Soldiers Sent to Federal 'Pound Me in the Ass' Prison for Scrounging

Funny, in the movies the guys who are 'resourceful' in the procurement process never seem to get caught--or if they do they get a wink and nod for being the loveable scamp. In real life it gets you time. I heard the same story on NPR today. Pictured right-Tony Curtis plays a submarine supply officer forced to take 'creative license' in procuring needed supplies in Blake Edward's 1959 classic Operation Pettycoat.

I have a feeling there is a whole lot of stuff being left out of this story. It doesn't pass the smell test. From the very first sentence the story is set in the context of the 'armor problem' in Iraq, even though this story has nothing to do with lack of armor. Via James Joyner this CBS New York article:

At a time when some U.S. troops in Iraq are complaining they have to scrounge for equipment, six Ohio-based reservists were court-martialed for taking Army vehicles abandoned in Kuwait by other units so they could carry out their own unit's mission to Iraq...

The reservists took two tractor-trailers and stripped parts from a five-ton truck that had been abandoned in Kuwait by other units that had already moved into Iraq, one of the reservists, Darrell Birt of Columbus, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Birt, a former chief warrant officer, and the others were charged with theft, destruction of Army property and conspiracy to cover up their crimes. Birt said he and two others pleaded guilty and the other three were convicted. All received six-month sentences.

``Nobody ever reported these trucks stolen. The deal was, when you are moving, if it was going to take more than 30 minutes to fix it, you left it,'' said Birt, who was released in November. ``I'm a Christian man and I can't ignore what we did, but it was justified to get us in the fight and to sustain the fight.''

Both James Joyner and John Little seem to take the story at face value. My experience has been that if you talk to any convicted criminal they will always give you a story. It is completely possible that Brit's version of the story is true, but my insticts are always to give the benefit of the doubt to the prosecution after a verdict is handed down in a case. Plus given the context the story tries to suggest a pattern blaming the Pentagon for problems in Iraq and my eyes just start rolling. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:31 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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