The Hindu : International : Pentagon sending broken soldiers back into battle

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Sunday, Apr 04, 2004

International

International

Pentagon sending broken soldiers back into battle

By Suzanne Goldenberg

WASHINGTON, APRIL 3. All Jason Gunn ever wanted was to be a soldier. He put on the uniform three days after high school graduation, and served six years with distinction. But in the last real conversation he had with his mother he swore he would never go back to Iraq.

The army specialist came within inches of death last November 15, when the Humvee he was driving hit a roadside bomb, killing his sergeant. The entire left side of Mr. Gunn's body was splattered with shrapnel, his elbow was shattered and, as he lay in the U.S. military hospital bed in Germany, he was tortured by nightmares.

Late on March 23, Mr. Gunn told his mother, Pat, that his commanders were putting pressure on him to return to Iraq, but there was no way he was getting on that plane. A few hours later, he was airborne. This week, Mr. Gunn's distraught mother, who is herself a navy veteran, received a first official response to her demands to know why a soldier, who was being treated by military doctors for combat stress, was sent back to the war.

The note, which acknowledged Mr. Gunn suffered post-traumatic stress, said: ``After discussion of his case it was determined ... this may be in his best interest mentally to overcome his fear by facing it. Therefore, he has been cleared for redeployment.''

Mr. Gunn is not the only broken soldier being sent to battle. The Guardian has uncovered more than a dozen instances in which ill or injured soldiers were sent to war by a U.S. military whose resources have been stretched near to breaking point by the simultaneous fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In its investigation, The Guardian learned of soldiers who were deployed with almost wilful disregard to their medical histories, and with the most cursory physical examinations. Soldiers went to war with chronic illnesses such as coronary disease, mental illness, arthritis, diabetes and the nervous condition, Tourette's syndrome, or after undergoing recent surgery.

One sergeant major was shipped out two months after neck surgery, despite orders from his military doctor for six months' rest. ``The nurse told me to put my hands above my head and said you are good to go,'' he said. A female supply sergeant said she was sent to Kuwait under medical advice not to walk more than half a mile at a time, or carry more than 20 kg. Both had to be medically evacuated within weeks; the sergeant major required surgery on his return.

In some cases, the wounded were recycled with alarming speed. A mechanic, who suffered brain damage last June when his vehicle was hit by a suicide bus, was sent back to Iraq in October despite reported blurred vision and memory loss. He returned with his unit last month, and medical evaluations showed he had continued bleeding from the original head injury.

All of the injured or ill soldiers knew of other unfit troops who were sent to Iraq last year, or have recently been redeployed. Some, who like Mr. Gunn suffered combat stress after sustaining serious injury, came under enormous pressure from their commanders to return to Iraq.

Mr. Gunn's commanders seem adamant on keeping him. On Wednesday, Ms Gunn was forwarded a statement from her son. ``It is my wish to be redeployed with my unit to finish my tour of duty with my unit here in Iraq,'' the statement said. ``I feel that I am able to complete my mission here as well as any other duties assigned to me while on current deployment.'' Ms Gunn is convinced the statement was coerced. —

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