Army National Guard 1st Lt. Scott Jackson, the subject of a Journal-World story earlier this year, has never served in Iraq, the newspaper has learned.

Jackson, of Lawrence, was featured in a Feb. 21 story in which he expressed regret for returning home while members of his unit were “still gone and you’re not.” He related stories about conditions in Baghdad, including how nightly card games with fellow troops often were interrupted by blackouts.

This week, questions were raised by members of the 778th Transportation Company, which Jackson now commands. The unit was mobilized in July and is at Fort Riley preparing for deployment to Iraq.

In a telephone interview, Jackson, who is an employee of the Journal-World’s circulation department, confirmed he had not been in Iraq, but was relating stories from soldiers who had been.

“I’m not sure that I made it quite clear when I was asked what it was like in Iraq that I was describing what my soldiers had told me,” he said. “Those were stories from soldiers that were there.”

Guard officials said in interviews this week that while Jackson had been mobilized in February 2003 with the 137th Transportation Company, which returned to Kansas in January, he had not served in Iraq.

About a dozen members of the unit volunteered for Iraq service, according to Joy Moser, a retired National Guard lieutenant colonel who is spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general. But Jackson did not volunteer and could not have as commander of a unit, Moser said.

Instead, he was posted in North Carolina.

“He was involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. But physically (in Iraq), no,” said Capt. Terresa Hoke, personnel officer for the 169th Corps Support Battalion.

John Arnold, 1st District chairman of the VFW’s military assistance program, said Wednesday he was disappointed to learn Jackson had not been in Iraq.

In February, Arnold issued a Veterans of Foreign Wars certificate of appreciation to Jackson during a Journal-World ceremony. Arnold said he based the certificate, in part, on information from the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office. He said Wednesday that information had been misleading.

“Scott should never have sat there and told us he was in Iraq,” Arnold said. “I was misled.”

Since June, the Journal-World’s policy has been to require documentation or other official confirmation from military sources of all service before publication of such stories, said Richard Brack, the newspaper’s managing editor. The policy was in response to problems encountered by other newspapers, he said.

Jackson expressed regret about the matter: “I apologize for any confusion,” he said. “I didn’t mean to mislead anybody. That certainly wasn’t my intent.”