-Caveat Lector- http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/21/usat-guard.htm
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! E-mails detail Indiana Guard 'ghosts' By Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY By Rob Goebel, The Indianapolis Star via AP Master Sgt. Robert Wyse is surrounded by his family after his court-martial Jan. 29 in Edinburgh, Ind. 'Ghost soldiers' inflate Guard numbers Misconduct marks Guard command 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. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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