[lit-ideas] Iraq -- this is the last straw...
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 18:56:18 EST
_http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121304W.shtml_
(http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121304W.shtml)
_Click here: t r u t h o u t - Resourcefulness a Crime in Rumsfeld's Army_
(http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121304W.shtml)
`Scrounging' for Iraq War Puts GIs in Jail
By Aamer Madhani
The Chicago Tribune
Sunday 12 December 2004
Reservists court-martialed for theft; they say they did what they had to do.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Six reservists, including two veteran officers who had
received Bronze Stars, were court-martialed for what soldiers have been doing
as
long as there have been wars - scrounging to get what their outfit needed to
do its job in Iraq.
Darrell Birt, one of those court-martialed for theft, destruction of Army
property and conspiracy to cover up the crimes, had been decorated for his
"initiative and courage" for leading his unit's delivery of fuel over the
perilous roads of Iraq in the war's first months.
Now, Birt, 45, who was a chief warrant officer with 656th Transportation
Company, based in Springfield, Ohio, and his commanding officer find
themselves
felons, dishonorably discharged and stripped of all military benefits.
The 656th played a crucial role in maintaining the gasoline supply that
fueled everything from Black Hawk helicopters to Bradley Fighting Vehicles
between Balad Airfield and Tikrit. The reservists in the company proudly boast
that
their fuel was in the vehicles driven by the 4th Infantry Division soldiers
who found Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole last year.
But when Birt's unit was ordered to head into Iraq in the heat of battle in
April 2003 from its base in Kuwait, Birt said the company didn't have enough
vehicles to haul the equipment it would need to do the job.
So, Birt explained, he and other reservists grabbed two tractors and two
trailers left in Kuwait by other U.S. units that had already moved into Iraq.
Several weeks later, Birt and other reservists scrounged a third vehicle, an
abandoned 5-ton cargo truck, and stripped it for parts they needed for
repair of their trucks.
"We could have gone with what we had, but we would not have been able to
complete our mission," said Birt, who was released from the brig on Oct. 17
and
is petitioning for clemency in hope that he can return to the reserves.
"I admit that what we did was technically against the rules, but it wasn't
for our own personal gain. It was so we could do our jobs."
The thefts mirror countless stories of shifty appropriation that has been
memorialized in books and films as a wartime skill. Birt and other reservists
in the unit said that what the prosecutors called theft was simply
resourcefulness, a quality they say is abundant among soldiers in Iraq.
While in confinement, Birt had a chat with a military police officer who was
puzzled by why Birt was in the brig. The MP, a guard, told Birt that his
unit had "acquired" a Humvee in a similar fashion.
Equipment shortages have become a concern, and soldiers are expressing
growing frustration about them. On Monday, the military announced it would not
court-martial the 23 reservists who balked at transporting fuel in Iraq
because
their vehicles were in poor condition and lacked armor, and on Wednesday,
soldiers complained to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the lack of
armor
for vehicles.
In addition to the six in the 656th who were court-martialed, eight others
in the unit were given non-judicial punishment, including fines, pay reduction
and loss in rank.
The commanding officer of the company, Maj. Cathy Kaus, 46, was sentenced to
6 months in jail and fined $5,000 for her part in the thefts. She is
scheduled to be released from the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in San Diego
on
Christmas Day after serving most of her sentence.
Kaus and Birt chose to be tried by a military judge rather than a panel that
would have included fellow soldiers, and they waived the formal
investigation.
An Army spokeswoman said Friday that the Army does not comment on specific
cases. But she noted that the military's judicial process allows those who are
court-martialed to apply for clemency.
The severity of the punishments was surprising to many members of the
company, who regularly saw off-the-books trading and thefts of military
property in
Iraq by troops in other units.
Surprised by Severity
Even Lt. Col. Christopher Wicker, the former commanding officer of the
battalion overseeing the 656th who ordered the investigation of the thefts,
said
he was shocked by the hefty penalties.
"Circumstances at [the] time, however, made these acts less serious than if
done in a peacetime garrison environment," Wicker said in a letter supporting
clemency for Birt. "The sentences . . . are too harsh given the situation
during the initial drive north of Baghdad in April 2003, and the limited flow
of repair parts that existed April-September 2003."
Theft of military equipment is legendary among American war veterans, and
the act has its own lexicon. In past wars some called it "scrounging," while
others called it "midnight requisitions" and "liberating supplies," said
writer
and Vietnam War veteran Robert Vaughan.
Military bureaucracy combined with the reality of warfare has long made
"scrounging" a necessity for soldiers trying to get a job done, Vaughan said.
Stealing is justified, he said, because everything being taken is U.S.
government property and is being used toward the war effort.
He recalled that while his unit was serving in a remote area in Vietnam,
headquarters in Saigon repeatedly denied his unit's request for high-power
generators because it said there were none in stock. But on previous trips to
Saigon, Vaughan had seen dozens of generators stacked in a holding area at
headquarters.
Frustrated, he drove to Saigon one afternoon, posed as a captain from
another unit and gave a guard a forged requisition to get the generators.
