Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Exonerated On Battlefield, Shafted By Headquarters
DefenseWatch ^ | August 14, 2002 | Ed Offley

Posted on 08/16/2002 6:30:45 AM PDT by robowombat

DefenseWatch (sftt.org) August 14, 2002

Exonerated On Battlefield, Shafted By Headquarters

By Ed Offley

Why have their Army superiors attempted to destroy the careers of two soldiers who by all accounts served effectively and honorably in Afghanistan under the most dangerous of conditions?

It is a question whose answer two senior members of the 710th Ordnance Co. have been searching for these past 10 weeks.

The story is not very complicated, but its implications are disturbing: Last November, Capt. Keith Nelson and 1st Sgt. Kevin L. Albritton deployed the San Diego-based 710th Ordnance Co. - a component of the Fort Lewis-based 3rd Ordnance Battalion - in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, where over the next seven months the 17-man explosive ordnance disposal unit located, neutralized and destroyed over 200 tons of ammunition and ordnance.

The dangers of that mission were underscored on Feb. 12, 2002, when on a survey mission to one ammunition site, Capt. Nelson stepped on a projectile fuse that detonated, forcing his medical evacuation with a serious foot injury (he would recover and return to the unit in early April). And on Apr. 15, 2002, three of the EOD unit's members and a fourth American soldier were killed, and a fifth injured, when an explosion ripped through a booby-trapped cache of several hundred Chinese 107-mm. artillery rockets that they were preparing for disposal.

Praised by their superiors for excellent performance, and formally exonerated by an Army Safety Board investigation that found the fatal explosion the result of "combat action," the unit returned to its base in San Diego in early June grieving their lost comrades but satisfied that they had carried out their duties honorably and well.

Then the bombshell: Col. Kathleen Meehan, commander of the 52nd Ordnance Group based at Fort Gillem, Ga., announced her intention to relieve Nelson and Albritton from their command positions, using an administrative (rather than judicial) procedure that offered the two soldiers neither due process nor even a detailed explanation for the drastic action. Since then, the two men have lingered in an administrative limbo.

Albritton bitterly wrote one acquaintance early last month, "I expected to be busy right now recovering my unit and preparing it to reassume its peacetime mission, but instead it seems I will be busy fighting to salvage the careers of my commander … and myself."

Nelson and Albritton agreed to discuss their situation in general with DefenseWatch, but declined to go into detail since they are appealing the notice of relief through their chain of command.

However, in e-mails sent to fellow Army soldiers discussing the situation (which were subsequently provided to DefenseWatch), both men have expressed anger and bafflement that they weren't even been given a specific reason why the group commander wanted them fired. Indeed, several days before the fatal explosion, Meehan visited the 710th Company soldiers in Afghanistan and personally pinned the Purple Heart medal on Nelson's chest, while praising the unit for its performance.

Albritton said he was privately told by a senior NCO in the 52nd Ordnance Group that he and Nelson were being relieved for "indiscipline." But again, neither Meehan nor the command sergeant-major would provide neither specifications nor detailed reasons until a formal hearing last week. Efforts to contact Meehan through Army channels were unsuccessful.

Sources close to the two soldiers say the most likely reason for Meehan's move is because of her reaction to the fatal ammunition explosion - even though the Army field investigation cleared them of any culpability or wrongdoing.

Nelson in one e-mail voiced his anger to a friend over Col. Meehan's behavior.

"She personally pinned the Purple Heart on me," Nelson wrote. "She told the unit and myself how pleased she was of the work we were doing and how proud she was of us. She was genuinely surprised by how high morale was, and that we had literally had no complaints. It was a very pleasant visit and no issues were presented to me by her."

Nelson went on, "If I am unfit for command, than why was the First Sergeant and I not relieved of command during her visit or by the chain of command in Afghanistan?"

The only potential issue relating to Nelson and Albritton's supervisory responsibilities stemming from the blast - which the field investigation apparently dismissed - was that several of the soldiers involved in moving the ammunition had violated Army safety regulations by removing their kevlar body armor while lifting and carrying the unfused Chinese ordnance. However, soldiers familiar with the incident flatly stated that none of those killed would have survived even if they had been wearing the kevlar.

Albritton wrote a colleague in an email obtained by DefenseWatch, "When our boys were killed, they weren't wearing their flak [vests] or helmets. They knew they were supposed to, but didn't. But it would have made no difference. If they had worn it they would still be dead."

One procedural issue that concerns the two soldiers, according to their friends, is that Col. Meehan and the 52nd Ordnance Group did not have operational control or supervise the 710th Ordnance Co. at the time of the accident.

From the time the 710th Ordnance Co. deployed overseas, it was under the OPCON (operational control) of other Army units operating in the region. Upon arriving in Jacobobad, Pakistan, to support the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division as part of its force protection package, the company found that an Air Force EOD unit was already in place. So after conferring with Army Forces Central Command officials, the 710th was moved to Karshi-Khanibad, Uzbekistan, to support the Joint Special Operations Task Force - North (Army Special Forces and Defense Intelligence Agency specialists) who were scouring Afghanistan for evidence of chemical or biological weapons in the hands of al Qaeda or the Taliban.

