Veterans for Common Sense

The Trials of Julian Goodrum

An Army Reserve Lieutenant served in the Iraq War and filed complaints about safety violations in his unit.  Now he’s defending his freedom as the Army gears up a court-martial.

Lieutenant Julian Goodrum is the picture of an American soldier: a young man with quintessentially good looks and a friendly smile despite the hell he has been through for the last two years.  Goodrum served honorably in the first Gulf War, and on his return joined the U.S. Army reserve.  A thirteen year Army veteran, he received a very unusual direct commission to Lieutenant, and in February of 2003 was called up to active duty and transferred from his military police unit to the 2/12 Transportation Company, where he took charge of a platoon preparing for war. 

Today he faces charges of fraternization and being absent without leave. These charges could result in imprisonment or dishonorable discharge if the investigating officer recommends proceeding with a court martial.

The prosecution believes they have a clear case.  According to the charges, Lieutenant Goodrum conducted an affair with his platoon sergeant in Iraq.  Following his redeployment to the U.S. in June 2003, an investigating officer recommended that he received an Article 15 (nonjudicial punishment, which creates a black mark on a soldier’s record but cannot result in jail time).  The Army further accuses Goodrum of going AWOL from FortKnox in November 2003, until he turned himself in at WalterReedArmyMedicalCenter in February of this year. The prosecutor, Captain Wright, summed it up in her closing statement this evening: an open and shut case, with serious charges — AWOL, fraternization, and dereliction of duty.

As it turns out, nothing is so simple.

Described in his service records as a strong, outstanding leader, when Goodrum arrived at 2/12 Transportation he identified a number of serious problems and took steps to correct them, including complaining to his commanding officer, and when no action was taken, to the Inspector General.  What were the problems he pointed out? Serious ones.  The transportation unit deployed to Iraq ill equipped, and conducted long-range missions into Iraq, in some cases covering thousands of miles over several day missions.  Though the unit had good maintenance crews and most of the trucks were running, they had no radios, no heavy weapons, no armor, no medics, and first aid bags missing much of them supplies they required. 

According to testimony provided by one of the other platoon leaders, they were sent on these missions without any maps. They came under rocket attacks, routine roadside bombs, direct rifle fire and other attacks.  Because they had no radios, they couldn’t call for support or medivacs for injured soldiers. The platoon leaders made repeated requests for additional support, but no response was received. Eventually 22-year old Sergeant Kenneth Harris, one of Goodrum’s soldiers, was crushed between two vehicles after a long convoy plagued by breakdowns.

Lieutenant Eisley, the other platoon leader, testified their company commander Captain Fisher disliked Goodrum, and “was going to get him.”

Captain Fisher did.  According to the testimony, rumors of liaisons between the male and female soldiers in the unit were rife, including one that Goodrum and his platoon sergeant were conducting an affair. Captain Fisher opened an investigation, questioning soldiers within the platoon and taking sworn statements.

Ultimately, the fraternization charge rests on the statements of three soldiers.  The first, that Goodrum and his platoon sergeant were “sitting close to each other,” was directly contradicted by a statement taken from Sergeant Harris before his death.  The second two statements were taken from two soldiers accused of committing adultery with each other.  Worse, according to Lieutenant Eisley, the company commander threatened one of those soldiers with court-martial if he didn’t sign a statement implicating Goodrum.  Eisley later confronted his commander over the issue, and when he received no response, filed a complaint with the inspector general at CampDoha.

By that time, Goodrum was back in the United States, pending surgery.  Reassigned to a medical hold unit at Fort Knox, Kentucky, the key moment in the case happened on October 29, 2003, when he was quoted in a United Press International article regarding terrible health care conditions for soldiers at FortKnox on Medical hold (http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=1583). A few days later, on November 7, Goodrum saw the physician’s assistant at FortKnox and requested care, saying he was having a “breakdown.”

He was turned away. A handwritten note in his medical record says, “Col Stevens do not want this patient on medical hold.”

Goodrum drove home to Knoxville and was hospitalized by a civilian doctor for PTSD and depression.

The Army claims that Goodrum’s inpatient care constituted being absent without leave, and cut off his pay and benefits.  However, Army regulations say when a soldier is treated by a civilian doctor, Army medical personnel are required to contact the civilian provider for medical consultations.  Colonel Stevens and others testified today that no medical professional ever consulted with Goodrum’s civilian doctor.

