Where Will They Get the Troops? Preparing Undeployables for the Afghan Front

[babylonsister]

Where Will They Get the Troops?
Preparing Undeployables for the Afghan Front

by Dahr Jamail & Sarah Lazare


As the Obama administration debates whether to send tens of thousands of extra troops to Afghanistan, an already overstretched military is increasingly struggling to meet its deployment numbers. Surprisingly, one place it seems to be targeting is military personnel who go absent without leave (AWOL) and then are caught or turn themselves in.

Hidden behind the gates of military bases across the U.S., troops facing AWOL and desertion charges regularly find themselves in the hands of a military that metes out informal, open-ended punishments by forcing them to wait months -- sometimes more than a year -- to face military justice. In the meantime, some of these soldiers are offered a free pass out of this legal limbo as long as they agree to deploy to Afghanistan or Iraq -- even if they have been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In August 2008 at TomDispatch.com, we reported on the deplorable conditions at the 82nd Replacement Barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There, more than 50 members of Echo Platoon of the 82nd Airborne Division's 82nd Replacement Detachment were being held while awaiting AWOL and desertion charges. Investigations launched since then -- in part in response to our article -- have revealed that the plight of members of Echo Platoon is not an isolated one. It is, in fact, disturbingly commonplace on other bases throughout the United States. And it is from these "holdover units," filled with disgruntled soldiers who have gone AWOL, many of whom are struggling with PTSD from previous deployments in war zones, that the military is hoping to help meet its manpower needs for Afghanistan.

more...:cry:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/09-0

[valerief]

1. Xe! Hell, the govt doesn't care. There're poppies in them there hills! nt

[babylonsister]

2. ?? So the govt is now involved in dealing drugs, and that's why

we're not leaving? Sigh.

[jakeXT]

8. only now?

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. What could possibly go wrong?

:(

[dgibby]

4. No wonder Blue Dogs and Republicans are so anti-abortion.

Where else would they get all that cannon fodder?

[Demeter]

5. Not to Mention Anti-Jobs

[timeforpeace]

6. Oh. Drama.

[babylonsister]

7. If I had PTSD and a condition of my leaving military service

was to do another tour, I'd say that'd be pretty dramatic.

Oh, how human of you.

[winyanstaz]

9. Come on America!!! Support our troops!

End these wars NOW.

[bertman]

10. Maybe President Obama will go to Fort Bragg and deliver some eloquent and emotional

speech on how tragic it is that those soldiers are losing their minds and their lives due to his policies.

But I doubt it.

Rec.