Soldiers Bomb in Cybertruck Explosion at Trump Hotel Could Have Been More Lethal

A career Army Special Forces master sergeant with years of experience detonated a homemade bomb packed into a Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, yet the blast left the glass doors a few feet away and the chandeliers just above the windshield intact.And while seven bystanders suffered injuries, the only person who died was the soldier himself in the truck.The lack of destruction and the low death toll were a cause for relief for the authorities and others reeling from the New Orleans attacks a few hours earlier.

But they also prompted a lot of head-scratching, by law enforcement officials and by Special Forces soldiers who served with the man, 37-year-old Matthew Alan Livelsberger.If he had wanted to cause far more harm, his colleagues suggested, he likely had the skill and experience to do it.Sergeant Livelsberger, who was known as Berg to other Green Berets, spent nearly 20 years in Special Forces, first as a communications specialist, then as an intelligence specialist, and finally as the senior enlisted leader in an operational detachment, also known as an A-Team.For many of those years, he was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, based in Colorado Springs and Stuttgart, Germany.

He deployed at least six times, including three tours in Afghanistan, and was decorated by the Army for valor.While he never held a formal explosives position, all members of A-Teams get explosives training, and many also learn to build improvised explosives, several Green Berets said.They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.One Green Beret who went on a mission in Afghanistan in 2019 with Sergeant Livelsberger said that he was experienced and capable, and made an impression because the other Green Berets all carried standard assault rifles, while he carried a rapid-fire grenade launcher.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Th...