HOUSTON — Members of a second National Guard unit that prepared for duty in Iraq at the Army's Ft. Bliss compound have come forward with allegations that they were not adequately trained.
The soldiers said in interviews, e-mails and official documents that they were sent to war this year with chronic illness, broken guns and trucks with blown transmissions.
The unit's M-60 machine guns reportedly were in such bad condition when the soldiers deployed in February that one sergeant -- in a section of a post-training summary sent to his commanders that was titled "gun maintenance" -- wrote: "Perhaps we should throw stones?"
The allegations come a month after another National Guard unit alleged that its training at Ft. Bliss was so poor that soldiers feared incurring needlessly high casualties when they arrive in Iraq early next year.
Although the military has defended its troop preparedness, the willingness of units to go public with allegations suggested growing concern among National Guard and reserve members.
In the summary document obtained by the Los Angeles Times, the sergeant reported that some soldiers had arrived in Iraq without ever having fired some of the weapons they would use in war. Military commanders at the Ft. Bliss complex, which straddles the Texas-New Mexico line, had misread mobilization orders, costing the soldiers a month of training, the sergeant wrote.
"We have been called away from our homes and families for hostile operations. We are owed a chance to be trained properly and given the tools to obtain that objective," the sergeant wrote.
Ft. Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt said Wednesday that the base has trained and deployed -- and in many cases redeployed -- 40,000 soldiers in the last three years.
"We have had very few issues," she said. "This is quite a surprise. But I understand there will always be some units who have things that they need to talk about or work on."
Lt. Jack Gaines, a spokesman for the Army's 91st Division, which trains soldiers at Ft. Bliss, said: "The military takes care of its people."
He said the soldiers' concerns appeared to be related to the changing role of the National Guard and Reserve. "Citizen soldiers" now make up about 40% of the troops in Iraq -- and shoulder a large share of the front-line combat roles.
