Denial of Purple Heart medals raises questions about casualty count

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/7424577.htm

GULFPORT, Miss. - (KRT) - An influential Mississippi congressman has raised the possibility that the Pentagon has undercounted combat casualties in Iraq after he learned that five members of the Mississippi National Guard who were injured Sept. 12 by a booby trap in Iraq were denied Purple Heart medals.

The guardsmen were wounded by an artillery shell that detonated as their convoy passed the tree in which it was hidden, but their injuries were classified as "noncombat," according to Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. Taylor, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, learned of the classification when he visited the most seriously injured of the guardsmen, Spc. Carl Sampson, 35, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

"How could no one have caught this?" Taylor said.
<snip>

!!!!!

(Lt Col Powell) has to explain, to the Pentagon for cryin' out loud, that an improvised explosive device built and placed with the intent to harm American soldiers is hostile.

Pentagon's take must be it was meant to harm Iraqi civilians.

they were having a celebration for their liberation, didn't ya know?

They would NOT EVEN BE THERE, except for the war.. Wartime injuries should all be recognized, if they occur in combat zones..:(

The combat situation is the fundamental cause of these deaths and injuries, so all of them should be recognized.

I'm guessing by about a factor of five.

Those who die later are not on the official list. Have you heard any reports of soldiers dying in the hospital? One? No not one single person has died from complications, infections, or from castastrophic injury but were evacuated before passing. Right.

They don't even report on injuries now unless someone dies there too.

We have no idea of the actual numbers. The NYT piece a few months ago about Ward 57 at Walter Reed was alarming, Jessica Lynch's mother stated that she was shocked by the number of amputees (and burn victims I think) at Walter Reed, ABC had a report on the injuries a few months ago and one of the wives who visited her husband (on her soon to be Reagan dime) was told by the medical staff in Germany to go back to the US and TELL EVERYONE about the extent of the injuries and how short staffed they were even there.

Pentagon: Soldier dies of wounds
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2003/nr20031204-0722.html

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. Ryan C. Young, 21, of Corona, Calif., died on Dec. 2 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., of wounds he received Nov. 8 in Fallujah, Iraq. Young died of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle. Young was assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort Riley, Kan.

The incident is under investigation.

Okay more than one but there have to be more. We are not being told the truth is what I was getting at.

I hadn't heard any announcements of the wounded not surviving their injuries.

In any event, the wounded keep coming home with life altering injuries.
These National Guardsmen thought they would be called up for short time domestic problems like keeping looters out of a tornado path or protecting a city from rioters. I don't think they had any idea they would be called up to fight a war against Saddam of which the logic, reason, purpose and exit are still unclear. They probably thought they were part of the homeland defenses, a backup force to save their homes if threatened.
Even some of the uninjured will come back to face economic ruin.

and one of these guys is still in the hospital with shrapnel wounds, and his asshole company commander didn't put him in for the PH?

Either his commander is one major fuckup, or there is top-down pressure to minimize the casualty picture.

"But Taylor said the incident raised concerns that Iraq combat casualties had been understated. He said Myers told him he'd been made aware of similar oversights."

Inquiring minds want to know which it is.

If someone is receiving hazardous duty pay and gets wounded they get the purple heart. Whether it is an accident or a bullet. At least that is how it used to be. I guess now it isn't considered a war anymore. If we have soldiers involved in a war and they get wounded they deserve the purple heart. Hell even if it isn't officially a war they still deserve recognition for their sacrifice.

to follow the rules of the Geneva convention...can't have that.

then they'd have to have lawyers!

add Limbo to Orwellian oxymoron.

Since we were wounded "after" the end of VietNam hostilities (says who?) we were denied PH's from wounds sustained there.
That was the only good thing Bob Dole ever did, as far as I am concerned.

They must not be officially being shot at.

to bury a lot of Pentagon people in Arlington after September 11.
Said they did not qualify.

I ask you to do the same.

Does not receiving a PH for wounds in action affect one's medical benefits; reiterment benefits or any other financal stuff that they would be entitled to?????

They try to run the country as if it's a large corporation in which they are the only share holders.

They have a point system. A purple heart is worth ten points but you need more to be eligible. If you are disabled you receive more points depending on the type of disability. Basically a Purple Heart is worth a cup of coffee ~ Maybe.

So who gives out orders for things like this? Would it have to come from Rumsfield???

:kick:

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/state/7422517.htm

GULFPORT, Miss. - A Mississippi National Guard soldier will receive a Purple Heart medal Monday for injuries he suffered in Iraq.

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., will present the award to Spc. Carl Sampson, 35, of McNeill, who remains hospitalized in Maryland for shrapnel wounds to his face and arms.

etc...

We'll see hom many hawks come out and demand that soldiers that put their bodies and lives on the line get the honor they earned.

Something tells me we'll be waiting a long time. :(