Souce cbsnews

U.S. Sends Wounded Troops Back To Iraq

Short On Soldiers, Army Returns Injured Service Members To War Zone

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 19, 2008

(AP/CBS)

(AP) Seventy-nine injured soldiers were pressed into war duty last month as the U.S. Army struggled to fill its ranks, but most were assigned to light-duty jobs within limits set by doctors, two Army leaders said.

The Denver Post, quoting internal Army e-mails and a Fort Carson soldier, reported that troops had been deployed to Kuwait en route to Iraq while they were still receiving medical treatment for various conditions.

Fort Carson's top general Maj. Gen. Mark Graham said most of the 79 soldiers remain in Iraq, while about a dozen are in Kuwait, the newspaper reported in Friday editions. A few returned to the United States because of inadequate rehabilitation available in theater, Graham said.

Graham said he has asked Fort Carson's inspector general to investigate whether proper procedures were followed in sending the soldiers into war zones.

Congressional investigators also are reviewing allegations that medically unfit soldiers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to shore up lagging troop numbers.

"My personal opinion is, is that as the war goes on, you'll see more and more soldiers with (limitations)," Graham said.

Master Sgt. Denny Nelson was sent overseas last month for a third tour in the Middle East though doctor's orders said he should not run, jump or carry more than 20 pounds because of a serious foot injury, The Denver Post reported.

Nelson was sent back to the U.S. after a doctor in Kuwait told Fort Carson officials he should never have left the United States.

My personal opinion is, is that as the war goes on, you'll see more and more soldiers with (limitations).

Maj. Gen. Mark Graham

Col. John Hort, commander of Fort Carson's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, said the 79 soldiers were among 130 who had been judged temporarily unfit for war duty, The Gazette reported.

The 79 were deemed able to perform limited duties such as straightening out paperwork at bases in Kuwait because their conditions, including sleep disorders and broken bones, could be treated by doctors in the Middle East as easily as in Colorado, he said.

Hort needed the troops so he could send other soldiers into the streets of Baghdad's suburbs.

"Those soldiers could perform limited duty that could allow healthy soldiers to perform more strenuous tasks," Hort told The Gazette from Iraq.

No soldiers with diagnosed mental illnesses were sent, he said.

Graham said commanders do not put any injured soldier in harm's way.

Sending an unfit soldier back to war means "you are not mission capable, and the soldier becomes a risk to himself and others in the unit," said U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat. He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, which requested an investigation by the Government Accountability Office last summer.

GAO investigators have identified other cases of unfit soldiers being deployed from Fort Drum in New York and Fort Stewart and Fort Benning in Georgia, said Brenda Farrell, director of defense capabilities and management investigations for the GAO, a nonpartisan congressional agency that audits federal programs.

"We don't have any confirmation that commanders are under pressure to fill their units," Farrell said.

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team deployed in December for the third time. The unit has been under strength, partly because of the number of soldiers who are injured.

"Almost a battalion of soldiers have had medical conditions that prevent them from coming back to Iraq with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team," Hort said.

All I have to say is... WTF?

Is drafting happening soon?

typo in title... doh.

Ah well that's not good. This is what happens when politics gets involved with military operations.

They have always used wounded soldiers, a lot of wounded soldiers actually want to get back in there to support their buddies.

I saw this one video where a guy took shrapnel wounds to the leg and arm but requested to stay in combat until the battle was over because he didn't want to leave his platoon.

"The 79 were deemed able to perform limited duties such as straightening out paperwork at bases in Kuwait because their conditions, including sleep disorders and broken bones, could be treated by doctors in the Middle East as easily as in Colorado, he said."

So if you join the military, have a hard time sleeping, or break a bone, the world comes to an end if they give you a desk job?

This is a non-story. If I break my arm playing football on the weekend, I go back to work Monday with a cast. They can too.

Politics has nothing to do with it. The US army needs to get more feet on the ground, which ultimately means forcing the least incapable back to the field. In the end it's stupid politicians who get them there, but the army would work the same in this situation no matter who was in charge. 

Not saying I accept what's going on, but that's how it works. The army is a shitty organization with a shitty job it needs to do, and it does it with the least shitty methods available. Sometimes the least shitty is still extremely shitty.

What do you live under a rock.  We sent those boys into that country to do a job.  Then the media got involved and deemed everything going bad which caused a public uproar.  Thus of course politicians had to get involved to lean either way to either make themselves look better or stay with a strong posistion.  Thus now we can't send out troops who can stand on their feet, without the public or media stating its a bad thing or we are losing the war.  As soon as media got involved, the public got bias reports, which forced the politicians to get involved.  Its a mess.  Wars just can't be fought by simple military means anymore, cause you have to fight the damn people back at home why your doing it. 

Of course, you could just illegally invade fewer countries....I dunno seems like a decent option.

I still don't see how you're getting politicians into this. The army needs to send more troops to the field, but doesn't have enough unwounded, and is thus forced to send the least wounded. It's a military issue.

Are you seriously implying they're sending wounded troops because the public would consider sending ones that "can stand on their feet" as worse? I really can't say I agree with you here.

Of course, there's always the:

60k troops in Germany
10k in the UK
11k in Italy
50k in Japan

Who probably aren't doing anything too dangerous...