Missing Rifle Found; GIs Allowed to Go Home for Holidays

Members of a 125-man company at Ft. Knox, confined to base after an M-16 rifle disappeared, are free to go home for the holidays because the weapon was found, a base spokesman said Friday.

The rifle, which vanished Saturday after a night training exercise, was found in the company’s area on base Thursday night, spokesman Scott Saunders said.

“At this point, the investigation goes on, but we can say it was apparently stolen,” Saunders said. He said no one has been charged.

The men in the company of the 194th Brigade had been restricted to the base for six days while the incident was being investigated.

Because the rifle was found, Saunders said, “all leaves and passes have been reinstated, and those soldiers scheduled to depart Ft. Knox for the holidays have been allowed to leave.”