'Stop loss' bonuses go unpaid to 35,000 soldiers
Christopher Collette
WASHINGTON (USA TODAY) -- The Army is struggling to find about 35,000 soldiers, most of them veterans now, who are owed bonuses because they were forced to remain in the military beyond their normal enlistment.
The government authorized the "special pay" in 2009 following criticism from some troops and Congress who said the "stop loss" policy that extended enlistments amounted to a "back door draft." Most of the troops fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Veterans groups have faulted the Pentagon for not being able to locate the troops.
"In this economy, I haven't met a single stop-loss veteran who can't use this money for their family or school," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
The Army has paid $245 million in bonuses for 84,000 soldiers since the law passed, said Army Maj. Roy Whitley, who is managing Army efforts to provide the special pay.
read more here
'Stop loss' bonuses go unpaid to 35,000 soldiers
Showing posts with label stop-loss policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stop-loss policy. Show all posts
Monday, January 17, 2011
Friday, August 6, 2010
Stop-loss now down to 4,000 soldiers, Army says
Stop-loss now down to 4,000 soldiers, Army says
By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Aug 5, 2010 22:54:15 EDT
The number of soldiers forced to serve beyond their commitment has been cut in half in the past year and is on track to be eliminated by March, Pentagon records and interviews show.
Stop-loss affected more than 15,000 troops at its peak in 2005 and has been cut to about 4,000. Experts on military morale say the steady decline in forcing troops to serve has dampened the controversy, though they say the Pentagon delayed action.
read more here
Stop loss now down to 4000 soldiers/
By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Aug 5, 2010 22:54:15 EDT
The number of soldiers forced to serve beyond their commitment has been cut in half in the past year and is on track to be eliminated by March, Pentagon records and interviews show.
Stop-loss affected more than 15,000 troops at its peak in 2005 and has been cut to about 4,000. Experts on military morale say the steady decline in forcing troops to serve has dampened the controversy, though they say the Pentagon delayed action.
read more here
Stop loss now down to 4000 soldiers/
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Fort Hood Stop Loss Soldier ends up in jail?
He went, did what he was expected to do but when the Army had other plans for him he ends up in jail? How many others has this happened to?
Soldier who refused deployment gets month in jail
By ANGELA K. BROWN (AP) – 1 hour ago
FORT HOOD, Texas — A Fort Hood soldier who refused to deploy to Afghanistan over his beliefs that the war violates international law was sentenced Wednesday to a month in jail.
Spc. Victor Agosto, 24, of Miami, pleaded guilty to disobeying a lawful order to report to a site that performs medical, legal and other services for troops before they deploy. The judge also reduced his rank to the Army's lowest level, a private, which also was part of the maximum penalty he faced in his plea agreement with the military.
After the sentence was announced, Agosto immediately ripped the rank patch from his uniform. He later was escorted out of the building and taken to the county jail, where he will start serving his sentence.
Also, Agosto cannot be discharged at a level lower than other-than-honorable conditions, an administrative discharge. A discharge was not mentioned in the hearing, but Agosto is expected to be released from the Army after completing his jail term.
Before he was sentenced during the hourlong military hearing at the central Texas Army post, he told the judge he should not be jailed because he posed no threat to anyone.
He said he had remained on post and went to work every day since refusing to deploy after learning a few months ago that the Army was keeping him beyond his enlistment date.
read more here
Soldier who refused deployment gets month in jail
Saturday, March 21, 2009
About 15 percent of Oregon's deploying soldiers are on stop-loss
Stop loss hits home
by The Oregonian Editorial Board
Saturday March 21, 2009, 11:09 AM
About 15 percent of Oregon's deploying soldiers are on stop-loss, roughly twice the military average
The 41st Brigade Combat Team patch
When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last week that the Army will end its practice of extending soldiers' contracts beyond their end dates, he said such stop-loss orders "break faith" with service members.
