Sun editorial:

Doing the wrong thing

In a crass, thoughtless act, Pentagon decides to delay screening troops for head injuries

Thursday, March 20, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

Fearing the creation of a Gulf War syndrome, Pentagon officials have delayed giving troops returning from Iraq medical screenings for mild brain injuries because, they say, they didn’t want to create distress among soldiers.

Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox told USA Today that screenings for mild traumatic brain injury, which can be caused by exposure to bomb blasts, were put off for two years. Cox, the military’s director of medical assessments, said the Pentagon was fearing a reoccurrence of Gulf War syndrome. Troops in the first Gulf War blamed their service for a number of vague symptoms, and the Pentagon wanted to avoid the costly process of testing soldiers.

Cox said that soldiers may believe they have something they don’t, often “reacting to rumors, things they’ve read about or heard about on the Internet or (from) their friends.”

He said such uncertainty makes treating veterans “much more difficult and more costly.”

The Pentagon could have simply resolved that uncertainty by instituting testing for brain injury on all troops serving in war zones. That would have cleared up any questions and expedited the treatment of injured troops.

The Pentagon knew that but did nothing. In January 2006 the federal Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center said screenings for troops should start “immediately.” And last month an Army report indicated that in a survey of nearly 2,200 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 1 in 10 showed signs of mild brain injury.

After more than two years of taking no action, the Pentagon now says it will soon require screenings for troops coming out of combat.

Soon is not good enough. The Pentagon should have been doing this testing for years and should be doing it now.

The country has put troops in harm’s way and should be providing the best services it can to returning veterans. The Pentagon’s delay in doing the right thing, hiding from the cost and the responsibility, is unforgivable.

Discussion: 1 comment so far…

By Johnathan_Abbinett

3/20/08 at 12:32 p.m.

Suggest removal

Crass? Thoughtless? Obviously someone has given a great deal of "thought" to this decision!

I'm thinking words like "unethical" - "immoral" - "criminal" come to my mind!

Your editorial is RIGHT ON! Screening these veterans immediately upon leaving the combat area is the right thing to do - NOT later!

The way our Disabled Veterans have been MISTREATED is a National Shame that is about to turn into a National NIGHTMARE given that we're about to add another million to their rolls!

But, for too many, it's just all about the money - NOT keeping the promise the citizenry made to OUR Troops, Military Families and, especially, our Disabled Vets!

I can hear the pathetic excuses already from our politicians - "Well, we just can't afford to take care of all these troops, now can we?"

There's plenty of money for an Unjust War and plenty of money to bail out the wealthy crooks on wall street - but, we don't have the money to take care of our Disabled Veterans?

BULL!

As my Dad used to say, "The worst lies we tell are the lies we tell ourselves!"

I've never been so proud AND equally ashamed to be an American (and a Disabled Veteran) - that's why no child, or grand-child of mine will ever trust the U.S. Government, any U.S. President, any U.S. Congress, or the U.S. Armed Forces EVER again!

Every generation of my family (and nearly every male) has always served honorably in the military - that changed after Vietnam. Now, very few serve - and those few can't wait to get out! That's part of the full price we are all paying for not honoring our contract to care for them as the citzenry promised!

We've come to a collective conclusion, that the only time any family member of ours should ever fight again is ONLY in a Just War - and, sadly, many feel they would only do so on the soil of America (and I dearly hope such a time never comes to pass)!

As one cousin said to me, "Why fight on foreign soil for people who aren't willing to fight for their own freedom?" That comment was followed by another saying, "And why fight for Americans that won't keep their promise to care for us when we become wounded from the wars they're not willing to fight themselves?"

Ponder that? Now you know why the French have a "Foreign Legion" and America will, too, soon!