook on 23rd September giving advice about staying safe and drinking.

You can usually go out whenever you like, unless you're on duty which is done on rotation amongst all those of similar rank, perhaps once every month or two, not sure what it would be exactly for Corrie, just talking about a typical scenario. You can usually swap them with a mate if you need a specific weekend off.