But the deployment next month of Oregon's 41st Brigade Combat Team will include 479 soldiers affected by stop-loss, according to the Oregon Military Dept. That means that about 15.3 percent of the brigade could be deployed involuntarily. That's a rate a little more than twice that of stop-lossed troops currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nobody likes stop loss, the policy that allows the Army to order soldiers to active duty when they would otherwise be able to leave the service. The people it hurts most are families and soldiers who intended to serve one or two hitches, then quit. For some, this stop loss order will force some to drive the highways of Iraq for the next year rather than working or attending school in Oregon. For them, stop-loss is, indeed, a policy that "breaks faith" with volunteer soldiers.
To be sure, some portion of Oregon's stop-lossed component includes soldiers who have every intention of re-enlisting when they get to Iraq, knowing retention bonuses are tax-free. Others among the stop-lossed may not deploy for medical reasons. But the fact remains that Oregon's ratio of stop-lossed soldiers is substantially higher than typical.
go here for more
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/03/stop_loss_hits_home.html
by The Oregonian Editorial Board
Saturday March 21, 2009, 11:09 AM
About 15 percent of Oregon's deploying soldiers are on stop-loss, roughly twice the military average
The 41st Brigade Combat Team patch
When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last week that the Army will end its practice of extending soldiers' contracts beyond their end dates, he said such stop-loss orders "break faith" with service members.
But the deployment next month of Oregon's 41st Brigade Combat Team will include 479 soldiers affected by stop-loss, according to the Oregon Military Dept. That means that about 15.3 percent of the brigade could be deployed involuntarily. That's a rate a little more than twice that of stop-lossed troops currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nobody likes stop loss, the policy that allows the Army to order soldiers to active duty when they would otherwise be able to leave the service. The people it hurts most are families and soldiers who intended to serve one or two hitches, then quit. For some, this stop loss order will force some to drive the highways of Iraq for the next year rather than working or attending school in Oregon. For them, stop-loss is, indeed, a policy that "breaks faith" with volunteer soldiers.
To be sure, some portion of Oregon's stop-lossed component includes soldiers who have every intention of re-enlisting when they get to Iraq, knowing retention bonuses are tax-free. Others among the stop-lossed may not deploy for medical reasons. But the fact remains that Oregon's ratio of stop-lossed soldiers is substantially higher than typical.
go here for more
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/03/stop_loss_hits_home.html
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Vickie Castro shares a mother's pain after stop-loss and son's death
Open letter to Mrs. Castro,
I don't know what it's like to lose a son or a daughter in combat. I don't know what it's like to lose a husband or a wife, or a father or a mother. I only see what it does to them after they come home. I pray you're pain is eased and you begin to heal the void your son's death has left within you.
What you said in this video is exactly what many have been saying, but far too few every really hear. You, as a mother, proud of your son, probably since the day he was born, supported what he wanted to do with his life. He was born with the warrior in his soul. That quality that makes them all willing to lay down their lives for the sake of someone else. I bet Jonathan would have been a police officer or a firefighter had he not joined the military or a National Guardsman. They have come into this world to defend others and that is a noble thing. What is not noble, is those who have sent them for absolutely nothing that had to do with our own security. This you know and that must be very painful above the fact your son was killed in combat.
There are some who have twisted supporting the troops into supporting those who sent them blindly. I feel sorry for them because they think they are doing the "patriotic" thing, not noticing the harm they are doing to the troops. They support stop-loss that holds soldiers long after they agreed to give the time in their lives and they find no problem at all with the troops not getting what they need when they need it or asking for proof of what they are told, or even holding any of the people in Washington responsible for any of it. This would not be bad enough if they did not turn around and attack people like you who have paid attention.
The same people who want to hold parades and cheer the troops when they come back, won't bother to write letters to make sure the wounded are taken care of properly, wounded are not forced to stand in a line that does not end trying to have their claims approved or have their wounds treated. They won't demand anything for the sake of the troops or the veterans. I see it all the time.
It must be a lot harder on you to have visit your son's grave and know what you know about why he was in Iraq, but please take comfort in knowing that your son died because he was willing to lay down his life for the sake of this nation and it was up to the people who sent him to honor the life he was willing to lose for our sake. They just didn't respect Jonathan's life enough, or any of the lives lost. The rest of us noticed this and we honor the lives of those who were willing to do what so few are willing to do. I think that's why we fight so hard. We just tend to value the lives more than the mission they are sent on when there is no need for the mission in the first place.
