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Fri 17 Sep, 2004 10:16 am
Report: Soldiers say they are being threatened with Iraq duty
Updated: 9/16/2004 11:22 AM MDT
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Soldiers from a combat unit at Fort Carson say they have been told to re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday.
Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last week, two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity told the newspaper.
"They said if you refuse to re-enlist with the 3rd Brigade, we'll send you down to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is going to Iraq for a year, and you can stay with them, or we'll send you to Korea, or to Fort Riley (in Kansas) where they're going to Iraq," said one of the soldiers, a sergeant.
The second soldier, an enlisted man, echoed that view: "They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're getting out, you're not."
The sergeant told the News the threat has outraged soldiers who are close to fulfilling their service obligation.
"We have a whole platoon who refuses to sign," he said.
An unidentified Fort Carson spokesman said Wednesday that 3rd Brigade recruitment officers denied threatening the soldiers with more duty in Iraq.
"I can only tell you what the retention officers told us: The soldiers were not being told they will go to Iraq, but they may go to Iraq," said the spokesman, who confirmed the re-enlistment drive is under way.
One of the soldiers provided the form to the News. If signed, it would bind the soldier to the 3rd Brigade until Dec. 31, 2007.
An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Gerard Healy, said sending soldiers to Iraq with less than one year of their enlistment remaining "would not be taken lightly."
"There's probably a lot of places on post where they could put those folks (who don't re-enlist) until their time expires," he said. "But I don't want to rule out the possibility that they could go to a unit that might deploy."
Extending a soldier's active duty is within Army authority, since the enlistment contract carries an eight-year obligation, even if a soldier signs up for shorter terms. Members of Iraq-bound units can be retained for an entire year in Iraq, even if their active-duty enlistment expires.
"I don't want to go back to Iraq," the sergeant told the News. "I went through a lot of things for the Army that weren't necessary and were risky. Iraq has changed a lot of people."
The enlisted soldier said the recruiters' message left him "filled with dread."
"For me, it wasn't about going back to Iraq. It's just the fact that I'm ready to get out of the Army," he said.
There is this article and a whole bunch more at: antiwar.com (add the www prefix - I am not sure this site allows links).
If the Boy Scouts don't get activated next, we're gonna have to go back to a draft.
Be prepared for this article to labelled a leftist article rather than dealing with the contents.
I am having a problem with the broad brushes being wielded these days.
I hope the First Amendment will allow my completed statement to be posted.
I am absolutely against this ill-conceived war (quagmire)! So far, 1.030 dead (since the war began) and up to 12,000 suffering from physical and mental wounds - talk suggests perhaps another ten years (of course, it could be more or way less). I am absolutely against how our Commander-in Chief is abusing the National Guard (not International Guard) and reserves. I don't think he has a clue.
But, on the other hand, I am a multi-gun owner and member of the NRA but am against so-called assault weapons. I think abortion as birth control is unconscionable (but in some cases necessary)! Etc.
Why is anyone against this war always portrayed as Left? It's not that simple. It pains me greatly to give Kerry my vote - I think he is a putz, but I think Bush is a bigger one. Both parties are corrupt with corporations heavily funding both (either winner is beholden).
That's all.
Bermbits,
I just read through your reply and I am gratified that another feels as I do. Thanks
Why are persons labeled leftists who are willing to declare to this administration, "You lied to the Congress to get this country into war, and now you speak down to us in a patronizing fashion, that we should 'know it was good to take out Saddam 'anyway.
In other words, "what difference does it make that we lied?? the end justifies the means"
['This' from people who declare they follow Christ?]
It matters a GREAT deal to the citizens of this nation, how many of our youth spill their blood, and leave their body parts on foreign soil!!
Once a war (in the USA) meant striving for freedom, not aggressively trying to 'control a government' - or finding themselves in the position of a dictator.
Being ranked a 'conservative' or a 'liberal' has no bearing on whether a person abhors the aborting of human life, and very little to do with whether the family has solid moral values. Those are individual character decisions, and 'political party Poots' that mean nothing to the way I vote.
Just because I am left, people assume I am a Clinton supporter. People are just not that one dimensional.
Go Grief Bermbits, you're sounding like a rational human being. The way things are going at present that will get you run out of this country in no time.
We are at war. You are entitled to disagree with it. Disparaging our troops or our leadership and similar protests
is at the very least not supporting your country. Declaring that our leadership has betrayed our trust and have lied in order to justify invading nation states who have supported terrorism is what exactly in your minds? Patriotism? Causing confusion, misleading other citizens and activity like that does nothing to support our country in these serious times. It in fact has been declared as aiding and abetting our enemy.
Do you mean to do this? Do you really wonder why loyal Americans vigorously disagree with your views and detest your activities?
patriot:
noun
a person who loves their country and, if necessary, will fight for it
patriotic:
adjective
showing love for your country and pride in it:
patriotically:
adverb
patriotism:
noun
when you love your country and are proud of it
(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
funny, no where in any of these definitions of patriotism, does it say you always have to agree with and support the decisions of your leaders.
Chuckster - being a loyal American does not mean blindly and unquestioningly following whatever comes along. Your words remind me of how I felt at the beginning of the Vietnam conflict. As time passed, I gradually found another view.
I believe it is because of my love for my country and an understanding of the rights we have that I am free to speak my opinions and question something I see as wrong.
I absolutely and fully support my country and our troops! Please don't suggest for one moment otherwise. But, I also feel the direction in which we are headed is not a good one! That, of course, is my opinion. Others who feel otherwise and engage in healthy debate keep us more honest.
"Back in the day," I was born and brought up a full Massachusetts' Liberal! Having lived in New Hampshire for 32 years has certainly (and finally) shown me other perspectives. As I tell my classes, it has taken me fully 57 years to become the person I have, and that is one I am proud to be. I do not have a strong history background, but I am learning and growing each day. As a result, it is, in fact, "my country right or wrong," but I have learned IMHO that sometimes it is wrong, but it is still my country. That will never change
If I could snap my fingers and eliminate every Al Qaeda member, I would in a heartbeat. Our existence has changed forever given these radicals who will not rest until the entire world is Muslim. We have so far to go, and we may never get where we need to be.
Bottom line, I understand where you are coming from and respect that. I only ask the same.
Chuckster
It is patriotism of the highest order to try to get the nation on track. There's no other way to do it but to get Bush out of there. He is a train wreck.
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