From: Mil-Veh Co. (milveh@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Dec 15 2004 - 10:43:28 PST
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.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:38:53 PDT