The Marine Corps located a missing $38,000 thermal sight Friday inside the locked shipping container where the unit had stored it, then extended the investigation after cutting the lock created three new property discrepancies.
The AN/PAS-13 was reported missing during a quarterly inventory at Camp Lejeune when its serial number appeared on the company property book but the item did not appear on the folding table where everything else had been arranged by size, value, and likelihood of ending someone’s weekend.
Marines searched the armory, supply cages, vehicles, offices, maintenance bays, wall lockers, and the trunk of a corporal’s 2014 Dodge Charger. Liberty was secured at 1630. The response followed the same institutional logic used when a missing canteen cap halted global Marine Corps operations, adjusted for inflation and thermal capability.
At 2205, Lance Cpl. Eric Tolland spotted the sight through a narrow gap between the doors of Conex 14. It sat on the second shelf beneath a laminated sign reading THERMALS.
Finding the item did not resolve the matter.
The key to Conex 14 was signed out to a staff sergeant attending a course in Twentynine Palms. The spare key was inside the conex in a lockbox installed after the previous spare key was lost. A bolt cutter was available in Conex 12, but the key to Conex 12 was attached to the same ring as the key to Conex 14.
“At that point we knew where the gear was,” said Capt. Melissa Ardoin, the company commander. “What we lacked was an authorized path between our current position and the gear’s position.”
The company requested support from facilities, military police, installation locksmiths, battalion supply, and a retired gunnery sergeant rumored to possess every key ever issued aboard the base. Facilities said the conex was unit property. Military police said the lock was not evidence. The locksmith said he could arrive Tuesday. Battalion asked why the item had not been secured.
At 0117, the battalion executive officer authorized the lock to be cut.
The sight was recovered six minutes later, its serial number verified, and its condition recorded as serviceable. The broken lock was placed on the table as evidence that the container had been unsecured, prompting an immediate inventory of everything inside.
That inventory identified one extra aiming-light case, two radios assigned to a platoon that no longer existed, fourteen folding chairs marked PROPERTY OF MWR, and a pallet jack with no data plate.
The thermal sight investigation was therefore consolidated into a broader command review of property accountability, container access, key control, unauthorized MWR furniture, and the circumstances by which a pallet jack can exist without belonging to anyone.
“The sight is no longer missing,” explained Chief Warrant Officer Bryce Nadeau, the investigating officer. “That finding created additional questions about why it was found, who had access to the location where it was found, and whether finding it constituted an unauthorized inventory adjustment.”
Tolland was directed to prepare a written statement describing how he observed the sight through the door. His first statement was returned because it did not explain why he was looking through the door. His second was returned because it implied the container had a visible gap, potentially establishing a separate physical-security deficiency.
The company purchased a replacement lock from the exchange using personal funds after supply said the authorized lock was backordered. Battalion supply rejected the replacement because it was not keyed to the installation system. The original broken lock remains on the property table pending disposition instructions.
Marines were released at 0940 Saturday after signing a roster confirming they had received refresher training on property accountability, key control, and the obligation to report found government property.
The thermal sight was returned to Conex 14.
Until an approved lock arrives, two Marines will guard the container in twelve-hour shifts.
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