I often wonder if the supporters of the occupation of Iraq ever notice that no one argues about the need to send troops into Afghanistan, which was in direct response to the attacks here. I think they would be fully disgusted with themselves if they ever did. It's also one of the biggest reasons the politicians hardly ever mention Afghanistan. They wouldn't want to remind people that because troops were sent into Iraq, we have lost so many in Afghanistan.
I am determined to fight to have the warriors taken care of when it comes to PTSD because I live with it everyday in my own husband. The veterans and families trying to cope with it have tugged at my heart. You have now taken on the families who do not support the occupation of Iraq but have lost family members all the same. They need to hear you to find the support so few of the others are willing to give. They're too busy calling parents like you "anti-military" or "unpatriotic" depending on which talking point hit them the hardest. I know what it's like to live with PTSD, but you know what it's like to be in their shoes when they lost someone they loved. Reach out to them and help them heal and in doing so, like me, you will begin to heal yourself.
You will forever be in my prayers. Bless you for speaking out.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
I don't know what it's like to lose a son or a daughter in combat. I don't know what it's like to lose a husband or a wife, or a father or a mother. I only see what it does to them after they come home. I pray you're pain is eased and you begin to heal the void your son's death has left within you.
What you said in this video is exactly what many have been saying, but far too few every really hear. You, as a mother, proud of your son, probably since the day he was born, supported what he wanted to do with his life. He was born with the warrior in his soul. That quality that makes them all willing to lay down their lives for the sake of someone else. I bet Jonathan would have been a police officer or a firefighter had he not joined the military or a National Guardsman. They have come into this world to defend others and that is a noble thing. What is not noble, is those who have sent them for absolutely nothing that had to do with our own security. This you know and that must be very painful above the fact your son was killed in combat.
There are some who have twisted supporting the troops into supporting those who sent them blindly. I feel sorry for them because they think they are doing the "patriotic" thing, not noticing the harm they are doing to the troops. They support stop-loss that holds soldiers long after they agreed to give the time in their lives and they find no problem at all with the troops not getting what they need when they need it or asking for proof of what they are told, or even holding any of the people in Washington responsible for any of it. This would not be bad enough if they did not turn around and attack people like you who have paid attention.
The same people who want to hold parades and cheer the troops when they come back, won't bother to write letters to make sure the wounded are taken care of properly, wounded are not forced to stand in a line that does not end trying to have their claims approved or have their wounds treated. They won't demand anything for the sake of the troops or the veterans. I see it all the time.
It must be a lot harder on you to have visit your son's grave and know what you know about why he was in Iraq, but please take comfort in knowing that your son died because he was willing to lay down his life for the sake of this nation and it was up to the people who sent him to honor the life he was willing to lose for our sake. They just didn't respect Jonathan's life enough, or any of the lives lost. The rest of us noticed this and we honor the lives of those who were willing to do what so few are willing to do. I think that's why we fight so hard. We just tend to value the lives more than the mission they are sent on when there is no need for the mission in the first place.
I often wonder if the supporters of the occupation of Iraq ever notice that no one argues about the need to send troops into Afghanistan, which was in direct response to the attacks here. I think they would be fully disgusted with themselves if they ever did. It's also one of the biggest reasons the politicians hardly ever mention Afghanistan. They wouldn't want to remind people that because troops were sent into Iraq, we have lost so many in Afghanistan.
I am determined to fight to have the warriors taken care of when it comes to PTSD because I live with it everyday in my own husband. The veterans and families trying to cope with it have tugged at my heart. You have now taken on the families who do not support the occupation of Iraq but have lost family members all the same. They need to hear you to find the support so few of the others are willing to give. They're too busy calling parents like you "anti-military" or "unpatriotic" depending on which talking point hit them the hardest. I know what it's like to live with PTSD, but you know what it's like to be in their shoes when they lost someone they loved. Reach out to them and help them heal and in doing so, like me, you will begin to heal yourself.
