Kill Team : A Firsthand Account of the Maywand District Murders and the Subsequent Military Investigation and Trials - Calvin R. Gibbs

Calvin Gibbs has been portrayed in the courts, media, and in Hollywood films as the murderer, psychopath even, behind the Kill Team murders. In this book, he describes his version of events to the public for the first time. This manuscript was originally written with pen on paper in solitary confinement, inside the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. The USDB is the military's maximum-security prison. The author, Calvin Gibbs, is currently serving a life sentence for three counts of premeditated murder. Calvin Gibbs was accused and convicted of instigating a series of three murders in the Maywand District of Afghanistan, all of which occured in 2010. The killings were carried out by a platoon of soldiers from the US Army's 2nd Infantry Division. The platoon is alleged to having simulated the rules of engagement, staging the murders of three unarmed Afghan civilians as legitimate combat actions. This story became international news during the Army's investigation into the killings. Twelve soldiers were charged, and 11 received convictions from military courts. This group of soldiers has come to be known in the media and popular culture as the Kill Team . Over the course of the trials, a then-26-year-old NCO from Montana named Calvin Gibbs was characterized by several of the accused and their legal teams as the ringleader of the Kill Team. Gibbs, who pled not guilty, received by far the stiffest sentence, life in Leavenworth. Some of the convicted soldiers have granted access to the media, including several who were interviewed extensively for a 2013 documentary film called The Kill Team. Outside of his statements in court, Calvin Gibbs has never provided any public statement regarding the murders, until now. In this book, Gibbs provides a detailed account of the tour in Afghanistan during which the killings occurred, along with the arrest, confinement, investigations, and trial that followed. Gibbs testifies that he was not present for the first and third murders, and that the alleged second murder was a legitimate combat action. He asserts that he was mistreated by the military justice system and betrayed by his fellow soldiers.