Officer sues over deployment to Iraq
Topic: war in Iraq
Blog links for Officer sueing Army over deployment


http://www.rense.com/general58/over.htm



http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/081804U.shtml

editiorial to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday, October 16, 2004
Topic: war in Iraq
I am writing this in response to the article entitled, “U.S. probes 19 troops’ refusal of Iraq task,” which appeared in the Saturday, October 16, 2004, City & Suburbs edition. This article states that “19 members of the 343d Quartermaster Company [13th Corps Support Command] were detained at gunpoint for nearly two days after disobeying orders to drive trucks that they said had not been serviced and were not being escorted by armed vehicles”. As a current reserve officer and a former active-duty maintenance officer in Bamberg, Germany, I support these soldiers’ stance principally in the name of safety and security. Military vehicles must pass a stringent quality assurance and control process and be evaluated by mechanics and then be signed off for dispatch by the entire chain of command before being allowed to proceed on to the road. This procedure must be followed and all the checks completed regardless of whether soldiers are operating during peacetime or wartime. This system maintenance accountability does not change. The proper maintenance and safety of the Army’s vehicles ensure the safety of our Army Forces. In my experiences as a maintenance officer in Germany and Kosovo, I regularly had to ensure my soldier’s vehicles were ‘mission-capable’ and always personally evaluated each vehicle before it left on a mission. Furthermore, these supply trucks are incapable of defending themselves from an attack that occurs during a convoy so they must first be capable of getting through any kind of attack by ensuring that they are properly equipped with a security element of armored vehicles. Safety and security are paramount concerns! I believe that this incident is not isolated as in fact the Army now suggests, “…the military is playing down the reported mutiny as an isolated incident”. I think that upon further reflection this incident suggests just how expendable the government considers our soldiers and how willfully President Bush will send more troops in to an unsafe and unstable situation in Iraq without first making it a mandatory condition that they possess safe and secure equipment in order to properly execute their missions.

new job
sorry about the lack of more entries. I started a new job in July in Philadelphia and have been busy learning and used to my new position. I will try and post more later.

Citypaper
I was looking through the Philadelphia City paper and found this lil' Guthrie quote from 'Alice's Restaurant' that I think is appropriate once again for the times.

"I mean I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the Army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug! He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington".
Arlo Guthrie
"Alice's Restaurant"

On Leadership
This is my first entry upon my blog--my internet journal--so I thought I'd make it of leadership; a topic that I spent several years practicing.

"Be not afraid of greatness, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them"--Shakespeare, Henry VIII (A5,S5)

"Whosoever would be great among you must be your servant"--Matthew 20:26

Leadership is seizing an impossible situation and either wrestling it into a breakthrough solution or releasing its dormant greatness.---Peter Koestenbaum, "Leadership: the inner sider of greatness, a philosophy for leaders".