The State
Chuck Crumbo
16 October 2004
Members of a Rock Hill-based Army Reserve unit are being investigated for refusing an order to haul fuel in a convoy through Iraq’s Sunni Triangle.
The soldiers balked because their vehicles were in poor shape and they did not have a capable armed escort, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Miss.
Convoys in Iraq frequently are subject to small-arms fire from insurgents and roadside bombings.
The Army has launched two investigations, said spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Boylan of the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad.
In addition, U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., whose district includes Rock Hill, has asked the Army for answers.
The incident, which happened Wednesday, involves 17 or 19 soldiers — numbers differ — from a platoon of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, Boylan said. The soldiers are from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Some of the soldiers were detained at gunpoint for nearly two days after disobeying the order, relatives said after speaking to some of the soldiers, but Boylan denied that soldiers were detained.
The 343rd, which has about 120 soldiers, has been deployed to Iraq for nearly nine months.
The Army said the soldiers originally “failed to appear as scheduled” for the mission, and that some — but not all — refused to participate.
“Initial indication is that the soldiers scheduled for the convoy mission raised some valid concerns and the command is addressing them,” Boylan said. “It appears that a small number of the soldiers involved chose to express their concerns in an inappropriate manner.”
The fuel eventually was delivered by another convoy of the 343rd, Boylan said. It was not attacked.
The convoy drove from Taji, about 19 miles northwest of Baghdad, to Tallil, about 190 miles southeast of the capital, where a U.S. air base is located, reports said. Tallil also is the 343rd’s headquarters.
Taji is within the so-called Sunni Triangle, outlined by Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi and the northern city of Tikrit. In that area, support for ousted dictator Saddam Hussein remains strong, and insurgent attacks are frequent.
Patricia McCook, of Jackson, Miss., said her husband, Sgt. Larry McCook, is among the soldiers being questioned.
She said he told her he did not feel comfortable taking his soldiers on the 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 Mississippi newspaper.
Other soldiers told their families the fuel they were supposed to deliver was contaminated and there was no point in undertaking the dangerous drive. Some said the fuel had already been rejected by another base because of the contamination.
Reservist Amber McClenny left this message on her mother’s answering machine:
“Hi Mom, this is Amber. This is a real, real big emergency. I need you to contact someone. I mean raise pure hell.
“Yesterday, we refused to go on a convoy to Taji. That is above Baghdad. We had broken-down trucks, nonarmored vehicles, and we were carrying contaminated fuel. They are holding us against our will. We are now prisoners.”
Soldiers involved in the investigation have not been “arrested, detained or restricted,” Boylan said.
“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,” Boylan said.
He added the 343rd has been in Iraq for nearly nine months and “served honorably.”
One of the Army’s investigations is aimed at determining whether there are problems with maintenance and whether some troops may need to be retrained, Boylan said.
The second investigation centers on the soldiers’ actions and whether any violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Boylan said. Investigators are in Tallil taking statements and interviewing those involved, the spokesman added.
The troops could be charged with refusing to obey an order. Punishment could result in a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five years in prison.
Boylan said there is no deadline for the investigations.
“We don’t put a timeline on them,” Boylan said. “We want to do whatever it takes to get the information and get it right. We also want to make sure the rights of soldiers are not violated.”
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he has received similar complaints from military families about vehicles that were not armor-plated and troops that only have outdated body armor.
“President Bush and his administration have taken the position that the troops are well-armored,” Thompson said. “However, this is a prime example of how out of touch this administration is with the needs of our troops.”
Spratt, who expects to hear from the Pentagon in the next few days, said he is reserving comment.
“We’re not prejudging the situation at all,” he said.
The incident marks the second time discipline has been questioned within an S.C.-based Guard or Reserve unit during the Iraq war.
In an unrelated incident, some soldiers of the Georgetown-based 1st Battalion, 178th Field Artillery, were confined to their quarters at Fort Dix, N.J., after base police had to break up a confrontation and later found alcoholic beverages in their barracks.
Some soldiers of that unit, in New Jersey for training before going to Iraq, said morale was low and training inadequate and that the unit lacked the cohesiveness needed to fight effectively.
The unit left the United States for a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq on Sept. 19.
Staff Writer Lauren Markoe, The New York Times and The Associated Press contributed. Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503 or ccrumbo@thestate.com.
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Citation:
Chuck Crumbo, "Rock Hill Reservists Refuse Mission", The State, 19 October 2004. Original URL: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/9933888.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp