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thedrifter
11-01-04, 06:50 AM
10-29-2004

Review Leadership of 343rd’s Commanders



By Raymond Perry



The refusal of nearly 20 U.S. Army reservists to proceed on a resupply mission in Iraq earlier this month is extraordinary. But the important and still unresolved issue remains: Was this truly a mutiny?



A military group acting in concert to refuse a lawful order, is a mutiny. However these soldiers appear to have acted individually and their alleged wrongdoing was limited to the extent of not setting out on what they felt was a likely suicide mission.



Still, refusing a lawful order, even one that may lead to near certain death, is a serious offense. So should we just court-martial them and be done with it? I think not, particularly in this era where the “all volunteer” U.S. military has been sent to war twice since 2001.



I recall all too well the era of the draft. It provided the military with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of people, and leaders could toss people aside at will. Moreover, commanders did not have to lead their troops well to achieve results. Simply driving them with the threat of the law would get results.



The servicemen of that era, many of whom enlisted only to have some choice about their future, showed an attitude of, “I’ll play your silly game when I have to, but don’t push it because I’m gone soon, and when I’m off duty my time is my own.” This poisoned the morale of the armed services.



There is likely not a serving leader of any of the armed forces today who would have the draft back.



Given that context, the refusal of the soldiers from the 343rd Quartermaster Co. should first be viewed through the lens of leadership. Juniors owe loyalty and obedience to their seniors. The Uniform Code of Military Justice attempts to ensure this.



What is more important is that seniors owe more to their juniors than their juniors owe them. But this is only enforced by the professional ethics that govern the actions of commissioned officers and senior non-commissioned officers.



The focus of how the Army as a service responds to the behavior of these reservists must begin at the general officer level. It simply is not enough to relieve a company commander for loss of confidence and take a few soldiers to nonjudicial punishment under Article 15. That’s the easy way out for the service, but the particular situation here calls for more.



In this era of a fully professional and volunteer military, so far distant from that of the Army defined by the draft, service leadership must view the behavior of the 343rd’s reservists as indicative of a loss of control by their senior leaders. The situation as we know it strongly suggests that these leaders probably were not out in front of their soldiers. The company commander was likely muddling along as best as she could in a difficult situation.



Convoys operating in Iraq today frequently take some serious fire en route to their destinations. It would be instructive for the Army as it investigates the 343rd to determine how many leaders above the company level overall have ridden shotgun on an unarmored truck in a convoy?



Gen. George Casey, overall commander of the U.S.-led multi-national force in Iraq, should have done so but may be excused, perhaps, if he has been out with engaged frontline combat units. Of course, in this type of conflict convoys often turn out to be the frontline too.



More importantly, Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, commanding general of the 13th Corps Support Command – the 343rd Quartermaster Co.’s field commander – should have ridden shotgun on some of these convoys. If the number is zero then the general should request relief and go home today.



The principle for Gen. Chambers and any other commander is simple: If you have done a few convoy rides, you can do better, a lot better. If you have done quite a few, only then can you in good conscience hammer these men hard for refusing to participate. Only if a commander has shared the risks his or her troops face each day can the senior officer hold them fully accountable.



How many of your colonels have ridden shotgun in unarmored trucks?



In an article last year on a troubled U.S. Army unit from Colorado (“Leadership Failure in a Troubled MP Unit,” DefenseWatch, Nov. 5, 2003), I asked where the sergeants-major were as problems began to bedevil that company. The same issue of absentee noncommissioned officers arises here: Why is there no mention of a sergeant-major standing up to commissioned officers on behalf of the 343rd Quartermaster Co.’s soldiers?



My suspicion is that in this instance – and probably too many units across Iraq – no one of any seniority has ridden shotgun on a convoy, much less an unarmored one. Soldiers do not behave the way they did here when they understand the importance of the mission and their leaders are sharing their risks.



There is not a soldier who does not clearly understand that his life may be forfeit sometime. These soldiers ask, and the profession demands, that leaders not waste this sacrifice.



It would be of great benefit to the service if Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker were to call on someone of the caliber of retired Gen. and former Central Command CINC Tommy Franks to go to Iraq and take a look at the leadership implications arising from this incident. In this modern era where briefing performance and budget skills can dominate the general officer selection process, a clear leader respected by his men would add strong credibility to Schoomaker’s formal review.



If this were to take place, his debrief to the Army leadership can be very short: The 343rd Quartermaster Co. incident occurred because of either “malcontents” or “leadership failures.”



In the former case, the Army can hammer the soldiers who refused and few will question the decision. If the latter is the case, Schoomaker can start with immediate relief of Chambers and proceed to a critical review of the leadership actions of the colonels serving under him.



Lt. Raymond Perry USN (Ret.) is a DefenseWatch Contributing Editor. He can be reached at cos1stlt@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=678&rnd=515.3148434434446

Ellie