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USA TODAY: 43,000 Deployed Unfit For Combat.
In today’s USA TODAY, the news was clear:
More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.
Bobby Muller was quoted in the article - here is the full text of what we shared with the reporter.
“We cannot allow injured troops to redeploy to a war zone. It is unconscionable. By doing so, our military is knowingly compounding the war-related injuries of our troops.
This has been one of our chief concerns from day one - it is a consequence of the consistent churning of our Troops – they are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying and unfortunately, when they are at home between tours, they are suffering from the neglect of a greatly overburdened military health-care system.
Veterans for America has worked with many troops across the country who are deployed or scheduled to deploy without the opportunity to heal and recover from their combat injuries. Our military is under incredible stress and the commanders in charge of units scheduled to deploy are under great pressure to hold their units together and maintain specified percentages. Often times, in an attempt to maintain and comply with troop levels – the unseen wounds of war such as concussive and mental health injuries will take a back seat to more visible injuries. These wounds are no less sever and we stand to irrevocably damage the lives of these troops if we do not begin to better understand the gravity of these injuries.
We have a crisis in pipeline that we as a country are just beginning to understand and appreciate.”
New Policy Urges Soldiers To Seek Mental Health Care
Jason Forrester, Veterans for America’s Director of Policy, participated in a roundtable discussion of developments in how the US military is coping with mental health issues on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
VFA is pleased to have the opportunity to shed light on the issues that American servicemembers face when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. While we applaud Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for removing “Question 21″ from the security clearance application form, VFA believes that this is a small first step towards reducing the stigma of psychological wounds in the US Armed Forces. Read a transcript of the discussion after the jump.
PBS: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
VETERANS FOR AMERICA RELEASES TWO REPORTS IN ADVANCE OF PETRAEUS HEARINGS
Veterans for America’s Wounded Warrior Outreach Program is pleased to announce the release of two first-of-their-kind reports that examine the toll that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken on the frontline units of our active-Army and our National Guard.
VFA’s Wounded Warrior Outreach Program has chronicled the experiences of the units of the U.S. Army, on a state-by-state basis, that have been among our nation’s most heavily used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. These reports aggregate information on each frontline unit’s number of deployments, intensity of combat, and dwell time.
These reports make clear that the Soldiers who have seen the most combat are the ones who are deployed repeatedly. Unfortunately, Department of Defense studies prove that with each deployment Soldiers are 60% more likely to develop severe post-combat mental health problems.
“When elected representatives talk about the ‘readiness’ of the military, they must also talk about the health of our troops,” said Bobby Muller, President of VFA. “We cannot consider our military ‘ready’ while we have troops on their third, fourth, and fifth tours. They are beginning to unravel.”
When General David Petraeus testifies on the situation in Iraq and requests a pause in withdrawing troops from Iraq, Congress must say that the current pace is unsustainable. Veterans for America calls on Congress to speak out against pausing the withdrawal of troops.
Click here for more information on our Wounded Warrior Outreach Program.
VFA News Analysis: May 14, 2008
Defense Secretary Robert Gates chided Pentagon planners with having “next-war-itis,” a condition marked by compulsions to plan for even unlikely future wars at the expense of focusing on the current engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A concern with budget math has extended debate in Congress over an enhancement of veterans benefits, even as shortcomings in care for those with psychological trauma from combat are revealed nearly daily. Less noticed in this cash-flow debate is the increasing amount poured into weapons systems that are increasingly behind schedule, over budget and occasionally of dubious use to a military facing asymmetrical threats.
In the debate over increasing G.I. Bill benefits, more advocates are piling on to urge Congress to pass the measure. Failure to approve the new benefits would amount to a betrayal, they say. One novel way to pay for the benefits has been proposed in the House.
It’s important to remember that while the debate continues at home, our men and women in the military continue making sacrifices over there. Some making these sacrifices have in fact already paid a steep price.
