Just to point a light at some of the other things befalling our maimed and wounded service men/women. Numbering over 10,000, but estimated by some up to 20,000.
Also, the number of Killed, Wounded, or otherwise requiring med evac (throw in a few pregrancies, root canals, twisted knees, etc..) from Iraq is around 50,000 now.
What the hell are we there for.

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http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/12/10/abandon1.htm

Spc. Robert Loria is stuck at Fort Hood, Texas

...
When the second bomb exploded, it tore Loria's left hand and forearm off, split his femur in two and shot shrapnel through the left side of his body. Months later, he was still recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and just beginning to adjust to life without a hand, when he was released back to Fort Hood.
...
A Separation Pay Worksheet given to Loria showed the numbers: $2,408.33 for 10 months of family separation pay that the Army erroneously paid Loria after he'd returned stateside, as a patient at Walter Reed; $2,204.25 that Loria received for travel expenses from Fort Hood back to Walter Reed for a follow-up visit, after the travel paperwork submitted by Loria never reached the correct desk. And $310 for missing items on his returned equipment inventory list.
"There was stuff lost in transportation, others damaged in the accident," Loria said of the day he lost his hand. "When it went up the chain of command, the military denied coverage."
Including taxes, the amount Loria owed totaled $6,255.50. The last line on the worksheet subtracted that total from his final Army payout and found $1,768.81 "due us."
...

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"The other night on ABC News Nightline, Ted Koppel asked National Public Radio war correspondent Anne Garrels, who has been in Iraq throughout the war, "When you hear people in this country, Anne, say, look, the media is only giving the negative side of what's going on there, why don't they ever show the good side, what do you tell 'em?"

"I tell them that there isn't much good to show," she replied, describing how even military commanders have only bad news to share."
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What ever happend to Peace on Earth for Christmas?

Well I can honestly say that I am disgusted with the way they have treated him after giving up so much to serve his country, it is stories like these that make me glad I am no longer in the Army.

i've heard many similar stories. And wonder how the chain of command can sleep at night.

Chem X
it truly is bulls-it.

I can't believe you could ask, "What the hell are we there for?", and I can't believe you would quote someone from NPR about the war. :rolleyes:

NPR is liberal as hell, but when it comes his first statement I certianly can belive Cargo.

Saddam cooling in a cell is good and I'm fine with that. Once we had him, we should have pulled out. That is alot of cost for American soldiers and family, just so Iraqis can have it better and still scream and whine about how much we suck. Time to bring our people and money home. If the normal Iraqi population dosen't have the guts to bring down a few thousand militants/insurgents, then their country will be no fun, and they risk another war when it looks like they might threaten our security. The terrorists aren't afraid of us because we aren't scary. We come in, topple the government, then try to be lovie and fuzzy and make everything like nothing ever happened.

We should not be in charge of fixing the world. Now, if anybody so much as flips a spy sattilite the bird, fine, bomb the crap out of them. But if you get in a fight with someone, you dont offer to stitch them up and clean their bedpan afterward, man. Our troops in Iraq are only there to please the liberals that say "look how bad we made it, we have to fix it".

Now, I know how things have gone in OT recently so , [flame retardant] I respect your opinion and your right to have it and am sure everyone who reads this and goes "what a retard!" is a fine, intelligent and upstanding human being. [/flame retardant]

I say blame Jimmy Carter...I think it was him that put a ban on CIA assassinations. Bush may have killed that already, I'm not sure.

If you think about it, why was this war necessary? If it was really Saddam we were after, or him and his government, we could have kept costs down by a good margin by assassination. It's like a big electro 30 BPS paint throw, when all you really needed was a few men, one bullet. One pump, one ball.

Ther is always three sides to a story, his side, the Army's side and what really happened. I know this will make some people here unhappy but here goes...

As an NCO I would ask how loud he was complaining and trying to get his pay fixed when he was being over paid? Yes I know he was injured and in and out of the hospital but why didn't he bank that money (there's $2, 408 right there) and it doesn't take that long to fix his other travel pay of $2,204.25 (about 10-15 days).

As for the rest of his problems I would guess that the fact that he is being screwed with is his issues are probably being handled by the guys that weren't capable of going to combat (Rear Detachment). They are not usually of the best quality of soldier or are so wrapped up in their own problems that they don't "take care of soldiers" like they are taught to.

I doubt if losing an arm is all fun and games, but I also know that he had problems that could be fixed by the local chain of command. The only thing good about this is that the people that are to blame for him not being squared away are probably still being grilled and punished. A good SGT or SSG could have solved all this for him.