By late January 2002, the company moved to Kandahar to support the 101st Airborne Division's "Task Force Rakkasan," with duties including disposal of uncontrolled ammunition caches in the area (teams from the 710th had already been operating in Kandahar itself supporting the 5th Special Forces Group A-Teams in the city).

The subsequent administrative relief ordered by Col. Meehan, friends of the two men say, appears to be a way that the colonel could take action against the captain and 1st sergeant without having to establish and prove wrongdoing or face the test of cross-examination as in a judicial proceeding under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Albritton told one friend that he and his captain have "wracked our brains" trying to identify any action in Afghanistan that could have prompted Meehan's decision to relieve them. "The part that sticks in my craw is that we were informed [by Meehan] our relief had nothing to do with the deaths of our soldiers. If not, what does it have to do with?"

Nelson wrote another colleague, "No reason was given for my removal, although I do think it is because of the deaths."

In a lengthy letter to a friend, Albritton noted that the rapid arrival of new units and frequent reassignment of OPCON inevitably caused some frictions, but there was no major misunderstanding or crisis as they changed operating areas and reported to new bosses.

"Having two masters took some getting used to," Albritton wrote one friend. "But the issue was worked out and relations gradually improved."

The only other potential flap occurred when officers in the 79th Ordnance Battalion announced they wanted to evict a Navy EOD unit working alongside the 710th Ordnance Co. in Kandahar - a development that occurred while Nelson was on convalescent leave for his injuries. The battalion had designated a sister unit, the 53rd Ordnance Co. as the Navy replacement. The acting commander, a lieutenant from the 79th Ordnance Battalion, wanted to keep the Navy EOD technicians, since they had already bonded as a team and felt replacing them would complicate command and control issues. However, the battalion had its way and the Navy was "sent packing," Albritton said.

But Nelson told friends that even that was a minor issue that did not affect the quality of work in the field. "It no way affected us at our level," Nelson said. "We were all in EOD and were all working to achieve the same mission."

After months of waiting, Nelson and Albritton were formally summoned to Fort Gillem on July 30 where they were informed in writing that they were to be relieved of their duties for, in Albritton's words, "willfully disobeying orders, not disciplining … soldiers, not complying with directives unless forced, not enforcing standards, not rallying [the] unit after the loss on April 15th, basically allowing my solders to run rampant."

The infractions included incidents where EOD soldiers failed to wear full flak gear; one soldier who needed a haircut; and several company members who had failed to replace unit patches that had earlier been removed as a security requirement, and improper arrangement of unit living spaces. Albritton was stunned to read that Meehan cited the Army Safety Board report in her notification, since Army regulations dictate that safety investigation findings can never be used to discipline personnel involved.

The two soldiers have appealed the administrative action to Maj. Gen. Julian H. Burns, the deputy chief of staff for operations of U.S. Army Forces Command. A Forces Command spokesman did not respond to queries from DefenseWatch regarding the incident.

Footnote: Maj. Gen. Burns has ordered an investigation under Army Regulation 15-6 into the incident to include a determination whether or not there was proper cause for relief of the two soldiers. Nelson and Albritton tell friends they remain optimistic that the Army chain of command will give them a full and fair treatment.

Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; usar
Byzantine intrique within the USAR ordnance community. Note that this wierd witch hunt is being implemented by a female officer who did not deploy to Afghanistan against an officer and an NCO that did. Could professional jealousy be at the root of this uproar?
1 posted on 08/16/2002 6:30:45 AM PDT by robowombat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: robowombat
This is certainly a strange one. The Company Commander and his First Sergeant seem to have done their jobs appropriately. If you get any more info on this please ping me. Thanks.
2 posted on 08/16/2002 6:37:11 AM PDT by Movemout
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
Could professional jealousy be at the root of this uproar?

No. The problem is the blood. There was blood shed imperfectly. As such it would at once goad and embarrass the female officer. Sound like a female problem? You bet.
3 posted on 08/16/2002 7:03:07 AM PDT by ckilmer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
Sorry, but this sounds like the typical case of an O-6 whose gender has taken over her command faculties. Just what type of units did she command prior to becoming a senior field grade officer? Certainly not Ordnance (at least not EOD units). Whenever we had to support a brigade level unit that happened to have a female for the XO position we'd have to take lectures from them on how to defend a perimeter. That flies really well when a woman officer is telling experienced Infantry grunts how to dig holes. Like she ever has done that in her life. Yeah, right.

No doubt someone above her in the chain of command told her that her OER would look better if she did something about that incident. Being typically self-centered like any O-6 that thinks O-7 is around the corner, she picked the top two in the unit involved. That First Sergeant and the Command Sergeant Major should have told that O-6 this: "Pardon me, maam, but when was the last time that you were in a situation like this? In a WAR ZONE??? Just as I thought - case dismissed."

