Hurt soldiers punished for injuries

Authorities hold sick, disabled troops to same standards as the able-bodiedFORT BRAGG, North Carolina - Staff Sgt. Jason Jonas says when he goes to bed at night, he is terrified his medication will cause him to oversleep and miss morning roll call again. His commanders are fully aware the paratrooper wounded in Afghanistan has been diagnosed with a sleep disorder, because he is one of about 10,000 soldiers assigned to the Army’s Warrior Transition units, created for troops recovering from injuries.

Instead of gingerly nursing them back to health, however, commanders at Fort Bragg’s transition unit readily acknowledge holding them to the same standards as able-bodied soldiers in combat units, often assigning chores as punishment for minor infractions. In fact, the unit has a discipline rate three times as high as Fort Bragg’s main tenant, the 82nd Airborne Division, and transition units at two other bases punish their soldiers even more frequently than the one at Fort Bragg, according to an Associated Press review of records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

“In my 10 years of service I have often seen soldiers mistreated, abused or left hanging, but never have I seen an entire unit collectively mentally and physically break down its members,” said Jonas, a 28-year-old from Tempe, Arizona. . . . [Full Story Here: Hurt soldiers ‘punished for injuries’]
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Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: As a retired 22 year veteran, this article even with its rationalizations indicates that there appears to be an abuse of authority as well as abuse of their assigned troops. Health care providers and military commanders may be frustrated with caring for the injured - some who may be emotionally damaged. But that is no basis for mistreating the troops or creating situations where they will forced fail because of medical conditions and then be subject to punishment for the failure. In the military, punishment via disciplinary actions has often been a prelude to the means to discharge a person who happens to be too healthy for a medically discharge but too ill or injured to return to full operational duty status. Thus, if a military commander can label a person as a malingerer or malcontent then they can get rid of the solder verses being responsible for their treatment on active duty. Heck, this could be a deliberate policy or program by those higher in the chain-of-command.

I remember the unwritten "ease out" program in the Air Force. It was used when the Air Force wanted to reduce the number of senior officers after the Vietnam War, to force them to opt to retire. The Air Force would deliberately assign five or six Colonels to the same projected command positions in places like Minot, North Dakota where 1) its gets very cold much of the year, and 2) no one is getting promoted for putting up with the assignment. They knew most of the officers would opt to retire rather than continue to serve in places like Minot. Now, consider the potential of policies or actions being considered by the Army to addresses its military manpower requirements, e.g., getting back to full combat strength while controlling costs. Something in the treatment of these solders doesn't pass the smell test.

I often wondered if those assigned to Command medical or transition units are those who are not considered able to command as leaders in the field. Are these commanders and even their noncoms - sort of like the character, Dr. Frank Burns, on the TV series: MASH? On MASH, we saw portrayed the incompetence of Burns who wanted to Command when he could not even control himself. As we saw with Frank Burns, there is absolutely NO excuse for mistreatment of our injured troops be it physical or psychological. [H/T to Texas Fred for calling this article to my attention; I am sure he and some of the military blogs will have a few choice words about this situation.]

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