At Fort Benning, soldiers who were classified as medically unfit to fight are now being sent to war. Is this an isolated incident or a trend?
By Mark Benjamin
As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.
On Feb. 15, Master Sgt. Jenkins and 74 other soldiers with medical conditions from the 3rd Division's 3rd Brigade were summoned to a meeting with the division surgeon and brigade surgeon. These are the men responsible for handling each soldier's "physical profile," an Army document that lists for commanders an injured soldier's physical limitations because of medical problems -- from being unable to fire a weapon to the inability to move and dive in three-to-five-second increments to avoid enemy fire. Jenkins and other soldiers claim that the division and brigade surgeons summarily downgraded soldiers' profiles, without even a medical exam, in order to deploy them to Iraq. It is a claim division officials deny.
One female soldier with psychiatric issues and a spine problem has been in the Army for nearly 20 years. "My [health] is deteriorating," she said over dinner at a restaurant near Fort Benning. "My spine is separating. I can't carry gear." Her medical records include the note "unable to deploy overseas." Her status was also reviewed on Feb. 15. And she has been ordered to Iraq this week.
WTF is wrong with our President! In his thirst for power and authority, he is willing to sacrifice anyone and anything as a means to his end! This is just outrageous! This is nothing new and has been going on since we first started this "War on Terrorisim." While this latest "push" to send 21,ooo more Troops to Iraq, only puts further strain on an already over-extended Military. Sending Soldiers to iraq who are not physically/medically able be there is the equivalent of murder, In My View of It!
Mar 12, 2007
The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq
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4 comments:
Its disgusting and the work of a tyrant. My prayers are with all these poor kids.
Health and Prosperity,
Romain
It is disgusting! It's like leading lambs to the slaughter! It just infuriates me and everytime I see Bush's face anymore, I just want to whack him!
While I agree with the sentiment, your anger is directed at the wrong person. Bush doesn't tell the Army to send unfit soldiers to the field. That's political suicide. There's enough dumb schmucks in the Army leadership who do this kind of stuff without authority all the time.
I was in the Marines and I saw it there, so the Army can't be much different.
Let's not forget that The President is the so-called "commander-in-Chief" and he allows this to continue. The buck stops there!
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