Because, in the piece it says that if they had made the attempt to restore the units to their correct units, that they would have only been reprimanded - a far cry from being sent to Levenworth.
But once the reservists were done with the assignment, they should have sought out the units the vehicles belonged to, he said.
"Instead of taking the trucks back to their rightful owners, the first thing was erasing the identity marks and dumping them off at bases," Wicker said. "They destroyed it. They did the enemy's job. ... Those trucks could be used for other units."
Wicker ordered the investigation of the thefts, which occurred before he assumed the battalion post.
"Taking the trucks in my mind was not the worst thing they did," Wicker said from Fort Hood, Texas, where he is now with the Army's 13th Corps Support Command.
This is the guy who had the power to sweep the incident under the rug, and that's HIS position.
This wasn't scrounging armor, this wasn't a simple case of borrowing equiptment from a unit which wasn't around. This was a case of grand theft, BECAUSE the people who took the units TRIED to keep the units from being returned.
But they shouldn't be repremanded either. They're doing what they can to protect their lives, and at the same time perform their duity to their country. The fact that to keep from getting repremanded for that they had to disguise things is a problem with the military, not them.
It's also worth noting, they filed off the numbers, stripped the units, and *scrapped* them - those trucks were not fit for use afterwards.
They did this to avoid being courtmartialed for taking the trucks in the first place, and they took the trucks because otherwise they were afraid they'd get shot and the trucks *were* abandoned in a combat zone, but they still destroyed a couple of trucks.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 11:28 am (UTC)This is the guy who had the power to sweep the incident under the rug, and that's HIS position.
This wasn't scrounging armor, this wasn't a simple case of borrowing equiptment from a unit which wasn't around. This was a case of grand theft, BECAUSE the people who took the units TRIED to keep the units from being returned.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 04:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 08:53 pm (UTC)They did this to avoid being courtmartialed for taking the trucks in the first place, and they took the trucks because otherwise they were afraid they'd get shot and the trucks *were* abandoned in a combat zone, but they still destroyed a couple of trucks.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 10:58 pm (UTC)Isn't this the type of thing you're supposed to get a comedation for?