Thursday, March 26, 2009

It's Not Like The Cannon Fodder Didn't Have Advanced Warning

Injured GIs Prefer Combat to Bragg Care

"FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Soldiers in a recovery unit for wounded troops at Fort Bragg told the Secretary of the Army that they feel forgotten by the military and that combat duty would be better than the treatment they get now, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press."

"Some of the Soldiers told Geren they have "feelings of worthlessness and abandonment," the memo states. They told Geren that low morale and suicides in the base's Warrior Transition battalion are "pushed by (a) negative command climate" that is enforced by the unit's squad leaders.
"If I had been in the (unit) after I was wounded the first time, I would not have fought so hard to stay in," one Soldier told Geren, according to the memo. "It is very demoralizing and a very different experience from my previous recuperation."

Two years ago - Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility

"Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center..."

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