The Military Is Broken
The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Sends Wounded Troops Back To Iraq –
(AP) Seventy-nine injured soldiers were pressed into war duty last month as the U.S. Army struggled to fill its ranks, but most were assigned to light-duty jobs within limits set by doctors, two Army leaders said.
The Denver Post, quoting internal Army e-mails and a Fort Carson soldier, reported that troops had been deployed to Kuwait en route to Iraq while they were still receiving medical treatment for various conditions.
Fort Carson’s top general Maj. Gen. Mark Graham said most of the 79 soldiers remain in Iraq, while about a dozen are in Kuwait, the newspaper reported in Friday editions. A few returned to the United States because of inadequate rehabilitation available in theater, Graham said.
In a conventional war you can do this sort of thing because there is a defined front where fighting takes place, and a rear area where there is no fighting. In Iraq the “front” is everywhere because it is a guerrilla war. There is not place that is really safe from attack, and any soldier, airman, sailor, or Marine in Iraq may have a fight on his or her hands at a moments notice. It is not some place to heal, which is why most of the injured are med-evaced immediately.
5 comments
I held off commenting for a bit, because it just makes me really angry.
If this is how the US treats it’s wounded soldiers, they obviously think very little about anyone (other than themselves).
Then I read such things as hundreds of thousands of veterans homeless and unable to support themselves…
Sometimes, I really hope there is karma and that it’s a real bitch.
Of course, it’s not the first time this kind of thing has happened (and not just the USA). So it’s no wonder the US is reluctant to teach young people history or even to read properly. They might learn how they would be treated if they enlist and only morons would enlist.
Oh well… same old…
They talk about supporting the troops, but I come from a military family, admittedly only back to 1753 on this continent, and I have watched the erosion of the support of veterans from World War II forward. I left the military because of the changes that were being proposed for the post-Vietnam era.
The majority of the homeless vets need psych counseling to re-enter the “real world” and the military should have been expanded fight after 9/11 to avoid this particular problem. They waited too long to start recruiting and people aren’t stupid, they aren’t going to volunteer for a combat tour every other year.
In World War II people were rotated to the front every few weeks. In Southeast Asia it was one year in and you didn’t go again until everyone else in your specialty was “given the opportunity.”
They are screw the veterans over and people don’t understand what’s going on. The “Big Lie” lives.
I know. It’s not a lot better here really.
After Cambodia, we were screwed out of a lot of our benefits, especially long-term, because of semantics (as in the USA). Cambodia wasn’t a *War*, it was a Peace Keeping mission (or a Police Action is another favorite the Gov uses to screw the vet’s). Tell the poor bastards fighting to survive that! Dead is dead.
I sometimes think that many shortsighted cowards in Gov would be much happier if all the soldiers they send to fight just died and saved them all the paperwork. It’d be cheaper and look better on their budgets.
Now I’m just depressing myself. *shrug*
My Dad was in Korea, which was a “police action”, a United Nations mission, a support role, etc. He had his WWII credits and got nothing for Korea. Under Rumsfeld they really did expect you to die and were very upset when that didn’t happen. He slated Walter Reed for closing after he had wars going in Afghanistan and Iraq. He felt the boots on the ground were disposable and stalled spending money that Congress specifically authorized for body and vehicle armor.
What a bunch of SOBs most politicians are.
Yes, most politicians are SOB’s. And most these days are also cowards and short-sighted fools. The current US crop are purely evil (or, at the very least, amoral). I see little real difference between the current US Administration, and most murderous dictatorships I’ve seen. Only the degree and semantics are different. I would never sign up today (unless we were actually invaded, though with my background and knowledge, I’d probably be better off forming a resistance group).
One of the most valuable lessons my Grandfather taught me was, talk is cheap.
I was going to mention what I know of Russia today, and it’s involvement (along with China) with Iran. But it’s all been said before. *shrug* Bushmoron & co are pinning their hopes on the USAF’s Project Checkmate group doing to Iran what their predecessor did to Iraq in ’91. Good luck with that.