Father says his Army son 'must pay the price'
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Larry Steele appears on CNN on Friday.
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(CNN) -- The father of a U.S. Army sergeant in Iraq sentenced to seven years confinement for recklessly driving a Humvee that flipped and crushed a soldier said his son deserved to be disciplined.
"My viewpoint is that the Army has to send a message to the troops," Larry Steele told CNN's American Morning. "The Army has a very set guideline for behavior. My son violated that -- those guidelines and rules -- and he must pay the price."
In a court-martial in Tikrit that ended Monday, Sgt. Oscar L. Nelson III , 25, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter as well as giving a false statement, willfully discharging a firearm and obstructing justice.
Nelson was accused of driving erratically at an excessive speed when the Humvee rolled over, killing Spc. Nathaniel Caldwell, Jr., 27, in the early morning of May 21.
Nelson's father, Larry Steele, said his son described driving the vehicle as a "dumb, teenage-type thing," done to relieve stress.
Steele said he has met Caldwell's wife and brother and feels close to them.
"I feel terrible," he said. "I can only imagine what it feels like."
Nelson and Caldwell served with the 404th Aviation Support Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division. Caldwell, from Arizona, repaired tanks. He hoped to become a minister. Nelson, from Dundalk, Maryland, repaired generators.
