Veterans group to protest deployment of wounded soldiers

[sabra]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- A group of war veterans angry about what they call the unacceptable practice of deploying wounded soldiers back into war zones will hold a rally Thursday.

"I was denied treatment for the mental and physical wounds I sustained in battle, like so many others," said Iraq war veteran Ethan McCord. "This campaign is critical for soldiers because we are asserting our right to heal. Now, the government has a choice -- will it recognize our right to heal, or continue to deny it?"

The group, called Iraq Veterans Against the War, says it will gather in Washington D.C. outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Thursday morning, the ninth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. The group will then march six miles to Capitol Hill.

The group says redeploying soldiers suffering from physical and mental ailments has led to many suicides.

"As a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I was redeployed into combat while still recovering from an IED explosion," said Zach Choate, an Army veteran who was wounded in Iraq in October of 2006. "It is absolutely unacceptable for the government to keep redeploying wounded and traumatized troops and we will make sure that this egregious practice stops."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/07/war.wounded.rally/

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

and soldiers unfit for deployment due to illness were being deployed from the get-go...and there was outrage and media reports....and it's still happening in one form or another.

[DirkGently]

2. Disgusting. This is how we treat our "volunteer" defense force -- like reuseable cannon fodder.

[flyarm]

3. kind of tough to keep these wars of Greed & Lies going, when you run out of soldiers

and cannon fodder!

[felix_numinous]

4. K & R

[kas125]

5. Thank you for posting this. I love many people who are

members of IVAW and I'm glad they're doing this.

[maryf]

6. K&R nt

[PacerLJ35]

7. For what it's worth...

My grandfather jumped into Normandy on D-Day, and was wounded no less than twice...each time he was patched up and sent back out to the line. He was in Korea as an infantry platoon leader and got shot up pretty badly. He spend a few months in a hospital in Korea, and was again sent to the lines. He was wounded the last time in Vietnam, while flying U-1A Otters. He healed up and finished his tour, and served a second tour a couple years later.

The practice of sending healed up troops back into battle (or deploying them later in this case) is something we've been doing since we've had a military. Disabled troops don't go back (however there have been a few that succeeded in volunteering for non-combat posts in the combat zones). A couple friends of mine were wounded in 2004 while flying in Iraq...they volunteered to go back when they deployed in 2008.