Wait. Pastor Agnostic has to take a deep breath before screaming on.
Ok.
THOSE BLOODY, BRAINLESS, VILE ASSES!
Whew, now I feel better.
Here is the story:
For more than two years, the Pentagon delayed screening troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because officials feared veterans would blame vague ailments on the little-understood wound caused by exposure to bomb blasts, says the military's director of medical assessments.
More ranting and raving below the fold.
But first, more of the story:
Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox said in an interview that the Pentagon wanted to avoid another controversy such as the so-called Gulf War syndrome. About 10,000 veterans blamed medical conditions from cancer to eczema on their service.
The Pentagon did not acknowledge the syndrome until Congress created a committee to study it in 1998.
- - -
An Army mental health report last month indicated that 11% of 2,195 soldiers surveyed in Iraq and Afghanistan show signs of mild brain injury, but fewer than half were identified and evaluated in the field.
DOD DELAYED BRAIN SCANS
First, the DOD REFUSED to provide blast protection for troops, forcing them to drive in unarmored Humvees, or engage in foot patrols. How many hundreds or thousands of lives were lost because of deliberate foot dragging remains unknown.
Next, the DOD gamed the kevlar vest tests, allowing an insider to win contracts, while preventing even a fair test of a competing, better, lighter and stronger design.
Next, the DOD refused to order new and improved vehicles to replace the humvee.
Then, when news organizations began to break this news, disobedient embedded reporters were placed in dangerous situations, most likely leading to the deaths of several. Non-embedded reporters suffered even more, and lost all ability to get access to sources or officers.
Then, when the stories STILL broke in the US, the DOD lied, misled, and finally admitted the fact of the matter.
Now, we learn that the DOD deliberately refused to scan injured soldiers, leaving them grasping at straws or forcing them to seek private (expensive) tests and medical care.
Worse yet, the DOD canceled the signing bonuses of some PTSD and head injury sufferers, claiming that those were pre-existing conditions.
Worst of all, some doctors within the DOD knew that early recognition and treatment would save those injured soldiers and vets months, even years of agony and suffering, and that early treatment was always the best approach to brain injuries.
To top it off, for five years, any criticism of the DOD, of Don Rumsfeld (until of late), of the war effort, even of the hideous conditions at VA hospitals was treated and deliberately confounded, intertwined, spliced into, mixed up with a failure to
"Support the troops"
War protesters like Code Pink were uniformly derided, scorned, laughed at, accused of treason, accused of being stupid, misguided, and factually wrong (and much worse). War protests (like Chicago's) were met with gestapo-like tactics and over-reactions. Protests in general were cordoned off, far from the president and his administration personnel.
And yet, ugly truths like this continue to come out.
SUPPORT THE TROOPS? My ass. Entire families are being shattered as undiagnosed mental problems cause stress and strains on spouses, parents, children, and may even lead to the extremely high levels of violence, suicides and even murders being committed by soldiers who had the misfortune of trusting this government.
SUPPORT THE TROOPS? The best way is to get them the hell out of harm's way. Now. Not 100 yrs from now. Not 10 years from now. NOW.