Enceladus
2003-10-21 15:31:26 UTC
Soldiers Miss Flights Back to Iraq
Few of More Than 30 Absent Troops Offer Explanation
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 21, 2003; Page A20
More than 30 soldiers who came home from Iraq for two weeks of leave have
failed to show up for their flights back to the combat zone, military
officials said yesterday.
The soldiers, among more than 1,300 troops so far in the first large-scale
home leave program since Vietnam, have yet to be declared absent without
leave -- a violation of military law, said Army Col. Paris Mack, the
Pentagon official overseeing the program.
A week after return flights began, 28 soldiers had not made it to
Baltimore-Washington International Airport for the journey back to Iraq,
said Air Force Maj. Mike Escudie, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command
in Tampa. Six others did not make yesterday evening's flight out of BWI for
unknown reasons, said Lt. Col. Robert Hagen, an Army spokesman.
Escudie said "a small number" have been granted emergency extensions by
military commanders because of extenuating circumstances, including deaths
in the family. Military officials could not say how many presented valid
reasons or how many others had failed to contact authorities.
"Many of them are understandable due to illnesses or canceled airline
flights," Escudie said. One soldier was unable to board his flight to BWI
because he lost his wallet, while another had a sick baby, Hagen said.
But a military advocacy group cited two cases in which service members
called to say they do not want to return to the long and difficult mission
in Iraq.
"Ultimately, every one of these cases will be looked into and there will be
a determination if there are any mitigating circumstances," said Marine Maj.
Pete Mitchell, a Central Command spokesman.
Mack said the soldiers who have missed their flights are "definitely a
concern," but she added that the Army had anticipated that some soldiers
would not return, and that the numbers thus far are small.
"If you put it into the context of the 1,200-plus who have returned, it's
not a large number," Escudie said.
Mack said no consideration is being given to curtailing or canceling the
leave program because of the absent soldiers. "The program is going very
well," she said.
A survey of 1,935 soldiers in Iraq published last week by the military
newspaper Stars and Stripes found that 49 percent rated morale in their unit
as low or very low.
Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center
in Silver Spring, said the absences demonstrate that "there is a morale
problem." Robinson said he had been contacted by two soldiers home on leave
who do not want to return to their units
One of the soldiers, a National Guardsman from Florida, missed his scheduled
flight back to Iraq three days ago, Robinson said. "I told him he needs to
get his [rear end] back to Iraq," Robinson said.
"I definitely don't want to go back there," the guardsman told a reporter
for CBS News. "I think most people -- if not all people who are there --
don't want to be there."
The soldier did not return a message left on his cell phone yesterday. "He's
on the run," Robinson said.
Soldiers failing to return from leave on schedule is an old story for the
military, but nonetheless potentially a significant problem for commanders.
Soldiers could face demotion or jail time for the offense.
"We had the same problem in Vietnam," said retired Marine officer Gary
Solis, who commanded a company in Vietnam and later wrote a history on
military law during that war.
Solis, of Alexandria, said the combination of "Australian women and
Australian beer" kept several of his Marines from returning from leave on
time.
The leave program from Iraq, which unlike in Vietnam is bringing soldiers
home to the continental United States to reunite with their families, may
make it even more difficult for soldiers to return, Solis said.
"It's a lonely thing to do, but then that's the soldier's duty," he said.
Few of More Than 30 Absent Troops Offer Explanation
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 21, 2003; Page A20
More than 30 soldiers who came home from Iraq for two weeks of leave have
failed to show up for their flights back to the combat zone, military
officials said yesterday.
The soldiers, among more than 1,300 troops so far in the first large-scale
home leave program since Vietnam, have yet to be declared absent without
leave -- a violation of military law, said Army Col. Paris Mack, the
Pentagon official overseeing the program.
A week after return flights began, 28 soldiers had not made it to
Baltimore-Washington International Airport for the journey back to Iraq,
said Air Force Maj. Mike Escudie, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command
in Tampa. Six others did not make yesterday evening's flight out of BWI for
unknown reasons, said Lt. Col. Robert Hagen, an Army spokesman.
Escudie said "a small number" have been granted emergency extensions by
military commanders because of extenuating circumstances, including deaths
in the family. Military officials could not say how many presented valid
reasons or how many others had failed to contact authorities.
"Many of them are understandable due to illnesses or canceled airline
flights," Escudie said. One soldier was unable to board his flight to BWI
because he lost his wallet, while another had a sick baby, Hagen said.
But a military advocacy group cited two cases in which service members
called to say they do not want to return to the long and difficult mission
in Iraq.
"Ultimately, every one of these cases will be looked into and there will be
a determination if there are any mitigating circumstances," said Marine Maj.
Pete Mitchell, a Central Command spokesman.
Mack said the soldiers who have missed their flights are "definitely a
concern," but she added that the Army had anticipated that some soldiers
would not return, and that the numbers thus far are small.
"If you put it into the context of the 1,200-plus who have returned, it's
not a large number," Escudie said.
Mack said no consideration is being given to curtailing or canceling the
leave program because of the absent soldiers. "The program is going very
well," she said.
A survey of 1,935 soldiers in Iraq published last week by the military
newspaper Stars and Stripes found that 49 percent rated morale in their unit
as low or very low.
Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center
in Silver Spring, said the absences demonstrate that "there is a morale
problem." Robinson said he had been contacted by two soldiers home on leave
who do not want to return to their units
One of the soldiers, a National Guardsman from Florida, missed his scheduled
flight back to Iraq three days ago, Robinson said. "I told him he needs to
get his [rear end] back to Iraq," Robinson said.
"I definitely don't want to go back there," the guardsman told a reporter
for CBS News. "I think most people -- if not all people who are there --
don't want to be there."
The soldier did not return a message left on his cell phone yesterday. "He's
on the run," Robinson said.
Soldiers failing to return from leave on schedule is an old story for the
military, but nonetheless potentially a significant problem for commanders.
Soldiers could face demotion or jail time for the offense.
"We had the same problem in Vietnam," said retired Marine officer Gary
Solis, who commanded a company in Vietnam and later wrote a history on
military law during that war.
Solis, of Alexandria, said the combination of "Australian women and
Australian beer" kept several of his Marines from returning from leave on
time.
The leave program from Iraq, which unlike in Vietnam is bringing soldiers
home to the continental United States to reunite with their families, may
make it even more difficult for soldiers to return, Solis said.
"It's a lonely thing to do, but then that's the soldier's duty," he said.