Commander relieved of duty in Iraq

The Commander of the 343rd Quartermaster company currently serving in Iraq has been relieved of her duties at her request. 18 soldiers of her unit recently refused a routine mission, citing lack of armor and maintenence problems with their vehicles.


military.com

We've been discussing this situation to great length lately, and a lack of details have led to much confusion as to whether the soldiers were right or wrong regarding their decision to refuse the mission.

It is apparent to me now that the command of this unit was at least as much to blame for the incident as the ranks. Beyond that, it is probably safe to say that this unit was not fully supported by its higher headquarters as well.

I read in yesterday's New York Times of an account by one of the soldier's mothers, who was told over the phone by her son that they were not equipped with a radio for communication. If true, the command and higher headquarters is solely responsible for this situation, in my opinion, as the radio is the greatest defensive and offensive weapon in the US arsenal.

To be without a radio is suicide.

[edit on 21-10-2004 by DeltaChaos]

DC.....radios are having all sorts of problems over here. When US Mil units go firm in an area or specific location they are using the Motorola TalkAbout....you know like the ones your kids probably have.

Most comms are via mobile phone (Iraqna Net) or by sat phones such as Iridium or Thuraya.

Once you start using Mil Spec HF, VHF or UHF sets then there are real problems with atmospherics etc.

So, in my opinion, not having a Mil spec radio would not necessarily be a Mission Critical factor.

As for the troops who refused to take the convoy......is it common knowledge that the fuel that they were supposed to transport was actually contaminated and of no use??? If it were me I would have refused too.

If it starts in Iraq, won't be long before the population here will pick up on the same idea.

I'm currently re-assesing my take on this story from what I've read in the NYT and at this site. Still not much info to go on, but if the commander is relieved at her own request, that says a lot to me. Of course, she may have been pressured into it, but there's no info supporting that.

As far as the fuel being mixed with another fluid, the Army denies it, but that could mean anything. Agreed, if the POL was contaminated, the mission would have been erroneous, and would be an unnecessary risk.

What kind of interference problems are they having with FM over there? They sure don't have LOS problems. And with talkabouts, are they worried at all about COMSEC, or are they just willing to take the chance that comms are being intercepted?

DC - firstly I don't use Mil spec comms. Everything I have heard has been from US mil or other sources, so some of this info is second hand. However as I type there is a US soldier 200m away with his TalkAbout. As for COMSEC, half these guys wouldn't know the meaning of the concept. The VP for some units is very poor and undisciplined, with them swearing and messing around on the net.

LOS comms, when out of towns and cities was quite good, but I only tended to speak vehicle to vehicle when on convoys. I tend to use UHF in Baghdad, which seems to work fine.

Sorry don't have any more details other than those I have already provided about the incident in question.

I was a radioman for my commander my last 2 years, and I would have loved a talkabout. Of course, he only really needed me to carry the radio, so I would have been back on the line anyway.

I imagine the SinCGARS is only used for combat operations since no one knows how to use it, no one wants to, and yeah when we get bored, all professionalism tends to be drained from our radiocraft. It becomes a toy.

And its over 2 stone with batteries. It sucks, but I would never leave home without it. Access to 155 and CAS good.