YouTube video · UAP Gerb · c. August 2025
1997 Alien Reproduction Vehicle Encounter at 29 Palms, CA: The Testimony of Sgt Roderick Castle
Former Marine Sgt Roderick Castle tells UAP Gerb how, during the Hunter Warrior exercise at Twentynine Palms in March 1997, his five-man Harrier crash-response team came over a hill and found a silent black triangle hovering above about thirty armed men in black with unmarked trucks, who held the Marines at gunpoint until the craft shot away to the northwest. Gerb confirms the exercise, the restricted airspace, the later anthrax programme and Wackenhut's history from the record. In Gerb's own reasoning the triangle was a human-built reproduction vehicle flown out of the Edwards and Fallon test complex and guarded by a Department of Energy response team.
Timeline
On the recordWitness testimonyAlleged / one person's word
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March 1997
Hunter Warrior exercise at Twentynine PalmsMarine Corps Warfighting Laboratory experiment at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms, with a late Navy 'Hunter Air' adjunct.
March 1997
Castle's team meets the black triangleFive Marines see a silent rotating triangle over armed men in black near Emerson Dry Lake and are held at gunpoint.
March 1997
Next-day anthrax 'booster' under guardCastle says his team was given an anthrax shot under armed guard and signed a form.
1997
Weygandt's Peru crash weeks laterGerb places Weygandt's Peru encounter weeks after Castle's, with stricter handling of the witness.
December 1997
DoD-wide anthrax vaccination announcedMandatory vaccination was announced in December 1997; before that it was selective.
1963
CIA memo on Wackenhut as coverA March 1963 CIA memo in the JFK files discusses Wackenhut offering cover.Central Intelligence Agency
12 November 1988
Fluxliner craft at Norton AFB air showBrad Sorensen's account, carried by Mark McCandlish, of three hovering discs shown to officials.
Spring 1992
XF-131 drawing at a Denny'sBill McDonald drew the XF-131 from four engineers' descriptions in the Antelope Valley.
2002
Wackenhut recruiting letter reaches CastleWithin three months of leaving the Guard, Castle got a Wackenhut letter seeking helicopter crews.
2009
Herrera's Sumatra encounterGerb says Herrera, like Weygandt, was debriefed, made to sign an NDA and given an anthrax shot.
April 2025
Castle approaches GruschCastle first contacted David Grusch in early 2025 and wants to testify to Congress.
July 2025
Castle meets Rep. BurlisonPhoto of Castle with Greer, Burlison and Michael Herrera.
The claims, checked
On the record (5)
Hunter Warrior was a real Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory experiment at Twentynine Palms in March 1997, with findings published by CNA and MCCDC.1997 USMC news release and published findings summaries.analysisThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
The Navy added a late 'Hunter Air' adjunct, with aircrews from NAS Fallon and NAS Lemoore, after a 1995 ComNavAirPac report.1995 Spane report and Krulak request as Gerb cites them; spellings to check.analysisThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
The encounter site lies in restricted airspace R-2501C near Emerson Dry Lake, about 44 miles from the R-2508 complex that includes Edwards and China Lake.Airspace charts.analysisThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
Mandatory DoD-wide anthrax vaccination was announced only in December 1997; before that it was selective.DoD announcement; supports the oddity of a targeted 'booster' in March 1997.analysis
Wackenhut guarded the Nevada Test Site and Area 51 perimeter and from 1987 held DOE guard subcontracts including Special Response Teams.GAO reporting; board members included Bobby Ray Inman.analysisWackenhutArea 51 and S-4Bobby Ray Inman
Witness testimony (12)
Castle and four other Marines saw a black equilateral triangle about 200 to 300 feet across hovering silently 150 to 200 feet up and slowly rotating.Castle's own account on camera; four other team members are not yet on record.firsthandThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
The triangle had three yellow-white lights at its rounded corners that cast no light on the ground, and its matte surface blotted out the stars.Castle's description; matches other triangle reports Gerb cites.firsthandThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
About thirty men in black with no insignia, US-style helmets and submachine guns stood beneath it beside five or six black pickup trucks.Castle's account; no record of the unit has surfaced.firsthandThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
About fifteen of the men ran up the hill and held the Marines face down at gunpoint for the three to four minutes of the event.Castle's account.firsthandThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
The triangle stopped rotating, rose at an angle and shot off silently to the northwest, and the team's diesel Humvee would not start for about five minutes.Castle's account; the vehicle stall is a recurring feature in close encounters.firsthandThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
A gunnery sergeant and a chief warrant officer met the team at dawn and called it flare activity; the next day the team got an anthrax shot under armed guard and signed a form.Castle's account; Castle had already been vaccinated about a year earlier.firsthandThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
In 2002 Wackenhut sent Castle a recruiting letter for helicopter crews within three months of his leaving the Army National Guard.Castle's account; the letter itself was not shown.firsthandWackenhut
Weygandt (Peru, 1997) and Herrera (Sumatra, 2009) were also debriefed, made to sign NDAs and given anthrax shots right after their encounters.Gerb asked both men; their full accounts are on record elsewhere.secondhandJonathan Weygandt and Michael Herrera → UAP Gerb → told itThe crashed egg in Peru (Weygandt, 1997)
Brad Sorensen saw three 'Fluxliner' reproduction vehicles at a 1988 Norton AFB air show.Carried by Mark McCandlish from Sorensen.secondhandBrad Sorensen → Mark McCandlish → told it
The TR-3B was reverse-engineered with Sandia and Livermore help and managed by the NRO, NSA and CIA.Edgar Fouché's 1998 account, which Gerb cites as context.secondhandunnamed program contacts → Edgar Fouché → told itSandia National LaboratoriesNational Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
Four engineers from the Lockheed Helendale and Northrop Tejon radar ranges described the XF-131 'Super Sentinel' that Bill McDonald drew in 1992.McDonald's account of what the engineers told him.secondhandfour range engineers → Bill McDonald → told itLockheed Martin Skunk WorksNorthrop Grumman
Castle approached Grusch in spring 2025, was brought to Rep. Burlison through Steven Greer, and wants to testify to Congress.Castle's account; a July 2025 photo shows him with Greer, Burlison and Herrera.firsthandEric BurlisonSteven GreerDavid Grusch
Alleged / one person's word (5)
The triangle was a human-built reproduction vehicle, such as a TR-3B or XF-131, flown by the Navy and Air Force out of the R-2508 test complex.Gerb's reasoning from the craft's departure toward Edwards; no record ties a program to the site.speculationThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)Air Force Plant 42 (Palmdale)
The Navy added its adjunct late so reproduction-vehicle teams could fly alongside the exercise unnoticed, and the cover failed when Castle's team arrived.Gerb's own reasoning; not shown by a record.speculationThe triangle at Twentynine Palms (Hunter Warrior, 1997)
The men in black were a Wackenhut-trained Department of Energy Special Response Team, and Wackenhut's 2002 letter was an attempt to recruit Castle as an asset.Gerb calls this his confidence, not evidence.speculationWackenhutNational Nuclear Security Administration (NEST, OST, SRT)
UFO crash material has been moved across the US labelled as nuclear material and guarded by Special Response Teams.Gerb's unnamed sources.anonymousunnamed insiders → UAP Gerb → told itNational Nuclear Security Administration (NEST, OST, SRT)
Both human-built and non-human 'Tic Tacs' exist.Gerb heard this from sources; he offers the idea of a Lockheed test on Navy forces only as exploration.anonymousunnamed insiders → UAP Gerb → told itThe Nimitz 'Tic Tac'Lockheed Martin Skunk Works