At the recommendation of his civilian doctor, Goodrum went to WalterReedArmyMedicalCenter in February.  Walter Reed diagnosed him with severe depression and post traumatic stress disorder, and recommended he be medically retired from the military.  Unfortunately, the medical board process has been halted until the court martial is resolved.

The case raises a number of key issues.  First, why did the transportation unit deploy without the proper equipment in the first place?  Why didn’t they have maps, or body armor, or heavy weapons, or other necessary equipment?  What happened to the numerous complaints filed with the Inspectors General by the junior officers in this company regarding severe problems within the unit?  The defense raised a sad point — Goodrum’s commander, Captain Fisher, produced a 65 page report on his investigation into allegations of improper conduct with a non-commissioned officer, but only a 2 page investigation into the death of Sergeant Harris.

At FortKnox, why was Goodrum denied psychiatric care?  According to testimony at today’s hearing, the base only had two full-time psychiatrists and one part-time, with no inpatient psychiatric program.  The care simply wasn’t available, and procedures to manage civilian care in such cases were not followed.

Following the closing statements of the prosecutors and defense, the investigating officer indicated he would be in touch with both parties regarding his recommendations.  Once those are made, it will be up to the Commanding General at Walter Reed to make the final determination of Lieutenant Goodrum’s fate. If he chooses a general court-martial, this decorated veteran of two wars may face not only prison time and dishonorable discharge, but being cut off from the medical care for post-traumatic stress which he will likely need for the rest of his life.

Charles Sheehan-Miles, a 1991 Gulf War veteran, is executive director of Veterans for Common Sense (http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org)

843 ex-soldiers called up are no-shows, Army says

WASHINGTON — (AP) More than 800 former soldiers have failed to comply with Army orders to get back in uniform and report for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Army said Friday. That is more than one-third of the total who were told to report to a mobilization station by Oct. 17.

Three weeks ago, the number stood at 622 amid talk that any who refused to report for duty could be declared absent without leave. Refusing to report for duty normally would lead to AWOL charges, but the Army is going out of its way to resolve these cases as quietly as possible.

In all, 4,166 members of the Individual Ready Reserve have received mobilization orders since July 6, of which 2,288 were to have reported by Oct. 17. The others are to report in coming weeks and months.

Of those due to have reported by now, 1,445 have done so, but 843 have neither reported nor asked for a delay or exemption. That no-show rate of 37 percent is roughly in line with the one-third rate the Army had forecast when it began the mobilization to fill positions in regular and reserve units.

Of the 843, the Army has had follow-up contact with 383 and is seeking to resolve their cases, according to figures made public Friday. For the 460 others, ”we are still working to establish positive contact,” the Army said. Some may not have received the mailed orders.

Members of the Individual Ready Reserve, or IRR, are rarely called to active duty. The last time was 1990, when nearly 20,000 were mobilized. IRR members are people who were honorably discharged after finishing their active-duty tours, usually four to six years, but remained in the IRR for the rest of the eight-year commitment they made when they joined the Army. They are separate from the reserve troops who are more routinely mobilized — the National Guard and Reserve.

The Marine Corps, meanwhile, said Friday that a Marine killed in western Iraq last week, Sgt. Douglas E. Bascom, 25, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was a member of the Individual Ready Reserve. He was the first IRR Marine to die in Iraq, said Gunnery Sgt. Kristine Scharber, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon.

Army officials said they were uncertain whether any of their IRR members have been killed in Iraq.

Associated Press

Australian Soldiers used as Experimental Anthrax Vaccine “Guinea Pigs”

Hundreds of Australian soldiers serving in East Timor were used as guinea pigs by the army in tests of an anti-malaria drug which has psychotic side effects, it was reported today.

The Sunday Telegraph said the soldiers were ordered to take the drug, Larium, by the army as part of tests to observe side effects, which can also include depression and paranoia.

But it said the soldiers claimed they were not fully informed of the possible adverse reactions and some were planning a class action against the army.

Members of the 2RAR battalion and 4RAR commandos had suffered family breakdowns, paranoia and suicidal thoughts after taking Larium, also known as Mefloquine, the paper said.

It said one young soldier, who received three service medals in East Timor, took his girlfriend hostage at gunpoint soon after his return.

