JACKSON - Sgt. Larry McCook of Jackson would not have refused to go on a fuel transport mission in Iraq without compelling reasons, his wife says.
Pat McCook said her husband, who's been in the military 10 years, called her on Monday to say he has been transferred to another unit and is back on duty.
Larry McCook and four other members of the 343rd Army Reserve Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C., were reassigned after at least 17 members of the platoon did not show up for a scheduled meeting in Tallil, in southeastern Iraq, a military statement said. Five of the members were separated and transferred to different units.
"My husband is a God-fearing man. My husband is not a whiner," Pat McCook told The Associated Press on Monday. "He's proud to be a soldier. He just wants to stand up for his rights and what he believes in. He just wants to get back home to me as well. That's all he wants, is to get back home alive."
Pat McCook said her husband told her he's now with the 2101 Transportation Company out of Alabama.
"He's already been on a convoy," she said. "He's still delivering fuel."
She said her husband told her that the new unit is well equipped and the commander "has the soldiers' best interest at heart."
Another soldier in the unit, Spc. Scott Shealey of Alabama, told his father that the five men would be sent home with a general discharge.
Ricky Shealey told the AP in a phone interview from his Quinton, Ala., home on Monday that he had heard all sorts of rumors about the five soldiers and was hoping the discharge is only weeks away.
Ricky Shealey said his son did two years of active duty in the Army and his contract called for four years of inactive time. Scott Shealey had only two weeks of inactive duty left when his Reserve unit was called to Iraq, and he had the option of going home or going to Iraq, his father said.
"My son said, 'Daddy, when I saw those young kids in that unit…' he said he just had to go with them. That's how dedicated my son is. My son is just a mother hen," Ricky Shealey said.
He said his son told him members of the unit were concerned after their tanker trucks were filled with diesel fuel without being purged of jet fuel. He said this contaminated the fuel and could endanger helicopter crews. He said there were also concerns about equipment problems and inadequate armor.
"My son is a very intelligent person. He's high strung," Ricky Shealey said. "If he sees something wrong, he's going to tell somebody until the problem is rectified. He told me this morning he didn't care what happened to him as long as he knew he had saved some lives."
Pat McCook said she was not aware of any punishment being considered by military officials and that her husband said the investigation is ongoing. She said her husband told her Monday that he had not been questioned.
The U.S. military said Monday no decision had been made on whether to discipline the soldiers.
The commanding general of the 13th Corps Support Command, Brig. Gen. James Chambers, told reporters in Baghdad on Sunday that two investigations were under way and that 18 soldiers were involved.
He said none of the soldiers were under arrest and it was too early to tell whether the soldiers would be disciplined.
Pat McCook said her husband and the others in the unit voiced their concerns about the equipment's lack of armor a day before they refused the order - the same day they were detained.
"They had been on honorable missions over there already," Pat McCook said. "They were just fed up with going on the missions with the vehicles they had."
The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the 343rd, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said.
Chambers said the Army is adding steel armor plating on unarmed vehicles and upgrading maintenance.
He has since ordered the 343rd to undergo a "safety-maintenance stand down," during which it will conduct no further missions as its vehicles are inspected, the military said.
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