Posted on: Thursday, December 9, 2004
Unit's gear, training adequate, general says
| • | 150 more Hawai'i reservists stand by |
By David Waite and Frank Oliveri
Advertiser Staff Writers
Hawai'i National Guard soldiers will be adequately trained and fully equipped when they arrive in Iraq in a few months, the head of Guard operations in Hawai'i said yesterday.
Maj. Gen Bob Lee was reacting to a letter from Hawai'i Congressman Ed Case, who said relatives of Hawai'i's citizen soldiers have concerns ranging from lack of cold weather gear to insufficient training.
Case told Lee that family members of some of the Hawai'i soldiers who are training at Fort Bliss, Texas, have questioned what they believe is a lack of live ammunition during target practice as well as a lack of mission-specific training.
About 2,000 Hawai'i Guard soldiers and about 700 reservists from the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, are headed to the Balad area north of Baghdad in February and March with elements from the Mainland like California's 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry. All fall under the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade.
Lee yesterday said troops from Hawai'i received cold weather gear, such as silk long underwear and fleece vests
"They are dressed just like troops we see in Iraq," Lee said.
In his letter, Case said family members told him soldiers from Hawai'i assigned to maintenance units have not had adequate training for maintaining vehicles and tanks in a desert.
Case included in the letter he sent to Lee a copy of an article published in The Advertiser Nov. 27, which Case said "outlines reasons for low morale among activated troops, including the belief that a lack of proper training and equipment will cause an unnecessary increase in the unit's casualty rate."
Lee said some training conditions, such as lack of sleep and sleeping in tents during cold winter nights, are harsh but are designed so soldiers experience situations they are likely to face when they arrive in Iraq.
Lee said he visited twice with the Hawai'i National Guard members in Texas and heard their concerns, but lack of cold-weather gear, insufficient training and too few live-fire training sessions were not among them.
"I got a chance to see a platoon and talk to those troops. The bitches I heard were about the late mail coming," Lee said.
After some soldiers with the California battalion complained they were poorly trained and were being treated like prisoners at Dona Ana Army Camp in New Mexico, one of the training sites used by the 29th Brigade, Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard, said an informal inquiry found that they were being prepared "to be successful and survive their mission in Iraq."
"Are they finely honed and ready to go today? No," Blum told the Los Angeles Times. "But that's why they've got more training to do."
One Hawai'i soldier said he didn't understand why his unit had to train "nonstop 24/7 without weekends (off) and rarely (attend) church services" with six months of activation and training before they even get to Iraq.
Blum said commanders probably should have given the soldiers more time off, and explained the training regimen better.
Case went to Iraq a year ago and returned from Afghanistan recently.
"There is no question and no doubt that troops that went into Iraq ... weren't getting enough body armor, warm-weather gear, ammunition and armor on their personnel carriers. That has been a long-standing concern in Iraq," Case said.
Wendell Hosea, 56, is concerned about the conditions his son, 2nd Lt. Kawika Hosea, 22, is facing while training in White Sands, N.M.
"The training over there is excessive," Hosea said. "They have had two months of continual training. They are running them excessively and no down time to deal with training. Many are at the brink of exhaustion."
Hosea, who was an officer in the Army during the Vietnam era, said his son told him National Guard soldiers are considering buying their own body armor, at between $900 and $1,400 apiece, because they haven't been issued protective vests.
Guard officials previously said every soldier with the 29th had new Kevlar vests with specially designed pockets for bulletproof plates.
"They are told that whatever they will get (from the National Guard) will be inadequate," Hosea said.
A Hawai'i woman whose husband is with the 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry, said he is worried because blanks have been used in place of live ammunition and soldiers aren't getting used to carrying a loaded weapon.
"They are basically training with blanks," claimed the woman, who said neither she nor her husband wanted to give their names for fear of retribution. "He's gone out four to five times to the artillery range and all the men have been given is 20 live rounds. That's it."
James Barros, a major with the 29th Support Battalion, said in an e-mail to The Advertiser that the soldiers are training for war, and that is a tough thing.
"I am not 100 percent satisfied with the training provided, and we will be receiving needed personal equipment within the next few weeks," Barros said. "I believe the soldiers and leaders of the (29th Brigade Combat Team) are prepared for the next phase of our deployment. And if we continue on our training path, we will be ready to cross the border into Iraq next year."
