NationStates Jolt Archive

The US military has confirmed it is investigating allegations that members of a reserve US army unit in Iraq refused to undertake a convoy mission.
The unit involved is responsible for transporting food, water and fuel for US-led forces, a top US official said.
Up to 19 soldiers from the unit based near Talil in southern Iraq allegedly failed to carry out their orders.
...
Families of the US reservists being investigated are reported to have said the troops considered the mission too dangerous.
At least some have been quoted as saying they refused the mission because their vehicles were in poor condition and they did not have an adequate armed escort.
Teresa Hill of Dothan, Alabama, told the Associated Press news agency that her daughter Amber McClenny who serves in the platoon had phoned on Thursday morning to ask her to help.
"This is a real, real big emergency," Ms McClenny said. "I need you to contact someone. I mean, raise pure hell."
"We had broken-down trucks, non-armoured vehicles and ... we were carrying contaminated fuel.
"They are holding us against our will. We are now prisoners," she added.
But according to a senior US military official, the unit involved had been ordered to carry out what is known as a maintenance stand-down.
The official said the soldiers involved were not under arrest or detained and he described the incident as isolated.
However, a US-led coalition spokesman in Baghdad told AP that a few of the troops had chosen to express their concerns in an "inappropriate manner" and caused a temporary breakdown in discipline.
The BBC's Nick Childs in the Pentagon says US convoy missions have been a main target of attacks by Iraqi insurgents, but are also vital to the US-led forces - so any breach of military discipline here is likely to be taken seriously.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3748390.stm

Very interesting and personally, I can understand those men and women. Carrying out a mission in hostile territory is bad enough, but doing it without proper protection is something the military can't expect anybody to do. These are not fulltime soldiers.

In wartime, you refuse orders, you get court-martialed.

There was an instance where a fleet of ships was ordered to proceed into shallow waters. One ship captain disobeyed the order and turned around. All the other ships ran aground and were damaged. The disobedient captain was still court-martialed and found guilty. Go figure.

This is different, as lives were actually at stake. If I was one of them, I would seriously consider disobeying orders if I felt I was being ordered into a suicide mission. But maybe I don't know everything. War is crazy, I don't presume to judge any of the soldiers involved.

ECHO!echo, echo echo, echo...

"We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there's still hope. But Blithe, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function. Without mercy. Without compassion. Without remorse. All war depends on it. " Sgt. Spiers, Band of Brothers

Despite the fact that WWII was a just war, I think this still applies.

I guess you can go on that mission and face likely death, or you can refuse the mission and face time in Jail. Its a nasty, unfair choice; between your own life and the successful completetion of your mission...but these people made it. I see nothing wrong with them refusing the mission, and nothing wrong with them being punished for it, both sides are right in this case.

Now, why they are being asked to perform such a mission is another matter altogether. Hopefully this attention will lead to an improvement in our delicate supply lines in Iraq, and indeed, all of our combat theaters.

This is old news, and under investigation. The information the public has is more spin than anything at this point. We don't send people on 'suicide missions,' for one, but the truth will come out in time.. It's just the press grasping at straws while we have secured major areas in Iraq in the last month, and are approaching elections.. they have to moan about something. ;)

This is old news, and under investigation. The information the public has is more spin than anything at this point. We don't send people on 'suicide missions,' for one, but the truth will come out in time.. It's just the press grasping at straws while we have secured major areas in Iraq in the last month, and are approaching elections.. they have to moan about something. ;)

Do you have the truth?

What happened:
October 20, 2004: On October 13, five soldiers out of 19 in a fuel delivery platoon of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, refused to take their seven vehicles north along the highway that runs from Kuwait to Baghdad. The soldiers complained that the trucks were in poor shape, had no armor and that the fuel they were carrying was contaminated. The entire platoon was relieved of duty and other troops came in and took the trucks, and the fuel, north. The mission was completed without incident. The “mutiny,” as the media described it, was big news. It shouldn’t have been. Such incidents have occurred in every war where American troops have to drive trucks through dangerous territory. World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, the Gulf War. In most cases, a senior officer or NCO comes in, has a “vigorous discussion” with the troops, and the mission is carried out. Sometimes that doesn’t work, in which case the NCOs and officers of the unit are relieved, or at least see their promotion prospects evaporate. The army goes by the old adage, “there are no bad troops, only bad officers.”

The 343rd Quartermaster Company belongs to the 13th COSCOM, a logistics and maintenance organization with some 15,000 troops. In the last six months, the 13th COSCOM has lost 26 troops, and had over 200 wounded or injured. Spend a year working for 13th COSCOM, and you have about a three percent chance of getting killed or injured. Historically, that’s a low casualty rate. In World War II, units of that size often suffered that many losses in a single day, and for many days at a time.

But this is now, this is Iraq, and 13th COSCOM is not a combat division, but a “combat support” organization. However, the war in Iraq is unique. For the first time in military history, the non-combat troops are suffering higher losses than the combat troops. Naturally, the combat troops are better prepared to handle combat than the combat support troops who, historically, rarely get shot at. While the Iraqis are bad shots and lousy soldiers, they are not stupid. They know their chances of surviving are much better if they attack American combat support troops, especially if they are just riding past in a convoy of trucks. Taking on American infantry, especially if they are in armored vehicles, is known to be suicidal.

The army has gone to great lengths to turn the combat support troops, especially those who spend a lot of time on the road, into sort-of-combat troops. Most of the trucks have been armored and equipped with weapons (12.7mm or 7.62mm machine-guns). If a route is known to be dangerous, MPs or combat troops provide escort, which often includes a helicopter overhead. But it’s up to the officers and NCOs of these combat support units to keep their troops informed about what they are up against. Most importantly, it is the job of the officers to insure that their troops are ready for whatever their job is, especially if it is dangerous. Some of the officers of the 343rd Quartermaster Company failed in their duty, and they are the ones most likely to be punished.

Technically, the troops who refused to get on their trucks and drive north, were guilty of the worst possible crime (for a soldier), “cowardice in the face of the enemy” and “disobeying a direct order.” In some armies, officers are authorized to take out their pistols and kill the reluctant soldiers on the spot. During the 1942-3 Battle for Stalingrad, the Russians reported that 19,000 of their soldiers died that way. But that’s not how the American army operates. In the last seventy years, only one American soldier has been executed for “cowardice in the face of the enemy.” In the American army, the officers and NCOs are expected to prepare their troops for the dangerous duties they might face. The system rarely breaks down, and when it does, it’s not a mutiny.

Source (http://www.strategypage.com//fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=HTMORAL.HTM)