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MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
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October, 2004
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Soldiers Threatened With Iraq Duty
COLORADO
SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Soldiers from a combat unit at Fort Carson say they have
been told to re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units
expected to deploy to Iraq, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday.
Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were
presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies
last week, two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity told the
newspaper.
"They said if you refuse to re-enlist with the 3rd
Brigade, we'll send you down to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is
going to Iraq for a year, and you can stay with them, or we'll send you to
Korea, or to Fort Riley (in Kansas) where they're going to Iraq," said one
of the soldiers, a sergeant.
The second soldier, an enlisted man, echoed that view:
"They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And
where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're
getting out, you're not."
The sergeant told the News the threat has outraged soldiers
who are close to fulfilling their service obligation.
"We have a whole platoon who refuses to sign," he
said.
An unidentified Fort
Carson spokesman said Wednesday that 3rd
Brigade recruitment officers denied threatening the soldiers with more duty in Iraq.
"I can only tell you what the retention officers told
us: The soldiers were not being told they will go to Iraq, but they may go to Iraq," said the spokesman, who confirmed the re-enlistment
drive is under way.
One of the soldiers provided the form to the News. If
signed, it would bind the soldier to the 3rd Brigade until Dec. 31, 2007.