Other soldiers had experienced illnesses such as kidney disease and migraine.

It said Brisbane firm Quinn and Scattini would launch a class action against the army on behalf of personnel who took Larium while in East Timor.

“We believe liability will be found in these cases,” lawyer Simon Harrison was quoted as saying.

The paper quoted “army officials” as admitting using soldiers as guinea pigs but claiming the tests involved “dozens” rather than hundreds of soldiers.

But it said soldiers it interviewed estimated the number of soldiers ordered to trial the drug was close to 400.

It said the defence department had denied Larium had any side effects.

The Army is negotiating with civilian leaders about eliminating a women-in-combat ban so it can place mixed-sex support companies within warfighting units, starting with a division going to Iraq in January.

   Despite the legal prohibition, Army plans already have included such collocation of women-men units in blueprints for a lighter force of 10 active divisions, according to Defense Department sources.
    An Army spokesman yesterday, in response to questions from The Washington Times, said the Army is now in discussions with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s staff to see whether the 10-year-old ban in this one area should be lifted. The ban prohibits the Army from putting women in units that “collocate” with ground combatants.

  “When that policy was made up, there was a different threat,” said Lt. Col. Chris Rodney, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon. “We imagined a more linear combat environment. Now, with the nature of asymmetrical threats, we have to relook at that policy.”
    Col. Rodney cited the fighting in Iraq as typifying the new threat whereby all soldiers, support or combat, face attack by rockets, mortars, roadside bombs and ambushes.
    “Everybody faces a similar threat,” he said. “There is no front-line threat right now.”
    Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the Army has suffered 793 combat deaths, including 24 female soldiers.
    The Army is not seeking to lift the ban on women in direct combat units, such as infantry or armor.
    What is being examined is the part of the exclusion rule that says mixed-sex support companies may not be positioned with ground combat teams.
    In the disputed instance, the transformation plan of Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, calls for creating Forward Support Companies, which are made up of men and women. These companies would collocate with reconnaissance squadrons, which are combat units and are part of larger brigade “units of action.”
    The problem is a 1994 ban signed by then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin that excludes women from land combat units. Mr. Aspin added an additional restriction. Women could not serve “where units and positions are doctrinally required to physically collocate and remain with direct ground combat units that are closed to women.”
    Some Pentagon officials, who asked not to be named, said the proposed Forward Support Companies are at the least “skirting” the existing ban if not violating it. They suspect the new units are a way to inch women closer to land combat despite Congress’ prohibition against it.
    Elaine Donnelly, who leads the pro-military Center for Military Readiness, says Congress needs to be informed of the Army’s plans.
    “There is a law requiring notice to Congress that has not happened, and there are regulations that forbid the Army from taking infantry units and collocating gender-integrated units with them,” said Mrs. Donnelly, who opposes women in combat. “If they are doing this, putting women in land combat units would be a violation of law and policy.”
    The Pentagon long has banned women from combat roles. In the early 1990s, the new Clinton administration changed the rules by allowing women for the first time to serve on combat ships and pilot combat aircraft, such as jet fighters and helicopters.
    But the Pentagon retained the ban on women participating in direct combat and issued the new Aspin rules.
    Mr. Aspin said in a January 1994 memo to the services that “women should be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground.” The policy then defined direct combat as “engaging an enemy on the ground with individual or crew-served weapons, while being exposed to hostile fire and to a high probability of direct physical contact with the hostile force’s personnel. Direct combat takes place well forward on the battlefield while locating and closing with the enemy to defeat them by fire, maneuver, or shock effect.”
    Mr. Aspin then went further in denying collocation of mixed-sex and combat units. The Army accepted the limitation, documents show.
    The 3rd Infantry Division, which played a major role in the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, is scheduled to return to Iraq early next year. It would be the first division to be reconfigured into “units of action” that would contain the new mixed-sex Forward Support Companies.
    In all, Gen. Schoomaker is increasing the number of combat brigades from 33 to 48, and naming them “units of action.” The brigades are being married up permanently with support units so they can move out more quickly to war zones, instead of waiting for the additional personnel to arrive.
    Early in the Bush administration, Mrs. Donnelly successfully persuaded the Pentagon to restrict female soldiers from certain reconnaissance units after Army planners had penciled them into those new units.

