Guardsmen Back; Army Will Probe Complaints

FT. HOOD, Tex. —  A high-ranking Army officer will investigate the complaints of 40 Louisiana National Guard members who left this central Texas post without authorization to call attention to their lament of too much training and not enough time off, officials said Friday.

By Friday afternoon, all but one of the guardsmen from the 1st Battalion, headquartered in Shreveport, La., had returned to Ft. Hood. They had been absent without leave for two days, said Dan Nance, a spokesman for the base.

Eight of the missing soldiers were returning by bus from Shreveport, when they were taken into military custody without resistance Friday morning at the Trailways bus terminal in Killeen, Tex., Nance said.

Sixty-seven soldiers--40 of them declared absent without leave and 27 with one-day passes--left the base Tuesday complaining of inadequate training and broken promises of a respite.

Nance declined to speculate on what kind of punishment the soldiers face. Military lawyers, however, have said it could range from a verbal admonition to confinement at hard labor.

Most of the soldiers have been released to their units to await the results of the investigation, Nance said. Each case will be reviewed individually.

Meanwhile, he said, base commanders were conducting frequent “head counts” to prevent another unauthorized exodus that could further embarrass the National Guard unit, which is being trained in the use of M-1 tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles for combat duty in the Gulf.

“I’m very disappointed with these soldiers and their actions,” said Louisiana National Guard Maj. Gen. Ansel Stroud. “I believe they made a very foolish, unwise decision and it has caused me a great deal of concern.”

Guardsmen who had returned were back training with their unit Friday, said Maj. James Wharton. A bus containing eight returning guardsmen Friday had to be escorted to the post after a disturbance.

“The eight were returning by bus from Shreveport, La., to Killeen, Tex., when a dispute arose on the bus in Waco, Tex., between soldiers and other passengers, including some wives and girlfriends of other military personnel,” Wharton said.

David Evans, a McLennan County Sheriff’s dispatcher, said the driver stopped at the Sheriff’s Department and deputies escorted the bus to the county line, where Bell County deputies took over and escorted the bus to Killeen.

The mother of one of the AWOL soldiers defended the guardsmen.

“They didn’t mean anything serious by it, they just weren’t thinking,” said the mother, who asked that her name not be used. “I know they broke the rules, but they are just boys and they were homesick.”