Lawyers Contend Soldiers Are Pushed Through Army Disability System

[Monkeyman]

The Army is rethinking the way it evaluates wounded and injured soldiers who no longer fit for duty because of post=traumatic stress disorder and certain other conditions.

But a board at Fort Lewis,Washington continues to move soldiers with those medical problems through the Army's disability assessment system even though the new guidelines have yet to be published, according to attorneys who represent soldiers.

In effect, soldiers must argue their case without knowing the rules by which the board will size up thier injuries, says the three Army lawyers who represent soldiers before the Fort Lewis Physical Evaluation Board.

So in my words F ing the kids in thier benefits or sending them back.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/16968480.htm

[MadMaddie]

1. Monkeyman...this adminsitration is desperate now and this is

one of the tools they are using to try and avoid implementing the draft.

Our kids can only go through the grinder so many times before the bodies, minds and souls are destroyed.

The Army is doing this in a hurry before they have the rules. Too me this is criminal, this would never happen in the civilian world (just because the men and women are soldiars doesn't mean that they can be sent back because they should be able to endure more).

This administration has destroyed the voluntary military, no doubt about it.

[Monkeyman]

2. You got that right think about fighting along side a kid with mental problems

[MadMaddie]

4. I think about that and I think about that kid coming home and

trying to fit in with Americans not impacted by the brutality of war. This has and will make our service men and women very bitter. Hell, I am bitter just thinking about it.

[babylonsister]

3. More outrage. And FWIW, my VN vet b-i-l still has to argue with the

VA over his PTSD/benefits. These soldiers deserve so much better. :-(

[JohnnyLib2]

5. I've seen this first hand with Ft. Knox families, going back two years.

GIs with 3 Iraq deployments waiting for months for decisions, with unclear rules and multiple deadlines. Disgusting, disgraceful.

[Monkeyman]

6. Yep its all over the Country and do not think DOD will post those rules soon

[Kat45]

7. I know someone who evaluated soldiers for their mental state

He's a psych nurse in the Army Reserves and he recently got back from a deployment in Iraq. He was in charge of the stress unit in an army hospital in Iraq, and they would evaluate soldiers to determine if they could be sent back to their units or should be sent home. He said that most of the soldiers WANTED to get back to their units because such bonding, camaraderie and loyalty the soldiers developed with each other. It was hard for me to believe, but he said they generally did not want to get sent home.

[Monkeyman]

8. That is true you never want to leave your brothers behind

Been there done that. Day after I was sent to hospital for wounds my unit got hit