Army Reserve Unit Reportedly Balked at Risky Mission in Iraq

The U.S. Army has launched an investigation into reports that members of an Army Reserve unit in Iraq refused to carry out a convoy supply mission this week, military officials said Friday.

The incident came to light when relatives of the soldiers under investigation declared that the troops disobeyed orders to drive in the convoy because they considered it a “suicide mission.”

The troops believed that the poor condition of their fuel trucks and the lack of armored vehicles to escort them meant that the mission would be too dangerous, the family members said. The soldiers decided to express their concerns to commanders on base.

The reservists are part of a fuel platoon from the 343rd Quartermaster Company, a South Carolina-based unit charged with delivering food, fuel, water and supplies to frontline troops throughout Iraq.

Since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, supply convoys have been among the most dangerous missions in Iraq, with insurgents attacking with rockets, small-arms fire and roadside bombs.

A U.S. military statement issued from Baghdad said 19 members of the fuel platoon failed to appear at a scheduled formation at 7 a.m. Wednesday in Tallil, a U.S. military base in Iraq. The formation was called to prepare for a fuel convoy mission to Taji, a town north of Baghdad.

The statement did not provide details about why the troops refused the mission.

“The investigating team is currently in Tallil taking statements and interviewing those involved,” the statement said. “This is an isolated incident and it is far too early to speculate as to what happened.”

The reserve unit, based in Rock Hill, S.C., is made up of soldiers from throughout the South. The Army described the 343rd as “an experienced company that has performed honorable service for nearly nine months in Iraq.”

The incident was first reported by the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Miss.

“The main thing is that [my husband] feels his life was saved by not going on the mission,” said Patricia McCook of Jackson, whose husband, Sgt. Larry McCook, is among the soldiers under investigation. “My husband is the type of person who does not disobey orders.”

With about 40% of U.S. troops in Iraq drawn from the reserves and National Guard, the Pentagon has struggled to equip their units with the same vehicles -- as well as equipment such as body armor -- that full-time troops have.

Jacqueline Butler, also of Jackson, is the wife of Staff Sgt. Michael Butler, another soldier involved in the incident. She said her husband would never have refused the mission unless he thought his life and the lives of his troops were unnecessarily at risk.

“I know that for him to take that drastic measure, they put him in a no-win situation,” she said. She said she was sure he wouldn’t jeopardize his years of service “unless it was dangerous to his life, a suicide mission.”

According to the statement issued by the military, the soldiers raised “valid concerns,” which commanders are addressing. The commanding general of the 13th Corps Support Command -- the parent command of the South Carolina-based unit -- has ordered a stand-down of every vehicle in the unit, during which the vehicles will be inspected for safety hazards.

It is the behavior of the soldiers, however, that is the subject of an inquiry.

“Unfortunately, it appears that a small number of the soldiers involved chose to express their concerns in an inappropriate manner, causing a temporary breakdown in discipline confined only to some members of the platoon involved,” the statement said.

Other soldiers with the unit completed the fuel mission to Taji later that day.

Refusing to obey a direct order in a war zone could lead to charges as serious as mutiny or cowardice, said Eugene R. Fidell, a Washington expert on military justice. But the fact that the Army said the soldiers had valid concerns, and halted use of the trucks until they are inspected, suggests that it might not pursue the most serious charges.

“It seems there is an effort on the part of the management not to make this a cause celebre,” Fidell said.

There are conflicting accounts of what happened after the soldiers’ reported refusal to drive in the convoy. Military officials said that none of the soldiers involved was arrested or confined.

Yet McCook, who spoke to her husband soon after the incident, said the soldiers were removed from their trailers, arrested and read their rights.

Military spokesmen denied those claims.

“They are not under arrest. Nobody is being detained. Nobody is under guard or under restriction,” said Lt. Col Steve Boylon, a spokesman in Baghdad.

He said some of the soldiers were moved from their barracks to separate the witnesses during the investigation.

“Anybody saying they are under arrest is incorrect,” Boylon said.

Family members said the incident was the product of cumulative frustration over being exposed to danger.

“It’s a buildup,” McCook said. There’s a sense “people don’t give a damn about them or their families. At a point in everybody’s life you get upset. You get fed up.”

Mazzetti reported from Washington and Barry from Atlanta. Staff writer Edmund Sanders in Baghdad contributed to this report.