Stars and Stripes: Emergency leave policy baffles many troops

[lebkuchen]

Glued to the stock of Army Sgt. Benjamin Kaye’s M-16 is a photograph of his 10-month-old daughter, Brittany.

She has blond hair, blue eyes ... and spina bifida, a condition in which her spinal cord is underdeveloped.

<snip>

Before the war began, Brittany’s condition worsened. Kaye’s wife took the baby from their Buffalo, N.Y., home and went to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. There Brittany had spinal surgery that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors do not know if she will ever walk.

A Red Cross letter arrived in February and Kaye completed the form to return home. But his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Christopher Holshek, denied the request. Despite more queries to return home, intervention by the Red Cross and an end to major combat, Kaye remained in Iraq.

“I would no longer recommend anyone join the Army,” said Kaye, who still has three years’ Reserve duty left. “My commander simply refused to care.”

more....

http://estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18374

[w13rd0]

1. A Republican Missouri state rep...

...was allowed to return from active duty on "emergency leave" to vote on the handgun and abortion bills...

But if your parents died, or a child was born, or your wife is suicidal...screw you...

ON EDIT: typo