The US Army officer whose body was found in a room in Dhaka’s Westin Hotel on August 31 was a Command Inspector General for 1 Special Forces Command (Airborne) and had plans to retire in the next two years, Northeast News has found.
Terrence Arvelle Jackson was found dead in his Westin Hotel room on August 31 but the US embassy in Dhaka was reluctant to disclose much about his army background.
But his LinkedIn page says that he served in the United States Army for over 20 years and participated in multiple combat deployments, and temporary duty assignments across the Asia Theater”.
Hailing from Raeford in North Carolina, Jackson was a “full time military officer”.
He joined the US Army in June 2006. However, previously he worked “part-time” in the Army National Guard from June 2003 to June 2006 and was then posted in South Carolina.
Jackson’s LinkedIn page says, “My pervious Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) was Infantry Officer 11A, and my current MOS is Special Forces Officer or 18A. I currently wok as a Command Inspector General for 1 Special Forces Command (Airborne), and I plan to retire in the next 2 years”.
The 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) is a division-level operations forces command within the United States Army Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The mission of 1SFC (A) is to organise, equip, train and validate forces to conduct full-spectrum special operations in support USSOCOM, Geographic Combatant Commanders, American ambassadors and other governmental agencies.
USSOCOM has the ability to rapidly deploy a high-level headquarters to run sustained, unconventional campaigns in foreign theatres.
Bangladesh Police officials said that Jackson was aged about 50 and his body was recovered from Room 808 of Westin Hotel. Jackson was reportedly on a business trip for the last few months and had checked into the hotel on August 29, Dhaka media reports said.
While Bangladesh police authorities do not suspect foul play – at least not yet – preliminary investigations were conducted before Jackson’s body was handed over to the US embassy without an autopsy.
When hotel staff did not get any response from Room 808 on August 31, a duplicate key was used to open the lock.
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Police officials said they had reviewed the CCTV footage of the hotel’s lobby and the passage leading to Room 808 but found nothing suspicious. The police suspect that Jackson died of natural causes.
The headquarters of the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) is located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
While Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities were reluctant to disclose much about Jackson, questions swirl over the presence of a Special Forces officer in the Bangladeshi capital.
What was the precise reason for his arrival in Bangladesh? If he was in Bangladesh for the last few months, what did he do during this time? Who all did he meet and which places in Bangladesh did he travel to? More importantly, are there other US Special Forces (Airborne) officers and soldiers in Bangladesh?
