Guidelines Pitched For Unfit Troops

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
June 11, 2008
Pg. 1
Proposal toughens medical rules for combat duty
By Gregg Zoroya, USA Today
The U.S. military command that oversees troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan wants to make it harder for combat commanders to send medically unfit troops to war zones, according to a proposal reviewed by USA TODAY.
The proposal from Central Command would add 16 medical conditions that would bar troops from deploying for combat duty. It would toughen a 2½-year-old rule requiring combat commanders to seek a waiver before sending troops who need medical care to a war zone.
The broader intent of the guidelines is to make certain commanders seek the medical waiver rather than deploy soldiers with medical problems, says Ellen Embrey, a deputy assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs.
Since 2003, the U.S military has sent into combat 43,000 troops deemed "non-deployable" by military doctors in the weeks before arriving in Iraq or Afghanistan, Pentagon records show. The vast majority were Army soldiers, the records show.
Central Command is concerned that any influx of non-deployable troops could tax a system that "provides only limited medical care," the proposal says.
The new guidelines would keep troops with "any chronic medical condition that requires frequent clinical visits" out of the war zone.
It would tighten restrictions on deploying troops with hearing and vision loss and "any musculoskeletal condition that significantly impairs performance of duties in a deployed environment."
The proposal was confirmed by Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Speaks, a Central Command spokesman. He said it was in response to a May 8 USA TODAY report about the 43,000 non-deployable troops.
The waiver requirement was first spelled out in a February 2006 policy statement by David Chu, an undersecretary of Defense, following direction from Congress. Guidance issued by Central Command last year did not provide specific directions for waivers.
Last year, 36 soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson in Colorado were sent to war with medical problems, an investigation by the Army inspector general shows. Commanders sought no waivers for the 36 soldiers, according to the report released under a Freedom of Information Act request.
Six soldiers deployed with health problems were ultimately sent home. Two had shoulder injuries, two had mental health problems, one had a groin injury, and a sixth could not carry a weapon, according to the investigative report.
Since last July, the Army sought deployment waivers for 22 soldiers with medical problems, Army spokesman Paul Boyce says.
 
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