NEWSWEEK: Fast Chat: U.S. Soldier Amber McClenny (refused mission)

[Robbien]

McClenny, 21, made headlines in October when she and 22 other members of
343rd Quartermaster Company stationed in Iraq refused to carry out a mission
with unarmored vehicles. The soldiers were threatened with charges of mutiny,
and held under armed guard while investigated. McClenny spoke to Newsweek's
Eve Conant by telephone from her base in Tallil, Iraq.

How did your unit get to the point where you simply said 'no' to a direct
order?
We didn't have any armor on our vehicles. We were exhausted. They wanted
us to drive farther north than we had ever gone, to deliver fuel we knew was
contaminated. When they asked me I said 'No, no way in the world.'

How's the Army punished you?
I've been demoted from specialist to private first class. I get about $400
less per month than I did before. For thirty days I have to work from 8 a.m.
to 10 p.m. with one hour off, seven days a week.

How is morale at your base?
Ever since we got here things have been swept under the rug. We've had one
suicide attempt, and one guy locked and loaded his weapon in another soldier's
face. You'd never hear about it. Ninety percent of my unit has gone to "combat stress" for counseling. I don't recall any good news this past year.

What hurts morale the most?
It's mostly knowing that your chain of command doesn't care about you. The
more fuel missions we do, the better it looks on our superiors' records. They
make rank. We weren't even licensed to drive fuel vehicles to begin with. We
have a better commander now.

And how's your armor?
The metal we've welded into our trucks is scrap metal about a quarter of
an inch thick. It's all homemade. But I guess scrap metal is better than
nothing at all.

Would you do it again, refuse that mission?
I wouldn't change a thing. It's time we stood up for ourselves. I think
there have been some good changes because of what we did: I've heard that if
you order armor now, you can get it within 45 days.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/12-19-2004/0002660759&EDATE=

[eleny]

1. I heard that the people who took their place were attacked

It may have been on Franken's show. Someone said that the unit who took their place did get attacked and someone was injured.

[bahrbearian]

5. Yeah , they got attacked but they had armor, the commander

said without the armor there would have been fatalities.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Jesus. Now they're running the military like a business:

"It's mostly knowing that your chain of command doesn't care about you. The more fuel missions we do, the better it looks on our superiors' records."

[trogdor]

3. I knew the C of C didn't give a shit about me years ago.

If I didn't already have over a decade of time served toward retirement, I would have gotten out years ago. Thank God I'm retired, and finished with that shit.

The truly glorious thing about when I retired from the Reserves was, they were all kissing my ass trying to get me to do "just a couple more drills" with them, after knowing I would be leaving for the past half year. If things were different, I might have taken them up on it, but I could have been activated in two more months to go fight for Chevron's profit margin, so no, I would not stay for even a couple more minutes.

The groveling that went on that day trying to keep me in boots was worth WAY more than the Meritorious Service Medal I didn't get.

[Ian David]

4. I have mixed feelings about this

Why do we have soldiers refusing missions that will needlessly kill THEM, but not missions that will needlessly kill Iraqi civilians?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[DulceDecorum]

9. El Condor Pasa

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail
Yes I would, if I only could, I surely would, hm-m
-- Simon & Garfunkel

[katinmn]

6. considering the latest developments

re: the armor situation, they ought to take another look at how they've punished these soldiers who refused the suicide mission.

The Newsweek article can't hurt either.

[DS1]

7. 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. with one hour off, seven days a week.

pfft, I did that twice, along with the rest of my unit, and we weren't even in trouble

crybaby

[katinmn]

10. soldiers are soldiers 24/7 but that pay cut has to hurt.

$400 less a month. ouch. How much does a private make a month?

[DS1]

11. About 400 if you're living in the barracks

More if you're lucky enough to get off-base housing

[katinmn]

12. so if they got a paycut of $400 they are serving and only getting

room and board?

OMG. No wonder one guy tried to off himself and others are being watched for suicidal tendencies.

[DS1]

13. Now, they lost grade, so they probably ended up with around 400