Senators want answers on Army discharges
Army Times
Apr 19, 2007
Six senators have requested an investigation into what they call “upsetting allegations” that the Army gave personality-disorder discharges to 18 Fort Carson, Colo., soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries.
“There are allegations of commanders at Fort Carson, Colo., denying soldiers access to mental health care and instead ordering them redeployed for additional tours in Iraq,” states a letter to the Government Accountability Office. “We have also heard of cases in which service members with PTSD are diagnosed as having ‘personality disorders’ that the Army considers ‘pre-existing,’ thus depriving otherwise eligible combat veterans of disability benefits and much-needed mental health care.”
The letter is signed by Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Kit Bond, R-Mo.; Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. It was also sent to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England and Acting Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.
The quest for information began after The Nation reported that 22,000 soldiers have been diagnosed and discharged from the Army for pre-existing personality disorders since the war began, as well as documenting cases of soldiers who believe their combat-related mental health issues were buried for the sake of saving money or quickly filling a slot with a deployable soldier.
Veterans for America then requested an Army surgeon general investigation into the cases of 18 soldiers discharged for personality disorders. Steve Robinson, director of veterans’ affairs at Veterans for America, said the Army surgeon general wrote the group a letter stating that the soldiers’ cases had been investigated and that no improprieties took place.
However, Robinson said no one talked to any of the 18 soldiers during the investigation, thus sparking the congressional inquiry.
“Four months later, we got a letter saying, ‘We thoroughly and thoughtfully reviewed these cases,’” Robinson said. “But how can that be if they didn’t do follow-up exams and didn’t talk to the soldiers?”
The letter requests that these issues be investigated:
• Known cases of improper discharges or misdiagnoses.
• The growing number of discharges for personality disorders.
• The overall number of misdiagnosed cases for PTSD, mental health conditions and traumatic brain injuries.
• Defense Department progress in mandatory screening and treatment.
• What is available to soldiers if they believe they have been misdiagnosed.
• The number of service members reporting mental health concerns because of sexual assault during deployment.
“We seek to ensure that the DoD has the resources necessary to diagnose and treat service-connected injuries that impact the mental health of U.S. service personnel,” the letter states. “It is vital that the U.S. military ensures it is treating the mental health needs of our forces with the same priority and resource investments it is devoting to physical injuries.”