http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8767915/site/newsweekScrap Metal, Not Soldiers
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More than a million men and women have served in war zones since the terrorist attacks of September 11. The percentage of those wounded on the battlefield who have survived is the highest in the history of combat, in part because of advances in body armor, in part because of sophisticated on-site medical facilities. The result is that there will be a group of Iraq-war vets with catastrophic injuries: multiple amputations, head trauma, horrendous burns. They may need medical intervention for the rest of their lives. Yet already there has been troubling testimony before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee that severely injured soldiers are being pressured to sign discharge papers before they've received adequate care.