You will forever be in my prayers. Bless you for speaking out.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
'Life as you know it stops
'Vickie Castro's 21-year-old son, Jonathan, was killed by an Iraqi suicide bomber after the Pentagon extended his tour of duty.
Dan Glaister hears her story
guardian.co.uk,
Saturday November 1 2008
Vickie Castro recalls the moment that every soldier's parent dreads most
Link to this video
She knew it could happen at any time. But in order to get through each day, Vickie Castro had to struggle to block the thought from her mind, and keep the fear at bay. That all ended when she saw the man in the neatly pressed uniform with all the medals on his chest coming to the door.
The officer knew what to do. He waited patiently until the screaming stopped. And then said: "I regret to inform you…" Vicki begins to cry as she tells the Guardian's Dan Glaister of the moment when she learned that her son, Army Spc Jonathan Castro, had been killed in Mosul, Iraq.
That was almost four years ago, when Jonathan was serving his second tour of duty on a "stop-loss" order, which required him to stay in the service beyond his initial enlistment. He was 21 years old when he died.
Neither Vickie nor anyone else in her family opposes the war for political reasons. Her son wanted to be a soldier. But the young combat engineer came to believe that the United States should not be in Iraq. Still, he continued to do his duty and serve his country. Vickie mentions that she distrusts John McCain, but says all that matters to her now is that the government brings the troops home.
click post title for more
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Kristofer Goldsmith: Stop Loss Killed Me
Mental Health and the Military Mindset
Aamer Madhani
Los Angeles Times
Jun 16, 2008
June 15, 2008, Bellmore, NY - Kristofer Goldsmith was so distressed about the prospect of returning to Iraq that he decided he was willing to kill himself to avoid serving a second tour.
The Army had mandated an extension of his three-year contract, which had been set to expire, as his unit was set to deploy to Baghdad as part of the troop surge. The day before he was to ship out in May 2007, he washed down a dozen Percoset with more than a liter of vodka.
Soon after he was admitted to the Winn Army Community Hospital at Ft. Stewart, Ga., a top noncommissioned officer from his brigade's rear detachment visited the young sergeant, along with an Army psychologist, to discuss discharging him from the military.
"We all agreed that it was for the best that my Army career come to an end then," said Goldsmith, who added that he'd scrawled the words "stop-loss killed me" in marker on his body before his suicide attempt. "It was a few days later when they told me that they were going to come at me for faking a mental lapse."
The rear commander of his unit, Maj. Douglas Wesner of the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, quickly initiated an administrative punishment known as an Article 15 against Goldsmith for malingering -- that is, feigning a mental lapse or derangement or purposely injuring oneself -- in order to avoid being deployed to Iraq.
Eventually, his commanders dropped the Article 15, but not before removing the 22-year-old from the service on a general discharge. Because he did not receive an honorable discharge, Goldsmith was stripped of his Montgomery GI Bill benefits, which he'd been counting on to help pay for his college education.
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10400
Aamer Madhani
Los Angeles Times
Jun 16, 2008
June 15, 2008, Bellmore, NY - Kristofer Goldsmith was so distressed about the prospect of returning to Iraq that he decided he was willing to kill himself to avoid serving a second tour.
The Army had mandated an extension of his three-year contract, which had been set to expire, as his unit was set to deploy to Baghdad as part of the troop surge. The day before he was to ship out in May 2007, he washed down a dozen Percoset with more than a liter of vodka.
Soon after he was admitted to the Winn Army Community Hospital at Ft. Stewart, Ga., a top noncommissioned officer from his brigade's rear detachment visited the young sergeant, along with an Army psychologist, to discuss discharging him from the military.
"We all agreed that it was for the best that my Army career come to an end then," said Goldsmith, who added that he'd scrawled the words "stop-loss killed me" in marker on his body before his suicide attempt. "It was a few days later when they told me that they were going to come at me for faking a mental lapse."
The rear commander of his unit, Maj. Douglas Wesner of the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, quickly initiated an administrative punishment known as an Article 15 against Goldsmith for malingering -- that is, feigning a mental lapse or derangement or purposely injuring oneself -- in order to avoid being deployed to Iraq.
