Awol State Of Mind

[thedrifter]

AWOL STATE OF MIND: CALLS FROM SOLDIERS DESPERATE TO LEAVE IRAQ FLOOD HOTLINE

October 5, 2003 -- EXCLUSIVE

Morale among some war-weary GIs in Iraq is so low that a growing number of soldiers - including some now home on R&R - are researching the consequences of going AWOL, according to a leading support group.

The GI Rights Hotline, a national soldiers' support service, has logged a 75 percent increase in calls in the last 12 weeks, with more than 100 of those calls from soldiers, or people on their behalf, asking about the penalties associated with going AWOL - "absent without leave" - according to volunteers and staffers who man the service.

Many of the calls have come from soldiers who are among those now on the first wave of 15-day authorized leaves that began almost two weeks ago. Some hotline callers have indicated they may not return, staffers said.

"What would happen if I just don't go back" to Iraq, one soldier asked a worker at a GI support-line center.

"I'm going to shoot myself in the foot," said another, referring to his solution for getting home.

Some soldiers are so desperate that they have called directly from the war zone, contacting the hotline when they can get satellite-phone access or after waiting in line for hours in the desert for a military phone.

So worried is military brass about the prospect of desertion that many soldiers say they have been encouraged to take their leaves in Germany - a stopover - to avoid temptation stateside.

"The military is aware of how low troop morale is," said Teresa Panepinto, program coordinator of The GI Rights Hotline, a service that dates back to the Korean War. "They're concerned these people are going to come home and not go back."

Volunteers throughout the country take live calls and respond to messages left by soldiers who want to know their rights. One call base is in a small office in a building on Lafayette Street in the East Village.

Panepinto said monthly calls to the hotline have risen from 2,000 to 3,500 in the last three months.

She said many soldiers complained about the length of the Iraq campaign, the rough desert conditions and a U.S. death toll that has risen well above 300, including nearly 180 soldiers killed after President Bush's May 1 declaration that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.

Pentagon officials said they had no up-to-date numbers on soldiers who have gone AWOL since the Iraq campaign, but an affidavit that surfaced at a recent court martial for a soldier charged with desertion put the number at more than 50.

Most of those charged were reservists who were activated and did not report, said Steve Collier, a lawyer representing a soldier charged with desertion.

Penalties for going AWOL range from a bad-conduct discharge to a court martial and jail time.

Military officials maintain that morale remains high among soldiers, who are paid more in combat zones, and that authorized leaves are being granted as "an investment in readiness."

Maj. Pete Mitchell, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said the military code of justice is a significant deterrent to unauthorized absences.

"There is a possibility that somebody would make that decision," Mitchell said. "We're going to extend good faith that people are going to make the right decisions here."

Like the GI Rights Hotline staffers, Manhattan resident Julie Garfield said she would never encourage her nephew, Aaron Garfield, to desert his posting as a reservist in Iraq.

But if he did, she would probably cry tears of joy, she said. Aaron, who has never indicated that going AWOL is an option for him, has been in Baghdad six months.

"If he went AWOL I wouldn't blame him," said his aunt, who has been the significant adult in his life.

"They ripped him away from his life and education. He spent nine months in Bosnia. It's enough already."

In recent e-mails, Aaron says soldier morale is low because reservists are forced to stay while active-duty troops are being allowed to leave, if only for two weeks.

"There is no morale here," he wrote his aunt. "The leadership just doesn't care about us. I don't want anything to do with this mess anymore."

Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the 205,000-mem- ber Army Reserve, warned recently that there could be an exodus of active and reserve forces if the United States fails to get other countries to join the Iraq campaign.

Jos? Alvarez, an Army corporal now on duty in Iraq, has told his wife he will not re-enlist when his obligation ends next year.

He's angry that when his wife, Wendy, suffered a miscarriage recently, his unit refused to grant him an emergency leave.

"I'm definitely getting out," he wrote his wife. "To heck with the Army."

"He hates it and he's not re-enlisting," said Wendy from her home on a military base at Fort Hood, Texas. "He basically has given up."


http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/7316.htm

Sempers,

Roger

[Jerry D]

We are now seeing the fruits of the 8 years of the Clinton admin. We have citizen soldiers who joined for the extra pay and educational benefits now complaining about the fine print of their contract (about being called to active duty). As a retired 20 year USAF veteran I would tell each and every reservist/guard serving on active duty to suck it up and think of all the points they are making toward retirement. And if you think I am being too hard on them well, folks I worked for twelve years with reservist at McChord AFB and every weekend they had duty the BX and commissary was full "of reservist" the clinics were full"of reservist" and a typical weekend for the reserve technicians working on C141's was come to work sign in 8am, then it was roll call and assignments. Then they would get into the Metro truck and head up to the Terminal for Coffee.When they got back 1/2 would do training or go to the clinic for shots or dental appointments. The 5 or 6 Airmen that went out to the flightline to work were usually the same guys we worked with during the week as civilian WG7-9 employees. from 1100-1300 the reservist split up and went to Lunch.Then at 1300 the other half went to appointments and training and the others that were left went out to an aircraft and worked it. then come 1600 it was sign out time for Saturday. The next day Sunday it was Commanders Call from 0800 till 1000 then it was back to work and wait till 1100 for Lunch till 1300 again. Then at 1300 more training and any other appointments then before 1600 every Reservist had to be signed out and leaving the base because the military wasn't responsible for them once they signed out and left the base . See if your injured while on Active duty you are eligible for Military care at a military hospital but, once you sign out and leave for home you are on your own health insurance. Most of the military and families I have noticed on TV complaining about serving in Iraq seem to be in the ranks of the citizen soldier the Reserves and Guard. I guess they should bring back the old ad "It's not a Job its an adventure!" again for our cousins in the Reserves and Guard .