Soldiers seek Ft. Carson deployment probe
The Army will be asked to investigate generals for deploying ailing GIs.
By Erin Emery
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 03/07/2008 12:01:55 PM MST
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren will be asked today to convene a panel of officers to investigate "Army policies and practices which permit the deployment of medically unfit soldiers."
Spec. Bryan Currie, 21, of Charleston, S.C., will ask Geren to convene a Court of Inquiry — a rarely used administrative fact-finding process — to investigate top generals at Fort Carson; Fort Drum, N.Y.; and Fort Hood, Texas.
A Court of Inquiry is composed of at least three high-ranking military officers and can subpoena civilians. Geren can refuse the request.
"It's very important for the Army and very important for my clients. This is an investigation that is long overdue," said Louis Font, a Boston attorney who represents Currie and Spec. Alex Lotero, 21, a Fort Carson soldier from Miami.
The request says the Court of Inquiry should "investigate the extent to which the (generals) have been derelict in failing to provide for the health and welfare of wounded soldiers."
Font and Citizen Soldier, a veterans advocacy group, plan a news conference today in Watertown, N.Y. Copies of the request will be provided to the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, Font said.
Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, commander of Fort Carson since September 2007, said: "We have caring and competent commanders who make these decisions every day. I'm confident in our Soldier Readiness Processing site here at Fort Carson."
For the rest go here
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8483271
I cannot begin to say how disappointed I am in Graham. When he took over Fort Carson, there seemed to be so much hope for things to turn around. He appeared to understand what PTSD was and what needed to be done. At least, what he said gave that impression. This is all just more of the same. More commanders too unable to become educated enough to understand this wound for what it is. More commanders who are not ashamed of the fact they are being seen as just too pig headed to learn facts. Far too many of them retain the mentality of blaming the wounded instead of seeing the wound. The rest of this is just part of what the people in his command are up against. I just hope this wakes them all up enough to finally come to terms with the reality of this wound before it's too late for more.
This is just some of the report.
"Not full-mission capable"
The request for the Court of Inquiry says the panel should be assembled on behalf of Currie and four Fort Carson soldiers. They include:
• Lotero, a soldier diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder "who was subjected to ridicule and threats for seeking medical attention." He said his commanders took his medications away from him, saying it was for his own safety. Lotero had received a 30 percent disability rating at Fort Carson for PTSD and traumatic brain injury. In June, three weeks before he was to leave the Army with a medical retirement, he deserted because he said harsh treatment from commanders made him feel as if he would harm himself or others. He was apprehended in Florida on Feb. 1 and spent 29 days in jail. He's now back at Fort Carson in a Warrior Transition Unit. He will undergo a new medical board process after his legal issues are settled
• Master Sgt. Denny Nelson, who had a severe foot injury and was deployed to Kuwait. A physician in Kuwait urged in an e-mail to the brigade surgeon that Nelson be sent back to the United States: "This soldier should NOT have even left CONUS (the U.S.). . . . In his current state, he is not full-mission capable, and in his current condition is a risk to further injury to himself, others and his unit."
• An unnamed Fort Carson soldier who was deployed from Cedar Springs psychiatric hospital in Colorado Springs before he could finish a 28-day treatment program for alcoholism. An Army e-mail, dated Dec. 14, 2007, shows the soldier was taking psychiatric medications, pending a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, "but that information was not passed on" before he was discharged.
• Staff Sgt. Chad Barrett, 35, a Fort Carson soldier from Saltville, Va., who died in Iraq on Feb. 2. The Army is investigating the cause of his death. "He allegedly was found not deployable by military medical personnel, but he was deployed anyway and reportedly committed suicide in Iraq in February 2008," the request says. Barrett's wife, Shelby, who lives in Fountain, said Thursday that she does not believe her husband killed himself. She said she believes he died of a heart-related ailment, a condition that runs in his family.
Currie said he served with the 10th Mountain Division for 10 months in Afghanistan. He was driving a vehicle that was blown up by a roadside bomb and suffered combat-related injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
He returned with his unit to Fort Polk, La., but he said his commanders harassed him for being injured.
"I suffer from physical injuries incurred in combat. Military medical personnel found that I am not deployable. My commanders, however, disregarded the medical findings," Currie says in the request. "Also, I sought medical attention for PTSD but was rebuffed."
Currie left Fort Polk, La., and is considered to be AWOL from the Army. He plans to turn himself in today at Fort Drum, where the general who commands the 10th Mountain Division is stationed.
Screening for Redeployment Passes Muster
This is from yesterday's post
Erin Emery
Denver Post
Mar 06, 2008
March 6, 2008 - Fort Carson, CO — A month-long investigation by Fort Carson's inspector general has found that screening processes for soldiers returning to war are sound, according to Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, commanding general at Fort Carson.
The investigation found that a lag in paperwork prompted Fort Carson in January to report that 79 soldiers who were deemed medical "no-gos" at a screening site were deployed, though the actual number was much lower.
The inspector general's report focused on the base's Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP) site and did not address decisions by commanders to send injured troops, called "borderline" by a brigade surgeon, into war zones.
"The process of the SRP works fine, and the commander is the one who makes the decision on whether the soldier deploys or not," Graham said. "I'm convinced that the process is good."
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9492
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