DOD: Troops discharged with disorders will get help

[unhappycamper]

DOD: Troops discharged with disorders will get help
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 15, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — Servicemembers who are discharged from the military because of personality disorders are entitled to medical care, according to senior Pentagon health officials.

“If we let them in, we can’t just cut them loose and throw them out,” Ward Casscells, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said Thursday.

“I feel our responsibility is to not blame them for the fact that they wanted to serve, and the military didn’t bring out the best of them like it does for most people,” Casscells said during a two-hour roundtable in the Pentagon with senior mental health officials.

Since October 2001, more than 22,500 servicemembers from all branches of the military have been discharged under Chapter 5-13 of the Army’s separations manual — “separation because of personality disorder.”

A 5-13 discharge may leave a veteran ineligible for disability pay and benefits. Some may also be required to return some or all of their re-enlistment bonuses.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50994



uhc comment: Gimmeafuckingbreak. These assholes say that 3,375 cases “needed more work.”