NPR reports on soldiers being discharged for personality disorder

[MissMillie]

http://www.here-now.org/shows/2007/04/20070404_9.asp

Insisting that head wounds incurred in combat are unmasking "pre-existing personality disorders" and discharging the soldiers as "not combat worthy" and these soldiers end up losing all their benefits.

22,500 in between 2002 and 2006--not exactly a rare occurrence

[devilgrrl]

1. Discharged? I though personality disorders made them want to recruit?

Or was that criminal records?

[Raven]

2. I heard this today, terrible story!

One question that came up a number of times was why these "disorders" weren't seen when soldiers enlisted. Of course, the answer is, they were but the military didn't care, or, they weren't and they didn't care.

[JHB]

11. That's one answer, but not the answer here...

What this is referring to is the Army claiming that some wounds (especially head traumas) sustained in combat are "pre-existing personality disorders" so as to deny the wounded vets treatment, disability payments, and even forcing some to repay their re-enlistment bonus (since they haven't served out the term they signed on for)...which leaves them wounded, untreated, AND owing the Army a few thousand bucks.

"Have a nice life, sucker!"

[DCKit]

3. Enough information like this reaching the troops in IraK and they're gonna walk out

This is not the first time the Military/VA has pulled this same shit, just the saddest example.

[pigpickle]

4. kick

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. Unbelievable dereliction of our soldiers.

Support our troops they say... over and over and over and -- they don't mean a word of it. :grr: :cry:

[gordianot]

6. Wonder if this would work for the Commander in Chief?

That piece of work has several transparent "Personality Disorders.

[hvn_nbr_2]

7. But but but but... they support the troops, don't they? nt

[librechik]

8. remember the RW agenda--destroy the safety net!

they want to starve out and kill anyone who isn't up on society's ladder like themselves. Why should they be responsible for others in trouble? Jesus was wrong!

Once all those brown and poor people fall through the holes and die, think of all the tax money the RWers will save!

Besides, the liberal media lies. Our soldiers are all heroes and perfectly fine! If the military kicked them off VA benefits, they must have deserved it.

They don't need food stamps either!




:sarcasm:

[JHB]

9. It's also cover story of the Apr. 9 issue of "The Nation"...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors
article | posted March 29, 2007 (April 9, 2007 issue)
How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits
Joshua Kors

Jon Town has spent the last few years fighting two battles, one against his body, the other against the US Army. Both began in October 2004 in Ramadi, Iraq. He was standing in the doorway of his battalion's headquarters when a 107-millimeter rocket struck two feet above his head. The impact punched a piano-sized hole in the concrete facade, sparked a huge fireball and tossed the 25-year-old Army specialist to the floor, where he lay blacked out among the rubble.

"The next thing I remember is waking up on the ground." Men from his unit had gathered around his body and were screaming his name. "They started shaking me. But I was numb all over," he says. "And it's weird because... because for a few minutes you feel like you're not really there. I could see them, but I couldn't hear them. I couldn't hear anything. I started shaking because I thought I was dead."

Eventually the rocket shrapnel was removed from Town's neck and his ears stopped leaking blood. But his hearing never really recovered, and in many ways, neither has his life. A soldier honored twelve times during his seven years in uniform, Town has spent the last three struggling with deafness, memory failure and depression. By September 2006 he and the Army agreed he was no longer combat-ready.

But instead of sending Town to a medical board and discharging him because of his injuries, doctors at Fort Carson, Colorado, did something strange: They claimed Town's wounds were actually caused by a "personality disorder." Town was then booted from the Army and told that under a personality disorder discharge, he would never receive disability or medical benefits.
------------
Full article at URL at top.

More "support" for the rank and file, screwing them out of the benefits they deserve. (Wouldn't want any contractors to get stiffed, now would we?)

[sasha031]

10. I read about this the other day

These soldiers were truly injured in Iraq with head injuries, but in order to not have to pay benefits, they have army Doc's lying to the troops, saying that if you agree to some # (which means personality disorder) we can get your benefits right away.

The naive soldiers agrees, and surprise, surprise, personality disorder is a precondition so therefore they were disqualified.
The article was in Salon last week,