Keep sick soldiers home

Monday, June 16, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

The U.S. Central Command has proposed expanding the number of conditions under which troops could be deemed medically unfit for combat.

USA Today reported Wednesday that the measure would add 16 medical conditions to the list of those that bar troops from being deployed for combat duty. Military officials said it also would achieve a broader goal of ensuring that commanders seek proper medical waivers for troops rather than simply sending them into combat when they need medical care.

The policy bars sending into war zones those troops with “any chronic medical condition that requires frequent clinical visits.” It also toughens the restrictions on deploying troops with hearing and vision losses and “any musculoskeletal condition that significantly impairs performance of duties.”

Since 2003, USA Today reports, 43,000 troops whom military doctors deemed “nondeployable” have been sent into Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones anyway.

A report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, says that in the rush to deploy soldiers to overseas war zones, military leaders at Georgia’s Fort Stewart and Fort Benning and New York’s Fort Drum had failed to fully assess troops’ medical conditions and were inconsistent in how they rated the severity of health problems.

Soldiers with medical problems not only are a danger to themselves, but also place at risk fellow soldiers who depend on them in the heat of battle.

Certainly, the Bush administration’s failure to devise a plan for long-term military deployment and war is at the root of this situation. Still, that should never make the United States so desperate for troops that soldiers who are ill or injured are sent into combat.