[Media-watch] US soldiers told re-enlist or get sent to Iraq - Rocky Mountain News - 16/09/2004

Julie-ann Davies jadavies2004 at yahoo.co.uk
Sun Oct 3 12:31:44 BST 2004


I'm a little bit late with this one, apologies. JA

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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/,1299,DRMN_21_3185596,00.html

GIs claim threat by Army

Soldiers say they were told to re-enlist or face deployment to Iraq

By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News
September 16, 2004

COLORADO SPRINGS - Soldiers from a Fort Carson combat unit say they  have 
been issued an ultimatum - re-enlist for three more years or be transferred 
to other units expected to deploy to Iraq.

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 
Thursday, said two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity.


The effort is part of a restructuring of the Army into smaller, more 
flexible forces that can deploy rapidly around the world.

A Fort Carson spokesman confirmed the re-enlistment drive is under way and 
one of the soldiers provided the form to the Rocky Mountain News.

An Army spokesmen denied, however, that soldiers who don't re-enlist with 
the brigade were threatened.

The form, if signed, would bind the soldier to the 3rd Brigade until Dec. 
31, 2007. The two soldiers said they were told that those who did not sign 
would be transferred out of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

"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 who was interviewed separately, 
essentially 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," he said.

The brigade's presentation outraged many soldiers who are close to 
fulfilling their obligation and are looking forward to civilian life, the 
sergeant said.

"We have a whole platoon who refuses to sign," he said.

A Fort Carson spokesman said Wednesday that 3rd Brigade recruitment officers 
denied threatening the soldiers with Iraq duty.

"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 gave that explanation before being told later to direct all 
inquiries to the Pentagon.

Sending soldiers to Iraq with less than one year of their enlistment 
remaining "would not be taken lightly," Lt. Col. Gerard Healy said from the 
Pentagon Wednesday.

"We realize that we deal with people and with families, and that's got to be 
a factor," he said.

"There's probably a lot of places on post where they could put those folks 
(who don't re-enlist) until their time expires. But I don't want to rule out 
the possibility that they could go to a unit that might deploy," said Healy.

Under current Army practice, members of Iraq-bound units are "stop-lossed," 
meaning they could be retained in the unit for an entire year in Iraq, even 
if their active-duty enlistment expires.

A recruiter told the sergeant that the Army would keep them "as long as they 
needed us."

Extending a soldier's active duty is within Army authority, since the 
enlistment contract carries an eight-year obligation, even if a soldier 
signs for only three or four years of active duty.

The 3rd Brigade recruiting effort is part of the Army's plan to restructure 
large divisions of more than 10,000 soldiers into smaller, more flexible, 
more numerous brigade- sized "Units of Action" of about 3,500 soldiers each.

The Army envisions building each unit into a cohesive whole and staffing 
them with soldiers who will stay with the unit for longer periods of time, 
said John Pike, head of the defense analysis think tank Global Security.

"They want these units to fight together and train together. They're 
basically trying to keep these brigades together throughout training and 
deployment, so I can understand why they would want to shed anybody who was 
not going to be there for the whole cycle," Pike said.

But some soldiers presented with the re-enlistment message last week believe 
they've already done their duty and should not be penalized for choosing to 
leave. They deployed to Iraq for a year with the 3rd Brigade last April.

"I don't want to go back to Iraq," said the sergeant. "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 troubled, unable 
to sleep and "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.

Soldiers' choice at Fort Carson

WHAT THE FORM SAID

"Elect not to extend or re-enlist and understand that the soldier will be 
reassigned IAW (in accordance with) the needs of the Army by Department of 
the Army HRC (Human Resources Command) . . . or Fort Carson G1 (Personnel 
Office).''

  WHAT IT MEANS

. Soldiers who sign the letter are bound to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team 
until Dec. 31, 2007.

. Soldiers who do not sign the letter might be transferred out of the 
brigade and possibly to Iraq.




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