Discharging of troops on ‘preexisting’ health reasons is focus of bill

By Philip Dine

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

WASHINGTON — Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq — as many as 10 a day — are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons, but the Pentagon isn’t blaming the war. It says the soldiers had “preexisting” conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.

Many soldiers and Marines being discharged on this basis actually suffer from combat- related problems, experts say.

However, by classifying them as having a condition unrelated to the war, the Defense Department is able to quickly get rid of troops having trouble doing their work while also saving the expense of caring for them.

The result appears to be that many actually suffering from combat-related problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries don’t get the help they need.

‘Abuse’ of the system

Working behind the scenes, Sens. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., have written and inserted into the defense authorization bill a provision that prevents the Pentagon practice.

The Post-Dispatch has learned that the measure has been accepted into the Senate defense bill and will likely become part of the Senate-House bill to be voted on this week.

The legislation sets a higher bar for the Pentagon to use the personality-disorder discharge and also mandates a review of the policies by the General Accountability Office.  Bond said it also would “force the Pentagon to stop using this discharge until we can fix the problem.”

Bond said he learned of the practice from returning Iraq veterans. He called it an “abuse” of the system and “in-excusable.” *They’ve kicked out about 22,000 troops who they say have preexisting personality disorders, I don’t believe that,” Bond said in an interview Friday. “And when you kick them out, they don’t get the assistance they need, they aren’t entitled to DOD or Veterans Administration care for those problems.”

Obama said the practice is “deeply disturbing” because “it means that those who have served this country aren’t getting the care they need.”

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician declined Friday to discuss the matter because it is related to current legislation.

Defense Department records show that 22,500 cases of personality-disorder discharges have been processed the past six years.

‘We didn’t break you’

Jon Soltz, an Iraq combat veteran who founded the group VoteVets.org, said untreated psychological problems are contributing to the highest military suicide rate in a quarter-century and to growing homelessness among veterans, he said.

If such widespread mental problems really existed before people joined the military and saw combat, they would have been uncovered when the recruits were enlisting, Soltz said.
One Republican congressional staff member who works on military issues said the rationale behind the Pentagon’s practice is “We didn’t break you; you were already broken. You’re not our responsibility.’

“One soldier I know received a diagnosis for a personality disorder after a 45- minute talk,” said the staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“He’d been in the military 10 years, had made it his Career, and then he was told he was being shuffled out in a couple of weeks. We keep getting these stories.”