Many soldiers not fit for combat for medical, other reasons

[BMT (RIP)]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/militar...bat/51061380/1

BMT

[rdret1]

After ensuring the soldier will continue to recieve adequate medical care, via medical retirement or other VA compensable benefit, these slots should be the first counted in the 50k draw down DA is looking for. Medical evaluations should be expedited as much as possible. If someone is identified as a malingerer, they should be placed at the top of the list.

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by rdret1

After ensuring the soldier will continue to recieve adequate medical care, via medical retirement or other VA compensable benefit, these slots should be the first counted in the 50k draw down DA is looking for. Medical evaluations should be expedited as much as possible. If someone is identified as a malingerer, they should be placed at the top of the list.

Completely agree; that's what a civilian org does in DoD faced with a likely drawdown (if they're managed with any degree of competency). They hold slots on a TDA they can't resource or have been unable to fill. When the axe comes, those get the chop. The empty one goes off the books, but counts in the drawdown requirement, and fewer of those really getting it done every day have to box up their stuff.

Edit: actually when I first saw the headline I thought it was another re-hash of the sadly contemporary World Couch Potato competition, sadly attended by too many these days who are out of breath after a round-robin trip from Xbox to the fridge & back.

[pbr549xxx]

My brigade had a vaginitis epidemic right before we deployed to Afghanistan. Wish we could have cut slingload on all the shitbags to replace them with healthy guys. God I hate being in leg land.

[Pete]

90,000 seems like a large number - and it is.

But most of the 90,000 are not the same from month to month. Any of you got wounded and took a couple of months to get better? You were one of the 90,000 for a couple of months.

It appears they even count the people PCSing while they are between stations.

But I agree that the ones who need to go need to go quicker.

"....• 23,000 soldiers who are on limited duty. Many have health issues, though some deploy for restricted jobs. Others are unavailable for war because they are in transit between bases, caught up in legal cases or in school, though many of these could be sent to war in an emergency..........."

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by pbr549xxx

My brigade had a vaginitis epidemic right before we deployed to Afghanistan. Wish we could have cut slingload on all the shitbags to replace them with healthy guys. God I hate being in leg land.

In no way will I comment on female problems.

My concern is we pay both men and women equally. What excuse of a male gets him out? Perhaps with DADT it could be tired butt?

[scooter]

I think everyone here needs to be careful about jumping on the bandwagon with respects to evicting wounded soldiers from the ranks. There are plenty of TDA and staff positions that can be filled by motivated and experienced NCOs and Officers who are not fit to serve in line units due to combat injuries, that would otherwise have to be manned by gunslingers.

I personally saw a CSM throw several good men out of the unit who were recovering from wounds, forcing them to PCS while still injured. One of them had a leg amputated later down the road. It left a very bad taste in my mouth... especially since some of them had deployed to combat five times in five years.

I have no pity for the lowest 10% who malinger through life, but telling good soldiers "Thanks for years of dangerous and dirty work, get the F**k out" isn't the answer.

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by scooter

I think everyone here needs to be careful about jumping on the bandwagon with respects to evicting wounded soldiers from the ranks. There are plenty of TDA and staff positions that can be filled by motivated and experienced NCOs and Officers who are not fit to serve in line units due to combat injuries, that would otherwise have to be manned by gunslingers.

I personally saw a CSM throw several good men out of the unit who were recovering from wounds, forcing them to PCS while still injured. One of them had a leg amputated later down the road. It left a very bad taste in my mouth... especially since some of them had deployed to combat five times in five years.

I have no pity for the lowest 10% who malinger through life, but telling good soldiers "Thanks for years of dangerous and dirty work, get the F**k out" isn't the answer.

How could any SGM override a 3 profile?

[Richard]

@ Scooter - re: your avatar (attchd pic)...

Richard

[scooter]

Originally Posted by alright4u

How could any SGM override a 3 profile?

They weren't removed from the Regiment, just forcibly reassigned to Tampa instead of allowing them to fill any of the myriad jobs at Group or BN staffs. We still had to give guys to man those positions, which were non-deploying slots anyway. All of the guys in question had the ability to hold down those jobs and do them well.

To answer your question, not sure of the rules surrounding P3 profiles concerning PCS moves, but it happened. Like some of the posts here, he felt that severly wounded guys didn't need to be taking up space and he made sure they moved.

He even tried to get some of them transferred to the post Warrior Transition Unit... that idea didn't make it far thankfully.

I've had this conversation with a lot of people, and I'm always amazed how many (to include 18 series) feel that our wounded shouldn't be retained....or promoted for that matter. It hits close to home for me and I respectfully disagree.

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Richard

@ Scooter - re: your avatar (attchd pic)...

Richard

Yeah yeah..... When John Wayne signs my truck I'll change.

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by scooter

They weren't removed from the Regiment, just forcibly reassigned to Tampa instead of allowing them to fill any of the myriad jobs at Group or BN staffs. We still had to give guys to man those positions, which were non-deploying slots anyway. All of the guys in question had the ability to hold down those jobs and do them well.

To answer your question, not sure of the rules surrounding P3 profiles concerning PCS moves, but it happened. Like some of the posts here, he felt that severly wounded guys didn't need to be taking up space and he made sure they moved.

He even tried to get some of them transferred to the post Warrior Transition Unit... that idea didn't make it far thankfully.

I've had this conversation with a lot of people, and I'm always amazed how many (to include 18 series) feel that our wounded shouldn't be retained....or promoted for that matter. It hits close to home for me and I respectfully disagree.

I only asked as a T 3 profile was the primary profile used for some staff jobs in SF. We usesd to take care of our own. Usually the guy had 90 days or less before he'd be able to jump, and; he was an ideal candidate for a staff officer or NCO. I know I was a CO S-2 (Now BN)with such a profile in 69. We got to jump into Lake McArthur (I think that was it) to keep our jump pay. I recall a man hit in the leg with a shattered bone was usually in that category unless he lost a limb. Of course, we did not have the prosthetics like today. I hear you and it is wrong. SF took care of it's own then. We had a senior NCO drink beer out his leg. We had an RA captain with one eye. We went through the MFFP physical and I used my hand for a man missing two fingers.


Perhaps it was wrong.The military damn sure did not want to medically retire men that were trained back then. However once a RIF comes- they will go.

[scooter]

Originally Posted by alright4u

The military damn sure did not want to medically retire men that were trained back then. However once a RIF comes- they will go.

We DO still take care of our own by and large, but that was an isolated example that shows what will happen at large.

WRT your comment on the RIF, that is one of the problems of having SOCOM personnel managed by their component services instead of SOCOM. Everyone in SOF can decide that we are going to keep guys around who were convicted of crimes in the past several years who went on to serve admirably. If the Army decides to discharge THEIR people in the same boat, ours will get thrown out with the bathwater as well.

SOF isn't going to downsize, but our guys may get caught up in the RIF'ing being done by the component services whether we need to or not. I just hope that our guys at the GO level have some say in the matter.