U.S. military: Company commander of unit that refused to deliver convoy relieved of duties

By Tini Tran, Associated Press, 10/21/2004 08:16

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The company commander of a U.S. Army Reserve unit whose soldiers refused to deliver fuel along a dangerous route in Iraq has been relieved of her duties, the U.S. military said Thursday.

The decision to relieve the commander of the 343rd Quartermaster Company came at her request and is effective immediately, according to a statement from the 13th Corps Support Command. It was authorized by Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers.

”The outgoing commander is not suspected of misconduct and this move has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of anyone involved,” the statement said.

The commander, whose name is being withheld by the military to protect her privacy, will be reassigned to another position commensurate with her rank and experience, the U.S. military said.

Eighteen soldiers from the 343rd Quartermaster Company, based in Rock Hill, S.C., are under investigation for refusing to drive a fuel convoy from Tallil air base near Nasiriyah to Taji north of Baghdad.

The mission was later carried out by other soldiers from the unit, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said.

The soldiers have told their families that they balked at the mission last week because the vehicles were unarmored and in poor condition. They said complaints to their commander about concerns went unheeded.

Military convoys are often the target of insurgent attacks in Iraq. The unit delivers food, water and fuel on trucks in combat zones.

Chambers said on Sunday that an investigation is underway but maintains that it is ”too early” to determine if any of the soldiers will undergo disciplinary action. The soldiers have since returned to duty.

The U.S. military has downplayed the incident, calling it an isolated incident not indicative of wider U.S. Army morale or maintenance problems.

However, Chambers has called for the 343rd to undergo a two-week ”safety maintenance stand-down,” during which it will conduct no further missions as the unit’s vehicles are inspected. Chambers also said the Army is adding steel armor plating on unarmed vehicles and upgrading maintenance.

The father of one of the soldiers involved said the reservists refused to carry out the operation only after another military outpost rejected the fuel they were to deliver.

The soldiers had just returned from a 3½-day journey to deliver the fuel to a city north of Baghdad, but military officials there found that the supplies were contaminated, said John Coates, who said he spoke to his son Thursday.

When the soldiers returned to their base with the fuel still in the tankers, their commander ordered the platoon to prepare for another transport mission, this time to a hotspot of guerrilla activity, Coates said.

”I guess he wanted somebody to take it,” said Coates, whose son is 26-year-old Spc. Major Coates.

Families of several of the soldiers have said the men would not have taken such drastic action without compelling reasons.

Another member of the unit, Spc. Reeves Williams, 19, of Maiden, N.C., told his mother, Genia White, that he helped carry out the delivery with eight other soldiers after initially refusing to do so.

”My son has strong convictions,” White told the Hickory Daily Record for a story in Wednesday’s editions. ”For him to say no, there is something definitely, definitely wrong.”

Campaign 2004: Voter registration workers cry foul

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An ostensibly nonpartisan voter registration drive in Western Pennsylvania has triggered accusations that workers were cheated out of wages and given instructions to avoid adding anyone to the voter rolls who might support the Democratic presidential nominee.

Sproul & Associates, a consulting firm based in Chandler, Ariz., hired to conduct the drive by the Republican National Committee, employed several hundred canvassers throughout the state to register new voters. Some workers yesterday said they were told to avoid registering Democrats or anyone who indicated support for Democratic nominee John F. Kerry.

“We were told that if they wanted to register Democrat, there was no way we were to register them to vote,” said Michele Tharp, of Meadville, who said she was sent out to canvass door-to-door and outside businesses in Meadville, Crawford County. “We were only to register Republicans.”

Tharp said volunteers were sent door-to-door to seek registrants but were instructed to first ask prospective new voters which candidate they planned to support.

“If they said Kerry, we were just supposed to say thank you and walk away,” Tharp said.

Brenda Snyder, a volunteer with the Republican Victory Center in Erie said workers “absolutely never” were told not to register Democrats. She said some workers were not paid “because of discrepancies in their paychecks” and said the party was attempting to correct the problem. Tharp, for instance, said she was paid only $14 for 15 hours of work after being hired at a rate of $11 per hour.

Heather Layman, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, confirmed Sproul’s role in the effort and said that complaints by 45 to 50 workers who had not been paid had been straightened out. Layman denied that the canvassers avoided registering Democrats and suggested that Democrats were orchestrating the charges.

“I do smell politics here if that’s what they’re saying,” Layman said.

Much of the controversy yesterday centered on the registration drive in Crawford County, where canvassers claimed to be owed thousands of dollars after hunting out Bush supporters.

“If they were a Kerry voter, we were just supposed to walk away,” said Michael Twilla, of Meadville, who said he has been paid for only eight of 72 hours he worked.

Twilla provided the Post-Gazette with a copy of the script he said he had been given.

It instructs the canvassers to hand unregistered Bush supporters a clipboard with a registration form, and to advise them the canvassers will personally deliver the forms to the local courthouse.

A lower portion of the form also advises the canvassers to ask undecided voters two questions: “Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro life?” and “Are you worried about the Democrats raising taxes?” If voters say they are pro-life, the form says, “Ask if they are registered to vote. If they are pro-choice, say thank you and walk away.”

The form also tells canvassers, “If anyone asks who you are working for, it’s ‘Project America Vote.’ ”

America Votes, whose name is similar, is a self-described nonpartisan voter registration organization sponsored by generally liberal-leaning groups.

Several canvassers said they had been instructed to skip the lower portion of the form and others said they were told to say they were working for a local employment agency.

Twilla said the canvassers were told to say they worked for Career Concepts, a local employment agency. Career Concepts was contracted by a Florida firm, Apple One, to assist them in locating temporary employees. A spokeswomen for Career Concepts last night said her firm did not employ the canvassers.

Sproul’s role in voter registration drives this month triggered official investigations in several other states, with canvassers alleging they had been told to discard Democratic registration forms, leaving voters who thought they had registered off the rolls.

The firm has a contract with the Republican National Committee to register new voters and has operated using the name Voters Outreach of America. Sproul’s chairman, Nathan Sproul, is a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party.

The firm attracted attention in Pittsburgh last month when Sproul employees called a Carnegie Library official to request space outside the buildings to register voters.

Holly McCullough, special assistant to the library director, said a woman from the firm said they were working for America Votes, the nonpartisan but liberal leaning organization.

McCullough said she agreed to allow the group to set up at the libraries.

“I said there has to be no issue advocacy. It has to do nonpartisan voter registration and they said that was right,” McCullough said. Instead, several days later, McCullough received a call from Ryan Hughes, director of the Woods Run library branch, saying patrons had complained about the behavior of the canvassers.

Hughes said a patron came in the library Sept. 7 “and said ‘There’s this person out there asking me who I was voting for.’ “But McCullough said she also became concerned because she discovered that Sproul was not working for America Votes, and that the registration drive was being organized by the Republican Party.

(Dennis Roddy can be reached at 412-263-1965 or at droddy@post-gazette.com)

Frederick had clean, proud history before abuse
DAVID DISHNEAU

Associated Press

Staff Sgt. Ivan “Chip” Frederick II, sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday for abusing Iraqi prisoners, matches the honorable man his family describes in at least one regard: he fessed up.

Frederick, 38, of Buckingham, Va., was taught to be responsible, according to his divorced parents, Ivan and Jo Ann. They say they raised him in the churchgoing traditions common to the rural Appalachian communities where he grew up, Oakland, Md., and nearby Elk Garden, W.Va.

“I feel proud that he says, ‘I do take responsibility, I’ll take my licks,'” Frederick’s father, who’s known as “Red,” said in August after his son announced he would plead guilty.

There is little in Frederick’s background to suggest that the 6-foot-2 former Virginia state corrections officer would enjoy the acts he acknowledged – attaching wires to the hands of a detainee who was told he would be electrocuted; stomping and punching prisoners; and ordering an inmate to masturbate. Frederick has said military intelligence officers ordered the degradation.

He had several speeding violations and a conviction for trepassing to go fishing, but his record at the Buckingham Correctional Center, in Dillwyn, Va., was virtually spotless, according to his wife, Martha, who still works at the institution. Frederick even was cited for saving the life of a prisoner who tried to hang himself, she said.

Frederick joined the Army National Guard at 17, after convincing his mother to sign the papers authorizing his enlistment. He started out in the engineer corps, but eventually switched to the 372nd Military Police Company based in Cresaptown, a western Maryland town about 150 miles from Baltimore.

He worked a smattering of different jobs during his 20s before studying criminal justice at a local community college. He wanted to be a state trooper, but failed the physical because of a bad knee.

