GUARD COMMAND IN TOUGH SPOT OVER DRUG TESTS

National Guard commanders across the country face the excruciating
decision of whether to discipline soldiers returning from Iraq who
failed drug tests before they left the United States.

Thirty-seven Iowa Army National Guard troops, briefed months in
advance on the possibility of war in the Middle East, tested positive
for illegal drugs on the eve of their deployment earlier this year,
Army records show.

Despite a "zero-tolerance" policy that initiates discharge papers
against every Army soldier who uses drugs, 21 of the Iowa Guard
violators were sent by the U.S. Army to assist military operations in
Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

Officials at one of the troops' assembly points, Fort McCoy, Wis.,
said Friday that some of the soldiers used the drugs intending to be
caught and sent home. Others were deemed by medical officials to be
infrequent users who posed no risk to themselves or their fellow
soldiers in the field, said Fort McCoy spokeswoman Linda Fournier.

"On a certain level, it would be perverse to throw people out because
of their misconduct, when other people who did not engage in that
misconduct are having to put their lives on the line," said Eugene
Fidell, a military law expert with the National Institute of Military
Justice.

The Iowa troops who tested positive and proceeded to Iraq included two
methamphetamine users, two cocaine users and a sergeant in the 1133rd
Transportation Company who used both methamphetamines and
amphetamines, records show. For now, the Army says it will overlook
the unsightly details.

"A positive on their drug test is not going to keep them here, unless
there's a dependency issue," Fournier said. "These units have to have
so many people to go overseas. As far as the disciplinary action, that
will be dealt with when they come back."

The specter of punishing troops who return from months of service
under battle conditions has attorneys at Army bases pacing the hallways.

"Everybody acknowledges that we're going to have to have a plan," said
Maj. Michael Kuehn, state judge advocate for the Iowa National Guard.
"There's a number of things like this that cannot be addressed by one
state at a time. They have to be addressed by the big guns."

Spokesmen for the U.S. Army and the U.S. Department of Defense said
this week that they were unaware of the problem and could not provide
any national incident rates on drug use by Guard soldiers in the Iraq
theater.

Under the Army's current drug policy, soldiers, especially those with
three or more years of service, are often discharged for
drug-positives as a matter of course. Younger soldiers, who can
sometimes opt for rehabilitation at the discretion of their
commanders, will no longer get so much leeway under a proposed
tightening of the rules.

"The official policy is, you don't have a whole lot of latitude," said
Mark O'Hara, a 31-year Coast Guard veteran and spokesman for the Judge
Advocates Association in Washington, D.C. "Maybe it's going to be
tough if the guy comes back a hero."

Officials at Fort McCoy, which serves as a jumping-off point for
Reserve and Guard troops from Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Idaho
and other states, have sent roughly 20 soldiers to Iraq who tested
positive in pre-deployment drug tests. Seven of the troops were from
Iowa.

All of the soldiers in question were tested in their home states,
while they were still designated as state troops. But because of
unusually quick deployment schedules, the test results in many cases
were not known until the soldiers arrived at Fort McCoy - as federal
troops.

The jurisdictional distinction left National Guard commanders in the
home states powerless to immediately discipline the soldiers. While
some Army officials acknowledge a disconnect in the drug policy, which
is designed to minimize mistakes in battle, they said other safeguards
are in place.

Fort McCoy officials said they were informed of all the states'
drug-test results and kept a close eye on offending soldiers during
several weeks of training and physical examinations.

"Basically, if this person's a drug addict, it would come out during
that period of time," Fournier said. "He would not be able to hide it,
even if his commander were trying to cover it up."

Less than 2 percent of the 2,158 drug tests administered by the Iowa
Army National Guard since operations began in Iraq yielded positive
results. Most of the illegal drug use involved marijuana.

According to Army Guard records, 16 of the 37 soldiers were relieved
of duty before they shipped out to U.S. Army bases around the country.
Officials could not immediately provide information on any actions
against those soldiers.

Local commanders have not yet decided how to proceed with disciplinary
actions against the Iowa soldiers sent to Iraq. Fidell said no one
should assume that the troops will be discharged, until their
performance in the field is considered.

"In all military cases, there is such as thing as a "good soldier"
defense. You can be prosecuted for murder, and at least try to defend
yourself on the basis of your record," Fidell said.

"I would have to assume that for any person who performed creditably
in a theater of operations, the military would find a way to recognize
that."