43000 Unfit Troops Deployed

Reading this article in USA Today, my jaw just dropped:

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.

43,000 disabled troops deployed to War Zones against medical advice. Awesome. The article doesn't say how many of those 43000 were subsequently killed or further injured; even one of these disabled troopers dying because he couldn't run fast enough to get to cover in time, is something so horrible I can't quite get myself to contemplate it.

The next time some moron ditto-head talks about how "strong" the Republicans are on National Defense, I am going to just say, "Well, if by 'strong' you mean, 'willing to send other people's disabled sons, mothers and fathers to war zones merely to kick the ball down the field and make the next administration take some of the blame for Bush's failure' then, yes, I agree..."

Two words: War Criminals.

•  Tips and recs appreciated...

  by mftalbot on Thu May 08, 2008 at 02:48:15 PM PDT

  •  SOSDD = same old shit, different day

    or BOHICA...

    It just doesn't stop.

    by deMemedeMedia on Thu May 08, 2008 at 03:06:16 PM PDT

•  The Bush administration is so SICK

  This is genuinely appalling.  

  What an incredibly challenging job our next President will have in working his way through the myriad of messes this administration is leaving behind.

  by flor de jasmim on Thu May 08, 2008 at 02:49:29 PM PDT

•  Supporting the troops

  This is what that phrase means to a republican.

  by discocarp on Thu May 08, 2008 at 02:50:24 PM PDT

•  and to this Dick Cheney would say

  So? They volunteered.

  Does somebody have that time machine ready, it needs to be January.

  by jfromga on Thu May 08, 2008 at 02:54:10 PM PDT

  •  My response would be...

    ..."Hell is forever, Mr. Cheney. Hell is forever."

    by mftalbot on Thu May 08, 2008 at 02:58:23 PM PDT

    •  And he would laugh

      because he doesn't believe in Hell. You might believe he'll get his in the afterlife, but he believes he's getting his now and the afterlife is just a scam to make the little people fall into line in the here and now.

      by banjolele on Thu May 08, 2008 at 03:09:02 PM PDT

      •  ah, you're surely right...

        ...no one who believed in hell (or Karma or what have you...) would act the way he's acted.

        by mftalbot on Thu May 08, 2008 at 03:22:51 PM PDT

•  I remember reading

  a couple of months ago that news coverage of the war
  on so-called "news outlets" had dropped to 7%.
  They are "disappearing" the war for us
  so we don't have to be reminded.

  It is just ONE of the reasons I continually say
  that I YEARN for January, 2009 so we can
  (hopefully) see a change in policy
  concerning the middle east.

  by Alan Charles on Thu May 08, 2008 at 03:00:06 PM PDT

•  I am

  very sorry this is not receiving a lot more attention. This is a very big deal. Many of these folks are in danger of being left behind when all is said and done.

  by RustyBrown on Thu May 08, 2008 at 03:17:41 PM PDT

•  It's not as bad as it seems

  a lot of them are missing shots, need minor dental work, eyeglasses etc.
  That usually gets fixed along the line,  but, 1/4th are seriously
  not fit for combat, and that's a bad problem in a theater.

  what's worse is probably 20% of the troops doing a third rotation have
  PTSD, so figure maybe half the NCO's have PTSD in some severe way
  and are taking meds and drinking to supress this.

  We had this problem in Vietnam, the NCO's and field officers were
  getting PTSD real bad from multiple rotations and they were really
  starting to breakdown by 1972.

  We will start seeing this as the knee of the curve hits.

  The issue of unfit troops is that the grunts don't get to do light duty
  all the nasty work falls on the healthy, and the injured pick up guard duty
  and light duty, which accelerates the PTSD.

  But say 25% need some medical work and are unavailable for say a month,
  and 20% have PTSD,  that means only Half the troops are at 100% at the start.
  and the folks they are relieving are down from attrition, at some point
  the force gets too weak to sustain ops.

  by nathguy on Thu May 08, 2008 at 03:34:22 PM PDT