He and Martha met at the prison and married in 1999. He helped raise her two daughters, and the family spent their free time fishing and following Frederick’s favorite NASCAR driver, Dale Jarrett.

In 2001, Frederick was called up to do security work at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. He came home for a short while before he was called up again in 2003 and sent to Iraq.

DISPATCH FROM QUINTON, ALA.

In Defense of Their Soldiers

Relatives of reservists who refused to deliver fuel in Iraq last week are hitting airwaves, presenting a challenge for the U.S. military.

By Rennie Sloan and Ellen Barry
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 19, 2004

QUINTON, Ala. — All day Monday from inside his mobile home, Ricky Shealey made the case for his son, Spec. Scott Shealey. The 15-year veteran of the Army outlined the evidence to one television crew after another. By afternoon, when a satellite truck pulled up for a link to CNN’s Deborah Norville, Shealey sank into a plush recliner, exhausted.

He wasn’t alone.

Theresa Hill, a long-haul truck driver from Dothan, Ala., was in New York to explain her daughter’s perspective to NBC’s Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. In San Antonio, 21-year-old Amanda Gordon defended her younger brother on local radio shows, swallowing her hurt when a caller said that he deserved the death penalty.

By now, much of America has heard about the standoff that took place within the 343rd Army Reserve Quartermaster Company in Iraq last week, when some platoon members refused to go on a fuel delivery mission. Since then, the soldiers’ families have appealed directly to the American people in defense of the unit’s actions.

The families are presenting a new challenge to the military — an advocacy campaign propelled by factors such as quick communications via e-mail and cellphone, dissent over the U.S. role in Iraq and the massive mobilization of military reservists. Unless soldiers’ access to their families is severely restricted, experts say, authorities are likely to see this scenario repeated. “I think this is definitely going to pose itself as a new problem for the military from here on out,” said Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University. “People will circumvent the chain of command by going directly to political leaders or the media.”

Eighteen members of the fuel platoon failed to appear at a scheduled 7 a.m. formation Wednesday in Tallil, a U.S. military base in Iraq. Relatives have said that the soldiers were ordered to transport contaminated fuel through a dangerous area without proper equipment or armor. When they refused, the family members have said, the soldiers were arrested and placed in disciplinary lockdown.

Brig. Gen. James Chambers, commanding general of the 13th Corps Support Command, said Sunday that the military would investigate the safety and maintenance issues raised by the soldiers. But he said that it was too early to say whether the soldiers would be disciplined, and insisted that none of them had been arrested. He also denied that the fuel was contaminated.

As military authorities began their investigations, the soldiers found ways to let their families know about it.

Patricia McCook of Jackson, Miss., scribbled notes during a panicky, early-morning phone call from her husband, Sgt. Larry McCook, 41. Hill got a recorded message from her daughter, Pvt. Amber McClenny, 21, asking her to “raise pure hell.”

Hill started calling the families of the detained soldiers one by one.

“We did it on our own initiative,” Hill said. “I just called ’em up and said: ‘This is what has happened to your soldier, and they are begging for media attention.’ They want this to go as big as it can go.”

Hill’s first efforts fell flat — a local television station in south Alabama told her that the unit’s refusal was a matter of military discipline and therefore not newsworthy.

Shealey, 51, turned to his congressman, but was told the Red Cross was the officially recognized advocate for families.

But McCook managed to interest a reporter at the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, which printed a story Friday.

Since then, the most vocal families have been making television appearances and granting interviews.

Hill said she was certain that the publicity has helped her daughter. “As soon as [Clarion-Ledger reporter] Jeremy Hudson broke the story, they were released miraculously,” she said. Hill also believes that the effort has smoothed the way for soldiers to resist orders in the future.

“More soldiers are going to be standing up and saying: ‘Look, this is a dangerous mission. It’s going to put others in harm’s way,’ ” said Hill, 42.

Others, however, have been critical of the families’ intervention. Roland Day, 69, has watched the story from Birmingham, Ala. As an 18-year-old soldier in the Korean War, Day said, he learned the importance of the supply chain by watching U.S. soldiers so thirsty that they fought to reach a canteen.

“You think anyone wrote their congressman about it? Or told Mama and Daddy about it?” he said. “There is never a reason to disobey orders.”