Eventually, his commanders dropped the Article 15, but not before removing the 22-year-old from the service on a general discharge. Because he did not receive an honorable discharge, Goldsmith was stripped of his Montgomery GI Bill benefits, which he'd been counting on to help pay for his college education.
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10400
Monday, April 21, 2008
Back Door Draft Of Stop Loss up 43 percent
DoD: Stop-loss up 43 percent in past year
By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Apr 22, 2008 12:31:57 EDT
WASHINGTON — The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show.
Gates directed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service secretaries to minimize mandatory tour extensions, known as stop-loss, in January 2007. By May, the number of soldiers affected by the policy had dropped to a three-year low of 8,540.
Since then, the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43 percent to 12,235 in March. The reliance on stop-loss has increased as the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to 15 months to support an escalation in U.S. forces ordered by President Bush. The increase last month was driven by the need to send more National Guard soldiers to Iraq.
Soldiers affected by stop loss now serve, on average, an extra 6.6 months, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. Key leaders at the small-unit level — sergeants through sergeants first class — make up 45 percent of those soldiers. Soldiers typically enlist for four-year stints.
“Secretary Gates understands the hardship stop-loss poses to our troops and their families, but he also understands the need to maintain cohesive units on the battlefield throughout deployment,” Morrell said. “Troops who have trained together and fought together should remain together.”
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/gns_stoploss_042208/
By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Apr 22, 2008 12:31:57 EDT
WASHINGTON — The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show.
Gates directed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service secretaries to minimize mandatory tour extensions, known as stop-loss, in January 2007. By May, the number of soldiers affected by the policy had dropped to a three-year low of 8,540.
Since then, the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43 percent to 12,235 in March. The reliance on stop-loss has increased as the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to 15 months to support an escalation in U.S. forces ordered by President Bush. The increase last month was driven by the need to send more National Guard soldiers to Iraq.
Soldiers affected by stop loss now serve, on average, an extra 6.6 months, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. Key leaders at the small-unit level — sergeants through sergeants first class — make up 45 percent of those soldiers. Soldiers typically enlist for four-year stints.
“Secretary Gates understands the hardship stop-loss poses to our troops and their families, but he also understands the need to maintain cohesive units on the battlefield throughout deployment,” Morrell said. “Troops who have trained together and fought together should remain together.”
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/gns_stoploss_042208/
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Iraq Veteran Seeks Help Then Shot By Police After Stabbing
Update
Sanabria was redeployed under stop-loss. He didn't want to go back. He was already having problems.
Police Kill Veteran Stabbing His Stepfather
POSTED: 8:26 am EST February 14, 2008
BRIDGETON, N.J. -- In the last 10 days of his life, German Sanabria told his family that someone was trying to kill him.
It turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A Bridgeton police officer fatally shot the 26-year-old Iraq war veteran Wednesday morning after being unable to stop the man as police say he stabbed his stepfather repeatedly with a steak knife.
A relative said that Sanabria came back a different, harder man when he returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq about a year ago.
But it was only after he watched the Super Bowl at a club in Vineland on Feb. 3 that he seemed deeply paranoid and suicidal, said Celia Ray, a cousin of Sanabria's mother who lives nearby.
"He got in trouble at this place," Ray said. "He thought someone from there was after him to kill him."
Ray said she did not know whether the trouble was real or imagined -- but it did concern the family enough that relatives sought psychiatric help for him at two places in the last week.
go here for the rest
http://www.nbc10.com/news/15299590/detail.html
Discharged after a few hours? Why would they do that? Then the VA let him just walk out the door? The family did every thing right. They tried to get him help. Why didn't the VA do their job? Why does this keep happening?
linked from ICasualties.org
Sanabria was redeployed under stop-loss. He didn't want to go back. He was already having problems.
Sanabria joined the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and, as part of the 41st Field Artillery Regiment, was in Iraq five years ago as part of the U.S. invasion.
He did not plan to re-enlist after he came home. But he was later sent back to Iraq as part of the military’s stop-loss policy. He told The Press of Atlantic City in a 2004 interview that he did not want to go back. He was not afraid, he said, but he had been having nightmares about combat.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_vetkilled_080215/
Police Kill Veteran Stabbing His Stepfather
POSTED: 8:26 am EST February 14, 2008
BRIDGETON, N.J. -- In the last 10 days of his life, German Sanabria told his family that someone was trying to kill him.
It turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A Bridgeton police officer fatally shot the 26-year-old Iraq war veteran Wednesday morning after being unable to stop the man as police say he stabbed his stepfather repeatedly with a steak knife.
A relative said that Sanabria came back a different, harder man when he returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq about a year ago.
But it was only after he watched the Super Bowl at a club in Vineland on Feb. 3 that he seemed deeply paranoid and suicidal, said Celia Ray, a cousin of Sanabria's mother who lives nearby.
"He got in trouble at this place," Ray said. "He thought someone from there was after him to kill him."
Ray said she did not know whether the trouble was real or imagined -- but it did concern the family enough that relatives sought psychiatric help for him at two places in the last week.
On Feb. 8, she said, the family called a crisis center at a local hospital. He was taken there by ambulance, but was discharged after a few hours.
Three days later, Ray and other relatives were there when they took him to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Philadelphia. The family stayed in a waiting room while he went for tests. But he never returned, she said.
He had left the hospital, a staff member told them.
go here for the rest
http://www.nbc10.com/news/15299590/detail.html
Discharged after a few hours? Why would they do that? Then the VA let him just walk out the door? The family did every thing right. They tried to get him help. Why didn't the VA do their job? Why does this keep happening?
linked from ICasualties.org
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Stop the Stop Loss policy
Vets sound off about VA at forum with Murray
By LEAH BETH WARD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Brett Wachsmith of Ellensburg was nearing the end of the semester at Central Washington University in 2004 when his Army National Guard unit was activated to Iraq. His professors did not make it easy for him to finish his credits before he left, he said, and he didn't complete the courses and lost his tuition.
"Nobody was watching out for you," U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash, observed Friday after hearing the tall young soldier's story at a hearing in Yakima.
Wachsmith, 24, is back in college now, after laying ambushes and conducting raids in Iraq. But his Army unit was just alerted that it will be redeployed. Though he didn't plan to re-enlist when his contract expires in January, he may be forced to return to combat in Iraq due to the Army's "stop-loss" program to address the shortage of forces.
A number of his Army buddies are suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, he said. He called the military's screening for the problem inadequate. It's limited, he said, to a perfunctory question about "needing to talk to someone" in Iraq and a questionnaire when the soldiers return home.
PTSD is a common, debilitating anxiety disorder that can afflict anyone exposed to grave physical danger and prolonged fear.
go here for the rest
http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/290419668468094
They lived up to their promise and it is high time we did the same. We need to take care of the wounded and stop abusing them. We need to stop the stop loss policy that makes them stay in longer than they agreed to. Give them back the lives they were promised when they have done their duty.
By LEAH BETH WARD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Brett Wachsmith of Ellensburg was nearing the end of the semester at Central Washington University in 2004 when his Army National Guard unit was activated to Iraq. His professors did not make it easy for him to finish his credits before he left, he said, and he didn't complete the courses and lost his tuition.
"Nobody was watching out for you," U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash, observed Friday after hearing the tall young soldier's story at a hearing in Yakima.
Wachsmith, 24, is back in college now, after laying ambushes and conducting raids in Iraq. But his Army unit was just alerted that it will be redeployed. Though he didn't plan to re-enlist when his contract expires in January, he may be forced to return to combat in Iraq due to the Army's "stop-loss" program to address the shortage of forces.
A number of his Army buddies are suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, he said. He called the military's screening for the problem inadequate. It's limited, he said, to a perfunctory question about "needing to talk to someone" in Iraq and a questionnaire when the soldiers return home.
PTSD is a common, debilitating anxiety disorder that can afflict anyone exposed to grave physical danger and prolonged fear.
go here for the rest
http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/290419668468094
They lived up to their promise and it is high time we did the same. We need to take care of the wounded and stop abusing them. We need to stop the stop loss policy that makes them stay in longer than they agreed to. Give them back the lives they were promised when they have done their duty.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)