Supporting our troops

One brain lesion at a time. I guess the Bush administration's thinking goes: if you're wounded, you should just stay in Iraq and be used up. Why come home and cost money for the Pentagon?

Think Progress:

Salon.com’s Mark Benjamin revealed last month that seriously injured U.S. soldiers are being dispatched back to Iraq:

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.

Days later, House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) and Military Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Vic Snyder (D-AR) requested an immediate review of Benjamin’s report in a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

[snip] One of those soldiers received this caring treatment of his brain lesions:

An MRI later showed that Thurman had lesions on the right parietal lobe of his brain, a condition that led to a “don’t deploy” order — which the Army violated, according to Thurman. Worse, rather than providing compassionate understanding of the symptoms associated with traumatic brain injury, he said leaders at Fort Carson, Colo., have harassed him, refused him medication and pushed for an Article 15.

Which makes me want to rerun this post:

Snagged Bryan's entire post at Why Now?

1-800-984-8523

Lurch at Main and Central reports on the The Wounded Warrior System:

The Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline can be reached from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. [EDT] Monday through Friday at (800) 984-8523. The call center is under the command of the U.S. Army’s Human Resources Command. As the system gears up, it is expected that it will go 24/7.

This is a reaction to the problems with the military medical system. It is a start, and should be used so they can at least understand the scope of the disaster.

Update: McClatchy Washington Bureau has a report on 'Disposable Soldiers'.