With the economy being the number one priority on the mind of most Americans, I don't expect that this item that flew through the MSM will get much attention, but I post it nonetheless. This copy comes via
The Stars and Stripes:
Thousands of 'Unfit' Troops Have DeployedWASHINGTON -- 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, USA Today reported Thursday, citing Pentagon records.
The numbers of nondeployable soldiers are based on health assessment forms filled out by medical personnel at each military installation before a servicemember's deployment, the paper noted.
According to the statistics, the number of troops that doctors found nondeployable, but were still sent to Iraq or Afghanistan fluctuated from 10,854 in 2003, down to 5,397 in 2005, and back up to 9,140 in 2007, USA Today wrote.
The Pentagon records do not list what -- or how serious -- the health issues are, nor whether they were corrected before deployment, Michael Kilpatrick, a deputy director for the Pentagon's Force Health Protection and Readiness Programs, told the paper.
read the rest...
2 comments:
Why don't the records state whether the conditions were corrected or not? Maybe some of those soldiers were in good enough health to return to Iraq, but there were some who clearly were not. Seems to me there's something wrong with a system that can't answer the obvious questions.
God help us if we have to respond to a genuine threat, with our military chewed up like this.
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