The $310 for missing equipment sounds fishy, issue clothing type equipment can be around $1500 so that can't be it, sounds too cheap for a weapon too. Honestly the Army usually will write off most anything and not blink an eye unless you do something really stupid or are a screwed up soldier. For instance (I doubt this is the case here by the story included), if he had lost his arm after playing with an explosive device they would feel no pitty for him (You are constantly told not to play with things that go BOOM, but people still do). Another thing that could cause something like this (once again, I am NOT saying this happened) is that in the process of doing something screwed up and losing his arm he cost other people their lives they would have no problem in screwing him over like that.

I just got to wonder about the "Paul Harvey" (You know, "The Rest Of The Story"). I know that Army isn't perfect but I also know that since about 1995 if your pay is screwed up you had plenty of warning and it was easily and rapidly fixed.

You would have to have been with this guy every step of the way to understand everything that has happened to him and make a good judgment call wether it was just or unjust, fixable or unfixable.

I have my own issues regarding Iraq I disagree with, that said, I support Bush. I agree, something is VERY wrong with how things are being done. We'll discuss that later.

Anyway, I have a great friend, right now, over there. Here's his story.

14 years in, reserves now. He served in Desert Storm. He is a single dad, and after some other wackoff NCO dodges the call and switches units, he saddles up for an 18 month tour. American soldiers can have NO ALCOHOL, but the brits right next door, get a ration of 2 drinks a day I believe he said. He's on convoys as soon as he gets there, his unit is ONE flak vest short. He's a SSGT, he goes to the first shirt, who sits in an office. The shirt denies him the use of his flak vest. Unreal. So sleeping one night, my friend hears what he KNOWS to be RPGs hitting close by. He wakes up, and is told to go back to sleep by his XO, that it's not near them. He KNOWS it is. Why are they trying to lie? Because right when the unit arrived, some female soldier FREAKED out when they came under fire. Since then the brass lies when attacks come (or try to). I'm not joking.
Then, he finds out that reserves and Guard are doing 18 month tours, while active duty are doing 6 month tours. Not to mention Guard and reserve go right back, at least they have been. Through all this he still salutes the flag, and does his duty. Whether you agree with Bush/the war/whatever, our soldiers need and deserve our support. God bless them and theirs.

Yeah sounds like bean counters gone awry....Here is a case I help some Marines out of during peacetime....

They deployed to Alaska for a readiness excercise, and were left there. Their return flights were cancelled, their F-18's sat there on the tarmac with no orders to come home, everyone forget they were even deployed. Finally, when it was found out (And after they raised holy heck with the AF Base Commander) they were told, sorry, we cannot airlift you out. There was everythig from Transport to tankers (Which also carry cargo) sitting there icing up. When the Wing Commander was questioned why they could not mobilize their transports, they were told, with much embarrassment, we have no Pilots....

So being resourcful Marines, they paid for and boarded a commercial flight and finally got back to their base. And here is the incredible part....

A bean counter demanded to know why they did what they did? They told him they were done with their deployment and wanted to get back to their base. The beanie then chastised them for using their own money and said they would not be re-imbursed....Ok they said, we just had to get back...Then the beanie complained that is cost too much for them to stay away on deployment...to which they responded, but you canceled our return airlift....He finally broke the last straw and complained that the fighters were not back in time, to which they told him, you cancelled the support flight back...we had no refuel, our crews were not even in Alaska to fly the jets out.....because you cancelled their airlift to them....

Bottomline, this beanie had cancelled the deployment on the paper clip side causing mass kaos to a marine fighter wing....There are those who fight in the foxholes and trenches, and there are those who fight with the paper clips and staplers....we need to get rid of the latter.....well not totally....

The bean counters need to serve the warriors, not the other way around.

war is a harsh thing, if i had my way it would not occur. on occasion, though, its neccessary.

why are we fighting the war in Iraq?

weapons of mass destruction?

no.

Iraq gave aid and succor to terrorists.

this is a war on terrorism.

im a catholic by religion, and my religion states that i should love my neighbour.

and i try, but on some occasions it is impossible to "love thy neighbour" sometimes they perpertrate a horror so so unimaginable that to love them is not feesible.

they hate us for who we are, what we think, what we believe and for letting women wear/think what they want.

not since the crusades has the religion of God waged war upon unbelievers.

america is a melting pot, we accept all, no matter thir beliefs, religons, appearance,or disposition. we are one of the few cultures that is open to diversity.

as to the gentleman who lost his arm, is it not a small sacrifice to make to your country? (and as a government employee, how much leave did you borrow fom them?)