4 posted on 08/16/2002 7:07:02 AM PDT by 11B3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dark Wing
ping
5 posted on 08/16/2002 7:07:53 AM PDT by Thud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
There's gotta be better ways to dispose of ordinance, to move ordinance of dubious condition, myriad source and disparate manufacture into a disposal blast pit. Robots, hydraulic arms and grabbing assemblies, etc. Even trained goriilas.

Seems a waste to use human brawn when the human brain will always carry greater effect.

6 posted on 08/16/2002 8:09:05 AM PDT by bvw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
Women should be expelled from the military.
7 posted on 08/16/2002 8:09:35 AM PDT by moyden
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Movemout
dittoes
8 posted on 08/16/2002 8:37:07 AM PDT by LiteKeeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
Col. Kathleen Meehan, commander of the 52nd Ordnance Group based at Fort Gillem, Ga., announced her intention to relieve Nelson and Albritton from their command positions ...

Shades of former Governor Christine Todd Whitman relieving the head of the New Jersey State Patrol a few years back. When asked by a liberal reporter type if the NJ State Patrol, in fact, used racial profiling in stopping or apprehending a suspect, he had the temerity to suggest racial profiling was in fact a basic given in police work, and his department did in fact use it, as well as other police methods, in everyday police work.
Then cut to the picture in the Newark Star Ledger of Governor Whitman, a year or so before, patting down a black suspect ... smiling all the while. She was working with the police, as Governor, in order to better understand their work.

9 posted on 08/16/2002 8:41:03 AM PDT by BluH2o
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 11B3
"...this sounds like the typical case of an O-6 whose gender has taken over her command faculties."

Bingo, Dogface. Looks like this Jarhead is your bastard cousin, given your infantry MOS.

Let the PC gods demonize me, but giving a woman command over men runs counter to nature, and is a recipe for disaster. It is demeaning for a soldier (as in a male who is fit for and faces the risks of combat) to be subservient to a woman (who is not fit for combat and rightfully does not face its risks). The nature of a woman is non-aggressive: to feel, nurture and reconcile. The nature of a man is aggressive: to think, lead and fight. Bad things happend when people are appointed to roles for which they are unfit -- women believe they are tougher than they really are, and men become feminized and weak. Combat is the brutal truth-teller which will ultimately put an end to this nonsense. I hope that we wake up first.

This recent episode shows what can happen when a female "commander" gets her panties in a wad. It is truly pathetic...

10 posted on 08/16/2002 8:51:46 AM PDT by Always A Marine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
A woman changes her mind...
11 posted on 08/16/2002 9:02:24 AM PDT by arthurus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Always A Marine
It has always been this way. There has to be a scapegoat. There were violations of the safety procedures and that does have to be addressed. But it appears that these guys are being screwed by a woman who wants to appear tough. It seems to me that if she did not have operational control over them over there that she has no cause to reprimand them here.
12 posted on 08/16/2002 9:03:53 AM PDT by thegreatbeast
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: robowombat
Officers in combat arms organizations solve these problems by weeding out political "generals" before they become captains, colonels, or generals.
13 posted on 08/16/2002 9:06:49 AM PDT by thinktwice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thegreatbeast
It has always been this way. There has to be a scapegoat. There were violations of the safety procedures and that does have to be addressed. But it appears that these guys are being screwed by a woman who wants to appear tough. It seems to me that if she did not have operational control over them over there that she has no cause to reprimand them here.

Correct you are. This is symptomatic of the 'zero defect mentality' that has crippled the army for the past 10 years.

While I was in Korea, my Bn (I was an Intell Officer in a Light Infantry Bn) rolled a deuce-n-a-half on a steep road. Everyone was wearing seatbelts, the troop strap was up and no one was injured--no one was injured. They sent out a wrecker, recovered the duece and even drove it home.

Of course the motor pool and Support PLT had to send up an incident report to Bde. As soon as the weasel Bde Co found out about it, he relieved the Support Plt Leader, the Motorpool NCOIC and the driver got an administrative bar to reenlistment. Our Bn Cdr to his everlasting credit went to the mat for these guys, but to no avail. He told us officer's of the Bn that the Bde Co said: "We don't have accidents in 1st Bde, only incompetence and incompetent soldiers will be relieved."

Unbelievable.... because of that accident, we had to go to 1 day vehicle dispatches, got our training budget cut and were not allowed to perform any 'high risk training' (like going outside, apparently) for the next quarter. Morale plummetted and guys just hung around, got drunk and got in trouble. It was crap.

14 posted on 08/16/2002 9:33:31 AM PDT by Cogadh na Sith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: chookter
We don't have accidents in 1st Bde,

The biggest accident in 1st Bde was that weasel Bde Co's appointment. He was probably a West Point desk commander type getting his ticket punched after replacing a good man in the field.

15 posted on 08/16/2002 11:49:39 AM PDT by thinktwice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson