Report: Troops to war despite broken leg, torn rotator cuffs

[unhappycamper]

Report: Troops to war despite broken leg, torn rotator cuffs
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jan 17, 2008 11:45:49 EST

DENVER — Soldiers who were medically unfit or considered borderline have been sent to the Middle East to meet Army goals for “deployable strength,” The Denver Post reported Thursday.

Quoting internal Army e-mails and a Fort Carson soldier, the newspaper said that more than 50 troops were deployed to Kuwait en route to Iraq while they were still getting medical treatment for various conditions. At least two have been sent home.

Capt. Scot Tebo, the surgeon for Fort Carson’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, wrote in an e-mail obtained by the newspaper that “We have been having issues reaching deployable strength, and thus have been taking along some borderline soldiers who we would otherwise have left behind for continued treatment.”

Master Sgt. Denny Nelson said he was sent to Kuwait last month despite a severe foot injury. He was sent back to Fort Carson after a military doctor in Kuwait wrote that he never should have been shipped out.

Maj. Harvinder Singh, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s rear detachment commander, said he did not believe medically unfit soldiers have been sent to Iraq. He said soldiers with medical problems are deployed only if they can be assigned to light-duty jobs and if medical services are available at their destinations.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_sicktroops_080117/



uhc comment: It appears the 'need' to continue the occupation of Iraq requires that we now must send not recovered soldiers to the front. The dems cough up the money, the soldiers are the fodder, and the mistake continues.