Disabled soldier feels abandoned by Army-Ordeal crushed his body, then his spirit

[babylonsister]

Check out the source: Stars and Stripes!
http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=47551

Disabled soldier feels abandoned by Army
Ordeal crushed his body, then his spirit
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, July 22, 2007

snip//

“Sometimes I can walk, but sometimes I can’t get out of bed,” Hennessey said. “My leg will just give out. The pain gets to me. It does.”

Worst of all, he said, is what he views as the Army’s abandonment of him: a classification that he’s just 10 percent disabled, entitling him to a medical discharge and severance pay of about $10,000.

“I guess I’m just dumbfounded,” he said. “ ‘Here’s 10 percent. Get out of the Army.’ ”

Hennessey’s medical records say he suffers from “lumbar neuritis,” or inflamed nerve tissues in the low back as a result of the injury that he says is debilitating.

But an Army Physical Evaluation Board in Washington, D.C., this month decided that while he was unfit for duty because of the injury and should be discharged, his disability rating was 10 percent. That meant he would receive severance pay calculated on his base pay and three years’ active-duty service.

Hennessey said an official told him, “ ‘You’ve only invested three years in the Army. What do you expect them to do?’ ”

“I said, ‘I expect them to do what’s right.’ I said, ‘What about me not being able to walk sometimes, not being able to work?’ ”

more...

[ThomCat]

1. That should be criminal!

He only invested 3 years?

Hell, he's sacrificed the entire rest of his LIFE. :mad:

[Jillian]

2. I don't know if I want to cry or scream.

How dare them say they support our soldiers.

[Subdivisions]

5. I feel like doing both...at the same time!

[Selatius]

3. But our Congress and White House saw fit to spend 600+ billion for the Pentagon this year

Is all the money for arms manufacturers on Wall Street and mercenaries?

[Karenina]

4. ...

:kick:

[MetaTrope]

6. Stars & Stripes is still permitted to do independent reporting?

Color me shocked!