Posted on 10/15/2004 3:42:48 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON (AP) The Army is investigating reports that several members of a reservist supply unit in Iraq refused to go on a convoy mission, the military said Friday. Relatives of the soldiers said the troops considered the mission too dangerous, according to a report in The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss.
The reservists are from the 343rd Quartermaster Company, which is based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food and water in combat zones.
A platoon of 17 soldiers refused to go on a fuel supply mission Wednesday because their vehicles were in poor shape and they did not have a capable armed escort, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
The paper cited interviews with family members of some of the soldiers, who said the soldiers had been confined after their refusals. The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the 343rd, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said.
Convoys in Iraq are frequently subject to ambushes and roadside bombings.
A whole unit refusing to go on a mission in a war zone would be a significant breach of military discipline. A statement from the military's press center in Baghdad called the incident "isolated."
"The investigating team is currently in Tallil taking statements and interviewing those involved. This is an isolated incident and it is far too early in the investigation to speculate as to what happened, why it happened or any action that might be taken," the coalition press information center said in the statement, sent to The Associated Press in Washington.
In the statement, U.S. military officials said the commanding general of the 13th Corps Support Command had appointed his deputy commander to investigate the incident.
The statement did not confirm several aspects of the relatives' stories, including the number of soldiers involved and the reason they refused the mission.
The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq -- north of Baghdad -- because their vehicles were considered extremely unsafe, Patricia McCook of Jackson, Miss., told the Clarion-Ledger. Her husband, Sgt. Larry O. McCook, was among those detained, she said, saying her husband had telephoned her from Iraq.
The platoon being held has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi, and South Carolina, said Teresa Hill of Dothan, Ala., who told the newspaper her daughter Amber McClenny is among those being detained.
Patricia McCook said her husband told her he did not feel comfortable taking his soldiers on another trip.
"He told me that three of the vehicles they were to use were 'deadlines' ... not safe to go in a hotbed like that," she said, according to the newspaper.
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Also note that one of the soldiers involved was asking about the penalty for assaulting his CO some time earlier.
SO9
As the story has only been reported from these men/women and their families I will only state the following!
Part of the 20% of our service men that think they will get a better shake from JFnK. LOL!
IG should look into their concerns and if their vehicles and security is as bad as they say
its time to relieve some commanders
imo
Wasn't this the equipment they were supposed to get with the $87 Billion Kerry voted against?
Here is my cut. What if this resupply not getting there endagered others lives. I mean it is WAR. Get in, get going, and if need be ..GET SOME!
Drive the vehicles until they dont go anymore. Then call in for support.
WTF. I guess I should wait for the full story but it dont look good for the soldiers who didn't follow orders
Looking like it's time for a serious investigation starting with the higher ranks, as to just who is not doing their job.
Would you want these folks watching your back?
My husband (my favorite career military person) and I had a long discussion about this and it sounds fishy. When I told him it was reservists he said "what a surprise" He was being sarcastic. And then dismissed it as another reservist gaffe. I'm not being critical of reservists, but almost all problems seems to be with reservists.(Abu ghraib, the pilots who bombed canadian soldiers in an exercise in Afgh.) Lack of training? Why didn't the ranking member take it up the change of command if he was concerned for his troops safety. Did he not know that was proper procedure? did they just flat out refuse a direct order? Hubby said the Army is very careful about that stuff and wouldn't have sent them on a "suicide" mission. I think there may be more to this story.
This is bad news, especially this close to the election. Look for Lurch and the girl to seize on it.
If the order was lawful, then they go to the stockade. End of story.
I think is is politically motivated considering Bennie Thompson is on the case. I'd just as soon trust Cynthis McKinna.
"They knew there was a 99 percent chance they were going to get ambushed or fired at," Hill said her daughter told her. "They would have had no way to fight back."
Sure there is, use your M-16.
"They are holding us against our will," McClenny said. "We are now prisoners."
This statement from the article is instructive. What does this fellow think happens if one refuses a lawful order? I can't imagine that anyone would expect equipment in a war zone to be in stateside condition.
I would be even more PO'd if i was the guys out in the field and didn't have any fuel for our vehicles!
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