Senator Questions Injured Soldier Deployments

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Denver Post
February 14, 2008 By Anne C. Mulkern, The Denver Post
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee blasted the Pentagon on Wednesday for sending a wounded Fort Carson soldier back to Iraq, questioning whether it had been done to fill depleted ranks.
Citing a Denver Post report, Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, asked about an Army captain's e-mail saying that Fort Carson's 3rd Brigade Combat Team had "been having issues reaching deployable strength," and that some "borderline" soldiers were sent overseas.
"Are there shortages in deployment strength that are now causing some of these decisions to be made that otherwise would not be?" Levin asked at a committee hearing.
It is against Army policy to redeploy soldiers unfit for duty, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren said.
"That should not be happening," Geren said. "I can't tell you that it's not, but it certainly should not be happening.
"I don't believe we've found any evidence that pressure has caused people to be sent that shouldn't have been," Geren added.
Fort Carson officials have said 79 soldiers who had been given medical "no go" status were deployed. At least six have returned to the U.S.
Those soldiers received light-duty jobs and continued treatment while in theater, officials said.
The Denver Post reported Sunday that a Fort Carson soldier, who said he'd been at Cedar Springs Hospital for treatment of bipolar disorder and alcohol abuse, was released early and ordered to deploy to the Middle East with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
That 28-year-old soldier spent 31 days in Kuwait before two health care professionals there decided his symptoms met criteria for bipolar disorder and "some paranoia and possible homicidal tendencies," according to an Army e-mail. The soldier was returned to Fort Carson.
The Army's top doctor told senators that the soldier in the Denver Post story was considered fit for the duties he was assigned.
"My understanding of . . . this soldier is that he was not hospitalized, and the opinion of outside consultants was that his conditions should not limit his ability to be redeployed," said Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, Army surgeon general.
After the hearing, Schoomaker said that many soldiers have a medical "profile" that limits some of their duties but does not make them unfit for deployment.
Asked whether someone with bipolar disorder with paranoia and homicidal tendencies should be fit for duty, Schoomaker said, "I'd rather not comment without understanding the case more thoroughly."
Geren said in an interview that the Army was looking into the Fort Carson case, but that "our policy is no soldier is deployed that's not fit for the duty for which he's going to be assigned.
"That's the rule," Geren added. "If anybody deviates from that rule, they have not acted in accordance with Army policy."
During the hearing, Levin asked Geren whether he had contacted the sender of the e-mail saying the Army was "having issues reaching deployable strength."
"To let him know," Levin said, "that's not an acceptable reason for redeploying soldiers?"
Geren said he would do so.
"I'm a little surprised that he had not already checked that e-mail and looked into it," Levin said after the hearing.
"It must be wider-spread than just one person writing an e-mail," Levin added. "That person must have gotten it from somewhere."
 
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