The Buffalo Soldier Gate at Fort Bliss, Texas. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
A Fort Bliss soldier was found guilty of keeping an explosive device in his barracks room but acquitted on additional charges that he posted antisemitic comments online saying he wanted to attack synagogues, according to court records.
Spc. Ryan S. Newberry, 21, accepted a plea agreement on Nov. 15 that limited his sentence to five months. He pleaded guilty to violating a lawful order against owning any form of a privately owned weapon in the barracks on Sept. 24, 2024, and using psychedelic drugs at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., in April 2022, according to court documents released by the Army last week. He was also reduced in rank to an E-1. He did not receive a discharge or forfeiture of pay as part of the deal.
The charges to which he pleaded not guilty included reckless conduct for storing “incendiary substances and explosives” in his barracks room and for communicating threats through the online platform Discord in February, April and May of 2024, according to court records.
Military Judge Lt. Col. Rick Mathew accepted the plea agreement, according to online court records.
Newberry enlisted as a combat medic in June 2021, according to his official service record. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Armored Division at the time of his arrest.
Some of Newberry’s posts on the social media site Discord were included in court records, such as “I want to kill everyone I disagree with” and “I am literally a jews [sic] worst nightmare.” Other posts included a derogatory slur toward Black people and one that discouraged others from enlisting in the U.S. military.
The court documents were posted to the Army’s online court records system. The service has up to 45 days after a court-martial’s results are certified to post related documents for public access.
Newberry, who was placed in pretrial confinement Sept. 17, 2024, was credited with roughly two months of time served for his sentence, according to court documents. He served the remainder of his time at a military prison at Lewis-McChord and has been released from confinement. He received an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army on March 28, according to Fort Bliss.
The Army Criminal Investigation Division did not respond Wednesday to questions about their investigation or how the Army discovered Newberry had a bomb in his barracks.
Following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol over the results of the presidential election, in which many veterans and some service members were among those arrested, the Defense Department pledged to root out extremist behavior in the ranks. A report published by the Pentagon in 2021 said such activities in the military were rare but even a few could pose a problem.
In a 2022 review of the Pentagon’s efforts, the Center for Strategic International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said the military should improve its transparency on counter-extremism efforts and focus on gaining buy in from the troops. It should also track the scope of the problem in a centralized place.
