Army Reserve Sgt. Erik Botta, here with his wife, Jennifer, has served in Iraq three times and in Afghanistan once. He is scheduled for a fifth deployment Sunday unless a court blocks the military's plans.
Posted on 07/14/2007 11:34:04 AM PDT by SkyPilot
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (July 14) - Army Reserve Sgt. Erik Botta has been sent to Iraq three times and to Afghanistan once. He thinks that's enough.
Botta wants a court to block the military's plan to deploy him for a fifth time Sunday, most likely to Iraq. He isn't against the war - but he thinks he can serve his country better now by working for a defense contractor and pursuing his education.
Army Reserve Sgt. Erik Botta, here with his wife, Jennifer, has served in Iraq three times and in Afghanistan once. He is scheduled for a fifth deployment Sunday unless a court blocks the military's plans.
"This has nothing to do with protest of the war ... I have nothing but respect for the people on the ground," Botta said Friday, one day after he filed his petition in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach. "But I feel I do need a fair decision and a fair review."
Botta , 26, of Port St. Lucie, contends in his petition that the Army's refusal to exempt him from deployment "constitutes unlawful custody." Botta argues the Army did not consider the length and nature of his previous tours "to assure a sharing of exposure to the hazards of combat."
He was granted an initial exemption last year, allowing him to pursue an electrical engineering degree at Palm Beach Community College and work as a senior technician on Blackhawk and Seahawk helicopters at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. But now his exemption has been denied.
Botta said he was shocked when he received notice of his latest deployment orders.
"My heart sank through the floor," he said. "I've sacrificed all my time into this new life I have now."
Botta enlisted in the Army Reserves in October 2000. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, he requested transfer to active duty, which was granted the next month, according to the petition.
Botta was deployed to Afghanistan for about seven months in 2002. He then had three deployments to Iraq - about a month in 2003, three months in 2004 and 15 days later that year.
Army spokeswoman Maj. Cheryl Phillips noted that Army Reserve units deploy for 12 consecutive months, and that Botta had only accumulated about 10 nonconsecutive months of deployment. She also noted that Botta was under an eight-year service contract.
"The Army leadership acknowledges the hardships and sacrifices of our soldiers and their families and is aggressively pursuing means to lessen their strain," Phillips wrote in an e-mail Friday. "We evaluate each request for deferment or exemption from mobilization independently to determine if a deployment will cause undue hardship for the soldier or the family."
Botta said he isn't against the war in Iraq, but that he thinks he's done his duty. When he received his deployment notice his "heart sank through the floor," he said. "I've sacrificed all my time into this new life I have now."
She said that out of 649 deployment delays requested by soldiers since the start of the Afghan war in 2001, the Army has granted 561 or 87 percent. Of the 5,708 exemptions that have been requested, 2,983 or 54 percent have been granted.
Botta 's previous deployments in Iraq were as a communications specialist with the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and were shorter than most tours because they were "emergency deployments," said his attorney, Mark Waple.
After his release from active duty on Oct. 30, 2004, Botta has not been required to participate in any training, he said.
Botta now wants a federal judge to stop his deployment. If a resolution is not reached, he said he will follow orders and deploy Sunday to Fort Jackson near Columbia, S.C.
Waple said the Army's decision to redeploy Botta and to deny his request for exemption is arbitrary and goes against actions in similar cases where academic exemptions were granted.
"We're just concerned that they're granting these exemptions in some cases and denying them in others without any real meaningful methodology in making that decision," Waple said.
Waple also noted that Congress requires the Defense Department to "take into consideration the reservist's prior military service to be certain that there is uniform exposure among reservists to the hazards of combat and the Department of the Army has failed to do that in Sgt. Botta 's case."
There was no immediate word as to when the court would take up the case.
#1 - he did serve, and there is honor in that, but you can never, ever, never disobey a lawful order. It negates whatever honor you had gained.
#2 - one of his "Deployments" was for 15 days. That isn't a "Deployment" - it is what is know in the military as a TDY - the equivilent of a business trip.
#3 - while he has served a 7 month tour, the total time he has been gone in almost 5 years is about 11 months and change. I bet he would not wish to compare that record to a lot of active duty soldiers, marines, sailors, and airman. He would hang his head in shame after about 3 minutes of comparative stories.
I will make two additional points:
-- The cost of war to a nation's citizens is great. Today, very, very few of American contribute to the "War on Terror" (it is really a war against Islamic Fascism, but that is for another thread). Americans go shopping while military members and their families deal with stress that most people cannot imagine.
-- The soldier who had himself shot by a hitman to avoid another tour is in another category entirely in my book. If I had been his commander, I would have sent him to the doctors. He is suffering from PTSD - period. I'll let the people who have never served a day in uniform or in combat to make light of that condition, or the reality of it.
As far as this Reservist goes, he went to the MSM, and they spun his tale for the Democratic-Liberal cause. He wants to be a "Defense Contractor" now? Good luck with that.
In fact, good luck to him, period.
Typical Dem/MSM talking points. Service of any kind makes people untouchable in their book. I did six years of sea duty, I was probably home a total of a quarter of that time, including 2 six month deployments. This guy should just suck it up and move on.
- If 15 days constitutes one "Deployment", and a few weeks constitutes another "Deployment", then the military owes me for a several hundred "Deployments" in my career.
If that is the case, I want to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the military officer with the most Deployments in the history of the US military.
So, "11 months and change" is his total for overseas deployment? That certainly puts the "Fifth Deployment" in perspective!
15 days equals a deployment? LOL.
You might be interested in this.
There are over 25,000 US troops in South Korea alone, while the US forces in Iraq are being given extended deployment.
"It was terrible, man. I had to wear blues every day in that hot Alabama Summer!"
Actually, we don't.
The American people don't understand how the military is being used with the resources it has.
Do you think that every unit in Germany or Japan is just sitting around and has never been over to Afghanistan, or Iraq, or the UAE, or some other God forsaken place?
The odds are that they just returned - from 15 months or more, and are now retraining and getting sparse time with their families.
If you are Navy, you are at sea for months at a time in most units.
If you are Air Force aircrew, say C-17, F-16, or KC-10 - you life is not your own and never has been. Even if you are stationed in Germany flying C-130s, your unit is rotating to the Area of Operations (AOR) just like everyone else.
Don't think for a moment any unit is lolly gagging around.
The sad truth is this country expects a very small military to perform a plethora of missions with about 3% of the GNP (a historic low).
Thanks for that info.
Don't forget - that "Blue Bedroom" air conditioned auditorium is murder. You should get a Short Tour ribbon for that!
Ah, the deception. Prior articles had us believing he had put in 5 tours — meaning 4-5 years!
Yes - and thank you.
As I posted on the O’Reilly thread, out of the 70 months since 9/11, my Reservist husband has been on active duty for 40. More than 50% of the time.
He’s not whining and moaning about it. He was actually upset that he didn’t leave in June and can’t wait to head over in December or January.
We are honored and proud to support our country in this way. I simply don’t have much sympathy for these whiners.
If you don’t want to be in the military, don’t join!
You hit the nail on the head. Especially with the point about the airlifters. Those folks practically live overseas. Tanker and ISR crews, too.
Amen to that. I bet we have the phone calls at 3 am to do it all again (after we just went to bed a few hour prior) to prove it.
Damn, I’ve almost equaled him with only one deployment in two years of Active Duty (considering six months was essentially initial entry schooling, cadet work and OBC).
LOL. I went there just after returning from the OIF air campaign. It made me miss the AOR.
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