US army expert arrested with explosives

US military officials say the man who was apprehended on New Year's Eve at a Texas airport while carrying explosives is an army demolition expert. The officials said Trey Scott Atwater is a member of the so-called elite Green Berets who served in Afghanistan and is now stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Atwater was detained on Saturday after a security agent noticed he had explosives in his luggage while trying to board a flight at Midland International Airport. The discovery prompted authorities to close the airport terminal for an hour. It is not yet known what kind of explosives Atwater possessed or why he was carrying them. Lt. Col. Tom Bryant, a spokesman for Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, confirmed that Atwater is an Army Sergeant First Class in the elite Green Berets. Atwater is being held in the Midland, Texas County Jail on a federal charge of attempting to board an aircraft with explosives.