From: Ken Boge (ken@clovermachine.com)
Date: Thu Dec 16 2004 - 08:16:00 PST
-PVT Christof E. Ambrosch wrote:
> thats bull...im sorry. but we are taught that in a combat situation, do
> whatever it takes to get your job done. these men did the right thing.
I would add ".......whatever it takes to get your job done without
jeapordizing someone elses ability to get their job done". I think it would
have been a simple enough matter to get permission to use that "abandoned"
equipment. In my experience, when in combat it is best to follow the rules
and do what is expected of you or you can muck things up badly for everyone.
One the other hand six months in jail is a bit extreme.
Ken
> COLUMBUS, Ohio - At a time when some U.S. troops in
> Iraq are complaining they have to scrounge for
> equipment, six Ohio-based reservists were
> court-martialed for taking Army vehicles abandoned in
> Kuwait by other units so they could carry out their
> own unit's mission to Iraq.
>
> The soldiers say they needed the vehicles, and parts
> stripped from one, to deliver fuel to Iraq. Members of
> the 656th Transportation Company based in Springfield,
> west of Columbus, said they needed the equipment to
> deliver fuel that was needed by U.S. forces in Iraq
> for everything from helicopters to tanks.
>
> The reservists took two tractor-trailers and stripped
> parts from a five-ton truck that had been abandoned in
> Kuwait by other units that had already moved into
> Iraq, one of the reservists, Darrell Birt of Columbus,
> told The Associated Press on Sunday.
>
> Birt, a former chief warrant officer, and the others
> were charged with theft, destruction of Army property
> and conspiracy to cover up their crimes. Birt said he
> and two others pleaded guilty and the other three were
> convicted. All received six-month sentences.
>
> "Nobody ever reported these trucks stolen. The deal
> was, when you are moving, if it was going to take more
> than 30 minutes to fix it, you left it," said Birt,
> who was released in November. A lot of people felt
> Birt deserved a medal, not a prison sentence.
>
> In contrast to lowering the boom on these poor guys
> who were only trying to do their job, the military
> said it would not court-martial any of 23 other Army
> reservists who refused a "direct order" in a combat
> zone to transport much needed fuel to resupply
> fighting elements.
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