But there could be a reason for the difference in mentality. The vast numbers of National Guard and reserve troops in Iraq are “basically civilians,” said Juanita Firestone, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“You have to sympathize with commanders trying to make strategic decisions,” said Firestone, who teaches a course on civil-military relations. “A lot of these civilians are reacting with fear for their kids, without any knowledge of what military activity involves.”

Ricky Shealey said he felt no elation at what he’s accomplished over the last week. He was depressed, worried that his son would lose his rank and benefits. Scott Shealey, 29, was two weeks short of his commitment to the Army Reserves when he volunteered to ship out.

“He said, ‘Dad, when I [saw those] young kids going, I had to go,’ ” Shealey said. “That’s the type of soldier he is.”

After getting up at 5 a.m. for two straight days of interviews, Shealey is still not entirely sure if talking to the media is the right thing to do. But he couldn’t keep quiet, either.

“I’m doing this for my son,” he said. “Somebody has to speak for those soldiers.”

GOP fails in effort to move polls

Last-minute bid tried to relocate 63 mostly black polling places

By CHRIS BRENNAN, Philadelphia Daily News
brennac@phillynews.com

REPUBLICAN OPERATIVES working to re-elect President Bush submitted last-minute requests in Philadelphia on Friday to relocate 63 polling places.

Bush’s Pennsylvania campaign staff filed the requests, using the names of two Republicans running for the U.S. Congress and seven Republican ward leaders.

Of the 63 requests for changes, 53 are in political divisions where the population of white voters is less than 10 percent.

“I think this is more evidence of Republicans working to disenfranchise low-income and minority voters,” said Mark Nevins, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. John Kerry. “It’s despicable.”

Bob Lee, voter registration administrator for the City Commission, said the requests appear to be “discriminatory” and were filed too late to be eligible for a hearing on Wednesday.

“They’re trying to suppress the vote,” Lee said of Republicans.

Deborah Williams, a minister running against Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, said the Republican State Committee asked if it could use her name in the effort.

One of the polling places is in a district office of state Sen. Vince Fumo, a Democrat. Two are in local bars, 43 are allegedly inaccessible to the handicapped and 17 are in businesses or homes where voters could be intimidated, according to the requests.

“We’re more concerned about people’s comfort,” said Williams, an African-American whose name is on 28 requests. “This is not about creating some stir in the election or denying anyone the right to vote.”

Race played a role in at least five of the requests, according to Matt Robb, the Republican leader of the 48th ward in South Philadelphia. Robb said he allowed his name to be used because those polling places are in neighborhoods he doesn’t wish to visit.

“It’s predominantly, 100 percent black,” said Robb, who is white. “I’m just not going in there to get a knife in my back.”

The polling places are all in political divisions where Democrats hold an overwhelming advantage among registered voters.

Listervelt Ritter, the Republican leader for the 16th ward in North Philadelphia, said he participated in the effort on four requests because he is tired of polling places controlled by Democrats and the fraud that he claims results. Ritter, an African-American, denied any attempt to suppress minority votes.

“The black neighborhoods are the ones that do the funny stuff,” Ritter said. “What are you supposed to do?”

Stewart Bolno, running against Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, said he got a phone call last week from a Republican in Lancaster whose name he could not remember, asking to use his name on the requests.

Bolno, whose name is on 14 of the requests, said he doesn’t see a problem with improving access to polling places.

“Clearly I’m against any kind of discrimination or bigotry, that’s for sure,” Bolno said. “We are unfortunately in a situation where both parties are seeking an advantage in a political season.”

More than 37,000 people are registered to vote in the 63 divisions as Democrats, Republicans, independents and others.

Lee, who has worked for the commission for 21 years, said he became suspicious of the requests because of the last-minute timing, the unusually high number and the locations.

Lee said local Republicans would know better than to try to submit so many polling place changes so late in the game.

Any registered voter can request a location change for one of the 1,681 polling place in the city.

Requests are sent to hearings before the City Commission after public notices are posted for five days at the polling place, the proposed new polling place and three other places in the division.

Lee said the City Commission on Wednesday will hold its last hearing on polling place changes before the Nov. 2 election.

Since the requests came in on Friday afternoon, he said, there is not time for the public notices.

The requests could potentially confuse voters. The city has already ordered postcards mailed to 1.1 million registered voters before Election Day, directing them to polling places.