Still Want to Enlist?

With PR like this, the military will have no choice but to crank up the draft. Nobody deserves this kind of treatment. No less a soldier who lost limbs. I worked in Middletown, NY many years ago, so the fact that only Middletown's hometown newspaper is heralding this sad story makes me furious.

He lost an arm in Iraq; the Army wants money
Spc. Robert Loria is stuck at Fort Hood, Texas

He lost his arm serving his country in Iraq.

Now this wounded soldier is being discharged from his company in Fort Hood, Texas, without enough gas money to get home. In fact, the Army says 27-year-old Spc. Robert Loria owes it close to $2,000, and confiscated his last paycheck.

"There's people in my unit right now – one of my team leaders [who was] over in Iraq with me, is doing everything he can to help me .... but it's looking bleak," Loria said by telephone from Fort Hood yesterday. "It's coming up on Christmas and I have no way of getting home."

Loria's expected discharge yesterday came a day after the public got a rare view of disgruntled soldiers in Kuwait peppering Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with questions about their lack of adequate armor in Iraq.

Like many soldiers wounded in Iraq, Loria's injuries were caused by a roadside bombing. It happened in February when his team from the 588th Battalion's Bravo Company was going to help evacuate an area in Baqubah, a town 40 miles north of Baghdad. A bomb had just ripped off another soldier's arm. Loria's Humvee drove into an ambush.

When the second bomb exploded, it tore Loria's left hand and forearm off, split his femur in two and shot shrapnel through the left side of his body. Months later, he was still recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and just beginning to adjust to life without a hand, when he was released back to Fort Hood.

Comments

[Michael Hawkins]

It's getting difficult to keep up with this shit. The hypocrisy is breathtaking, and yet these assholes manage to generate even worse headlines every few hours. I just don't understand how this country can tolerate this level of jadedness. If I didn't know better (and I don't), I'd say BushCo is actively seeking to destroy America, providing for its fall in record time. In this, they are geniuses.

[Mad as Hell]

Why was Bush re-elected? Why was Rumsfeld not fired?

[doug]

Our coward Bush does not have to worry about armored vehicles for himself.

[Nancy]

Ok, I am not understanding this. The Navy Relief Fund for the Navy and Marine Corp would help those branches. I feel sure the Army has a relief fund too so why isn't he being helped? After his discharge he will have to fill out paper work for the VA and that could take awhile but there is no way he can be discharged with a medical condition and not get help. He should be getting paid for his service connected disability before the VA kicks in. Some more information is needed on this. This just isn't right.

[Nancy]

Buzzflash.com has a longer article along with whom to contact.

[wdh]

an update to the story:

Middletown – Outrage over Army Spc. Robert Loria's struggle to get home after losing his arm in service for his country prompted the Army today to take action.
Responding to pressure from Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Saugerties, and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, the Army said it would release Loria on medical discharge beginning immediately, both men said.
The Army has also agreed to waive most of the debt against Loria and to help him file proper paperwork for the rest of it.
Aides to Hinchey and Schumer said the Army was going to forgive the $2,408 in excess Family Separation allowance the military erroneously paid Loria as well as a $310 charge for equipment issued to Loria that was damaged or lost in the attack in Iraq. And the Army was also going to help Loria refile his travel papers to make sure he does not get saddled with paying back advance travel money used to travel from the base at Fort Hood, Texas, to a follow-up visit to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
"The Congressman was pleased that the Army recognized its mistakes and has worked to fix those," said Dan Ahouse, Hinchey's aide. "However, a man who has made such an extreme sacrifice for his country should never have been in this situation to begin with. This situation begs the question of how many other Spc. Lorias are there?"
Schumer, speaking to the Times Herald-Record, said he was outraged when he heard of Loria's predicament.
"It broke my heart. I was both sad and angry," Schumer said. "The first thing is to help him, and then to see if it is happening to anybody else."
An outpouring also came from people across our region and across the country. A fund is being set up by the Loria family for all those offering assistance as Loria tries to rebuild his life after such an ordeal. The Times Herald-Record will publish that as soon as the fund is established
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Outraged about Army Spc. Robert Loria's plight? Speak your mind. Below are contact numbers for federal legislators and defense officials.
U.S. Senate: Hillary Clinton: 202-224-4451; Charles Schumer: 212-486-4430 email
U.S. House of Representatives: Maurice Hinchey: 845-344-3211; Sue Kelly: 845-897-5200
Secretary of Defense: Donald Rumsfeld: 703-692-7100
Fort Hood: Major General James D. Thurman: 254-288-2255 or Fort Hood operator at 254-287-1110; Public Information Officer Jim Whitmeyer: 254-287-0103