The wrong people are being implicated

Letter to Editor of Arizona Daily Star ^ | 05/11/2004 | Kathleen Collier

[\/\/ayne]

Re: the May 6 article "Key figure in scandal served in S. Arizona."

From 1997 to 1998, I had the honor of working with Col. Thomas M. Pappas in Korea, and consider him to be one of the most professional, honest, ethical and principled officers with whom I had the privilege of serving over a 20 year career in the Army.

I fail to understand how a brigade commander with over 1,200 soldiers dispersed throughout Germany and Iraq can be directly or indirectly responsible for the actions of a few soldiers under his command. There are many levels in the chain of command between a colonel and a private first class, and it is unlikely that any commander in his position could be aware of the actions of every soldier under him.

It is more likely that some misguided mid-level officers or noncommissioned officers made poor choices and attempted to cover them up, or failed to accurately report them to superiors. Unfortunately, the soldiers implicated in this scandal appear to be those at the opposite and extreme ends of the rank structure.

Pappas would never stand by without imposing swift and appropriate punishments for any individuals involved in these sorts of acts under his command.

Kathleen Collier

Retired First Sergeant, U.S. Army

[\/\/ayne]

This is a letter to the editor of the paper we locally call the Red Star. They did not link the article refered to in their online edition of the paper but I did here for your convenience. It will be up for two more days.

[Gil4]

After "I fail to understand how a brigade commander with over 1,200 soldiers dispersed throughout Germany and Iraq can be directly or indirectly responsible for the actions of a few soldiers under his command" I expected to find "it's obvoiusly Bush and Rumsfeld's fault."