Sent to Iraq by Mistake

July 7, 2006 — -- Jim Dillinger got an unexpected letter from the Defense Department in May, 2004, saying he was one of 5,600 members who were being deployed to Iraq.

The then-43-year-old hadn't been in service with the Ohio National Guard for almost a decade, and he had a life away from the military -- a wife, Tammy, and three kids. So he was shocked when he got the request from the National Guard, because he'd thought his status was "individual ready reserve" (IRR).

For the next five months, until he reported for duty in October of 2004, Dillinger e-mailed and called different military organizations, including the National Guard Bureau. He even contacted an Ohio senator and representative to find out why he was being deployed.

"All I was told was 'stop-loss' -- all anyone wanted to tell me was 'stop-loss' to get me to go," Dillinger said. The National Guard Bureau in Washington told him that under the stop-loss program, instituted in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, he could not be discharged, he said.

"My personal opinion was that they didn't care enough to look into the mistake," he said. "They knew they needed people and they knew they were going to get a lot of no-shows."

He even considered filing for a hardship exemption because one of his daughters had medical problems, but in the end, he decided to report for duty.

So, Dillinger -- who entered the military in 1979 and rose to the rank of captain -- said goodbye to his family, and on Dec. 31, 2004, he left for Iraq, sent to do one of the most dangerous jobs there -- destroying roadside bombs.

"I thought I was obviously wrong and they must know what they were doing because all these thousands of officers were being deployed. I was torn," he said. "I had been involved in the military for so long that I had put a lot of faith and trust in the military."

His faith and trust were crushed when, one year later, Dillinger got an even bigger surprise -- the Army told him he'd been sent to Iraq because of a "paperwork error." It turns out Dillinger's obligation to serve had actually ended five years earlier.

Glitch in the System

The clerical error that resulted in Dillinger being called to war dates back a decade, when he resigned his captain's commission in the Ohio National Guard and re-enlisted as a non-commissioned officer, with the lower rank of sergeant.

"What happened with him is he was with two different commissions. He got commissioned by the ROTC and the Ohio National Guard. So when he retired from the Ohio National Guard, we were good to go and done. We have no control of what goes on in the IRR," said Capt. Marshall Jackson, a public affairs officer of the Ohio National Guard.

Dillinger says the glitch in the system was that he was still being identified on the books as a captain and nobody caught it, including himself.

After resigning as a captain, Dillinger requested a transfer to the IRR, an Army group comprised of retired soldiers who agree to be recalled into active duty. But they only agree to a recall for a pre-determined period of time.

The contract Dillinger signed, to begin his IRR status in 1997, said his military service obligation would end in one year, nine months and 28 days. So, Dillinger should have received his military discharge papers at the end of April, 1999.

But Dillinger says that didn't happen.

His personnel record claimed his military obligation would end on July 12, 2010, the day Dillinger would have received his discharge had he remained a captain in the Ohio National Guard.

Wake-up call

Jackson says Dillinger's story is a "wake-up call" to him and should be to everyone in the military.

"You need to know what your enlistment commitment is to avoid problems like this. As an officer, we have to manage our own careers," Jackson said.

"If you have a two-year commitment left, you are put in a big database and they might need someone with your skills," he added. "That's the danger with the IRR -- you can be sent anywhere until your duty is up."

Jim Dillinger's discharge papers were finally issued -- six years, one month and one tour of combat duty too late.

"I feel an obligation to push the issue with the Army," he said, because if anything had happened to him while he was in Iraq, his story would have never been told.

"My personal belief would be that my family would have never, ever found out that I should have been released in '99. That information would have not been made public to them."

Dillinger, now 45, is back with his family in Ohio. He spoke with the Guard after arriving home from his service in Iraq. The Guard looked into it, discovered the incorrect discharge date -- and apologized.

But that apology isn't enough for Dillinger; he's ready to fight another kind of battle.

"I'm determined to find an attorney in our area that will represent me and help me secure my retirement benefits," he said. "I'm requesting that I get that additional time from 1999 to 2005 -- then I will be more than over the 20 years of duty required to secure those retirement benefits."

Dillinger says his knees, especially at his age, took a hard hit during his one-year stint in Iraq. He also has diabetes now, and according to his doctor, his diabetic condition could have been provoked by the conditions in Iraq.

But Dillinger says, given what could have happened to him on his mistake deployment to Iraq, he's happy just to be alive and walking.