Posted on 10/15/2004 9:47:33 AM PDT by KillBill
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041015/NEWS01/410150366/1002
(No article due to copyright issues. I've written a summary)
A 17-member Army Reserve platoon was arrested for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel. The 17 were members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C. They refused to go to Taji in the north of Iraq because they did not consider their vehicles safe. In the event of an ambush, which they figured likely, they would have been helpless.
Where in the enlistment contract does it state that one is guaranteed bullet-proof vests and armored vehicles? Audie Murphy must be spinning in his grave.
An order can also be illegal if it is counter to standing orders. Often units have standing orders - like deadlined vehicles must NOT be driven and must be towed.
A far better way to have handled such would be to demand the order in writing and note that the order is being followed under protest.
I mean somebody from Iraq going before Congress, talking about being Genjis Khan, and negotiating with terrorists for us to leave Iraq. We need to make sure that these people are exposed as CRIMINALS now, and not let them hang around for 30 years.
Star, you know someone with all the info you need vis-a-vis transport in theater.
DS, someone mentioned smell test. McCook(?) is a corrections officer and wants his mom to find out the penalty for assaulting a commissioned officer? Yeah, right.
You guys remember the Thunder Run post from mid-week, about the Bn. Cdr. who ordered his fuel tankers into the middle of Baghdad to resupply the three units holding checkpoints? Those boys didn't hesitate, and many lost their lives when the tankers went up. I don't think any of them thought to argue with their platoon leaders. They had buddies in need...
He he he!! As a civilian I cant understand some of the military speak!! Imagine! LOL!!!
The story killer quote:
"But Nadine Stratford of Rock Hill, S.C., said her godson Colin Durham, 20, has been happy with his time in Iraq. She has not heard from him since the platoon was detained.
"When I talked to him about a month ago, he was fine," Stratford said. "He said it was like being at home." "
I read the article. The writer is clearly biased and frankly full of crap.
A military vehicle can be deadlined for missing a valve cap on a tire BTW! I have seen vehicles go out with a lot worse than what this writer is talking about.
This whole thing looks like hysteria and the subjective writer is staking a lot on this report. I do not believe for one second that any officer would deliberately send a platoon into harm's way so recklessly as is implied here.
IOW, it is BS!
I expect this article to be debunked quickly, but we are likely to see quite a bit more of this sort of thing in the next couple of weeks.
Put 12 years in.
What I am saying is that there is a possibility that these vehicles were deadlined, the article does not give enough information to put blame on either party.
Right now it is leaning against the soldier based on their other views, and chances are considering how these vehicles are apparently new I doubt they were marked for death.
I pinged him but he's out of commission this week - I will have to email him....
This story is full of holes.
I'll wait for the cleaned up version. ;)
He might have expected their "protest" to make the news but hadn't expected the military to react the way they did by arresting them. Now looking at five years hard labor they are desperate.
I remember.
This really is reading like only part of the story -like there's stuff being perposefully left out.
And that's besides the McCook stuff not adding up.
We'll see what comes of this as it develops though.
Expect the MSM to jump on it like Jackals in heat though.
No, if the officer ordered the soldiers to drive a 'deadlined' vehicle - IE The brakes are shot, then they don't have to do it. The officer can ask for volunteers but he cannot order anybody to drive it.
Now the question is whether the vehicles were marked, I HIGHLY doubt they were which results in the soldiers disobeying an order.
Yeah, we're white and my kids were treated rudely by his staff.
I remember how many times my old unit had vehicles deadlined for seemingly innocuous stuff.
Those little rubber bumpers above the windshield are supposed to be intact, vehicle can be deadlined for those being damaged despite Humvees rarely driving with the windscreen folded down.
I get the feeling this is a "Bush Memo 60 Minutes II" style hitpiece.
What's next? A risk-free war?
I haven't been to the sandbox myself, but I did get a few briefings from the first commander of Balad AB in Iraq and they were definitely sleeping in abandoned Iraqi buildings until they could setup the TENT city.
Although, yes, if there are nice barracks in Iraq, they would definitely be occupied by USAF aircrew. We need crew rest or we cry like little girls - BUT, don't doubt the effect that lack of sleep can have on flying 500,000 lbs of airplane at Mach .8.
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