- WASHINGTON - Evidence continues
to grow that National Guard units across the country are undermanned and
have faked their troop level reports to Washington for years in order to
protect their flow of federal money and to hide their inability to retain
troops.
-
- The latest evidence was revealed in court documents introduced
during a January military trial in Indiana. A series of e-mail messages
from a senior Indiana National Guard officer details a longstanding practice
of false troop reporting to the Pentagon and National Guard headquarters
in Washington, D.C.
-
- The e-mails, from the top Army Guard personnel officer
in the state headquarters, describe how senior National Guard officials
in Indiana devised schemes to hide troop shortfalls. Indiana Guard officials
state in the messages that they believe similar methods are practiced in
other states.
-
- The e-mails were introduced by defense attorneys during
the court-martial of Master Sgt. Robert Wyse, a Guard recruiter found guilty
of forging physical exams for recruits. They outline a program in which
Guard officials knowingly inflated data on the total number of Army Guard
troops in the state. As many as 700 soldiers who had left the 12,000-member
Indiana Guard were still being carried on the rolls, some for more than
two years after they had left, the e-mails said.
-
- The Indiana case is the latest in a growing list of states
alleged to have faked their Guard troop numbers. In December, USA TODAY
reported allegations from more than 40 officers that at least seven states
had inflated rolls with phony troops known as "ghosts." Since
then, a dozen Guard members from across the nation have contacted the newspaper
alleging that commanders in their states have padded unit rosters with
non-existent soldiers.
-
- Maj. Sara Hall, a spokeswoman for the Indiana National
Guard, said officials in her state could not comment on the e-mails because
they are part of an ongoing legal case. The author of the e-mails, Col.
Kevin Samples, did not return telephone calls.
-
- A former National Guard officer who specializes in personnel
issues described the e-mail messages as "incriminating."
-
- "If they were misreporting these numbers to a federal
official, that's lying," says Dave McGinnis, who once tracked personnel
issues for the National Guard's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
-
- Allegations of widespread troop inflation in Indiana
were first reported last month in The Indianapolis Star newspaper.
-
- The total reported troop strength of the National Guard
is 460,000. Each state's Guard reports to the governor, but the Guard receives
more than 95% of its funding " about $13 billion last year "
from the federal government. States that can't adequately staff Guard units
risk losing the units and the federal money that comes with them.
-
- The December articles in USA TODAY reported allegations
of ghost soldiers in Army National Guard units in Illinois, South Carolina,
California, Arizona, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. In some units, as many
as 20% of the soldiers are troops who exist on paper only, according to
Guard members and government investigators.
-
- In response to the articles, the chairman and ranking
Democrat of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, Rep. John
McHugh, R-N.Y., and Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., have asked the Pentagon to
investigate. The lawmakers said in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld that the allegations "raise important questions about the
readiness of the National Guard as the nation enters a challenging phase
in the war on terrorism." The Pentagon has not responded to the request.
-
- The new allegations bring to nine the number of states,
as well as the District of Columbia, where Army Guard soldiers have told
the newspaper that individual units or senior officers have grossly misrepresented
troop levels.
-
- Among the new allegations:
-
- A Hawaii National Guard officer says that as recently
as September, a third of his 120-member infantry unit was made up of phantom
soldiers. He says the state's senior officers condoned practices that misrepresented
the Army Guard's troop levels. He did not want to be identified because
he feared retaliation. Hawaii Guard officials say they don't believe the
allegation. A Wyoming Army Guard officer says state commanders have devised
a system to fool auditors and Pentagon officials about the state's troop
levels. The officer, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing
his job, says Wyoming Guard officials have periodically instructed soldiers
on how to mark drill attendance forms to make absent soldiers appear to
have attended training. Wyoming Guard officials deny the allegation. Two
Virginia Army Guard soldiers say their units have a history of presenting
false troop data. Chester Dixon, a non-commissioned officer who works in
personnel administration, says the practice has continued during his 16-year
career in the Virginia Army National Guard. Dixon says that two years ago,
soldiers who never trained with his battalion were assigned to the unit
on paper to prevent the battalion from failing a readiness report. Dixon
says the percentage of phantom soldiers in his support battalion has been
as high as 25%.
-
- John Wilt, a former Special Forces officer in the Virginia
Guard, says 20%-30% of the troops in his battalion were ghost soldiers
when he served in the unit 1998-99. Frank Dillon, a senior enlisted soldier
in Wilt's infantry battalion in Roanoke, Va., confirms Wilt's account.
Dillon says the unit was so successful at manipulating troop levels, it
was lauded by Guard officials in Washington for being fully staffed, despite
a large number of ghost troops. Virginia Guard officials deny the allegations.
-
- A senior enlisted soldier in the District of Columbia
National Guard says ghost troops are commonly kept on the roster for a
year or longer. The soldier, who did not wish to be identified, provided
rosters that he says show some soldiers are maintained on the rolls for
up to 20 months after leaving the Guard. D.C. Guard officials deny listing
bogus troops.
-
- http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/21/usat-guard.htm
|
