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Sick Soldiers Sent to War Zones

Deployed with injuries to meet goals
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 18, 2008 3:27 AM CST
Sick Soldiers Sent to War Zones
Some soldiers have been sent to Iraq despite being medically unfit to meet deployment goals, the Denver Post reports. AP Photo/Petr David Josek)   (Associated Press)

Soldiers who are unfit because of injuries or illness are being sent to Iraq to meet deployment goals. Physicians reveal that 52 soldiers from Colorado's Fort Carson were deployed despite suffering from nerve damage, mental health problems and other ailments, the Denver Post reports. "Because of issues reaching deployable strength we have been taking borderline soldiers who would otherwise have been left behind for treatment," said an email by a camp doctor.

Despite a doctor's warning not to do so, one sergeant with a severely injured foot was sent to the war—but was eventually returned. He's now trying to have others brought back, too. "God forbid if something happens," he said. "If nothing comes out of this other than those soldiers coming home before one of them gets killed, then I can sleep at night." (More Iraq stories.)

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