We ask our military folk to do difficult, repeated tours in distant, dangerous places. And now investigative journalists say the Army’s own records show tens of thousands have been given irresponsible mental health care, and well over 20K have been dismissed under conditions that deny them retirement and other benefits.
The figures show that since January 2009, the Army has “separated” 22,000 soldiers for “misconduct” after they came back from Iraq and Afghanistan and were diagnosed with mental health problems or TBI. As a result, many of the dismissed soldiers have not received crucial retirement and health care benefits that soldiers receive with an honorable discharge.
Read or listen to the full NPR story I heard here. Terrible. I was sick hearing this.
* This also refers to our phone service for much of the day.