"I was the greatest scrounger in the Vietnam War," said Vaughan, who has a
war novel to be published in January in which the protagonist is an expert at
stealing equipment for his unit. "If you did something that is not for your
own personal gain, your higher-ups tended to protect you from getting into any
trouble for it."
The problems for the 656th started days before the company was to move into
Iraq. The company had only two cargo trucks to haul six containers filled
with tools, spare parts, ammunition, biological-chemical protective wear and
other supplies.
Kaus, the commander of the 656th, said that officers with the 544th
Maintenance Battalion, whose command her company fell under, informed her the
day
before their scheduled push into Iraq that they could not provide her company
support in moving the company's six containers. She said she discussed the
problem with Birt and her other chief warrant officer, and the two told her
they
could solve it.
Just Deal With It
Kaus said in a telephone interview that she told the men "to do what they
had to do" to move their supplies, but she did not tell them to steal
equipment.
Birt said he inferred that they had her permission to take the vehicles. The
other chief warrant officer, Christopher Parriman, was not charged in the
thefts and left Iraq because of a medical disability before the investigation
began. Parriman declined to comment.
Kaus said Birt and Parriman initially told her they had permission to take
the vehicles from another unit. She said she learned in late May or early June
of 2003 that the vehicles were stolen, but at that point the trucks had
become an integral part of the unit's regular fuel convoys.
"These were vehicles that were not going to be used by the unit that
originally owned them, and they had become an important part in allowing us to
deliver 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of fuel a day," said Kaus, who was awarded a
Bronze Star for effectively leading the unit.
Kaus also said she could not determine which unit the trucks belonged to, so
she could not return them. In fact, the vehicles and trailers in question
were never reported stolen, according to transcripts of court-martial
proceedings.
In a meeting with 656th officers and leaders of other companies under his
command in June 2003, Wicker, the 544th Maintenance battalion commander, asked
the officers if they had any equipment that did not belong to them. Kaus and
the other officers said nothing, Wicker said.
No one mentioned the stolen property, Wicker and others said, until a
disgruntled soldier, Sgt. Charles Neely, reported the unit to Wicker as the
company
was preparing to end its tour and return to Ohio. Neely, who also took part
in the theft of one of the trucks, was reduced to private as part of his
sentence. Neely lives in Ohio; he declined to comment.
Wicker, who had heard stories from relatives about scrounging in Vietnam,
said he was more bothered that the officers did not admit having the equipment
when asked and that they dismantled the 5-ton cargo truck. He said he
understood the rationale for stealing the equipment, but he did not agree with
it.
In the first several months of the Iraq war, the supply line moved at a
glacial pace. Obtaining even basic parts to repair vehicles took as long as
six
weeks, said Robert Chalmers, who had been a sergeant with the 656th. He
received a court-martial for stripping the cargo truck for spare parts and
disposing of its frame.
Sitting in his kitchen in Greenville, Ohio, Chalmers recalled the rocket
attacks, bomb explosions and small-arms fire his company faced on the road
between Tikrit and Balad.
He laughed about his eagerness to head to Iraq. Anticipating that his
company was going to be called up, he took two weeks off from work as an
electrician to get gear ready before the unit's soldiers received official word
that
they would be going.
Other Reservists' Penalties
Chalmers said their actions were technically wrong, but he felt the
importance of the company's mission justified the thefts. During the company's
year
in Iraq, members of the 656th drove more than 1.2 million miles and delivered
about 33 million gallons of fuel.
Chalmers was reduced to a specialist as part of his sentence. Of the other
two reservists who were court-martialed, one received a jail sentence, and the
second was punished but not jailed.
The situation has left Chalmers in debt and bitter. His wife, Tina, said she
had to borrow against her retirement savings to pay his $20,000 in legal
fees.
"We were sent to Iraq without what we needed," said Chalmers, who has spent
15 years on active or reserve duty.. "If they don't make that decision to get
the vehicles we needed, we are worse off and can't do our mission. If we
don't do our mission, those tanks at the front stand still."
For Birt and Kaus, the court-martial and confinements are a devastating end
to long and successful military careers. Both are holding onto a thin thread
of hope that they will be granted clemency by Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, commander
of the multinational forces in Iraq, so their benefits will be reinstated
and they will have a chance to continue their military careers.
Birt and Kaus were dishonorably discharged, and unless they receive
clemency, they lose all military benefits, including the right to have the
U.S. flag
draped on their coffins.
This month, Birt received a certified letter from the trucking company he
worked for as a shop foreman, telling him that it could no longer employ him
because of his felony conviction. Kaus said her employer, sporting goods
manufacturer Huffy Corp., has informed her that it is unlikely she will be
allowed
to come back to work because of her conviction.
Kaus said her anger has subsided, and she is trying to move on with her
life.
"My family and friends remind me how fortunate we are that everyone of us
[in the 656th] made it out of Iraq in one piece," she said.
For Birt, the end to his military career has been jolting.
"I don't have any regrets," Birt said. "I am proud of the work we did
serving our country. If I could get back in the reserves, I would go back to
Iraq
in a second."
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