U.S. soldiers with missing limbs allowed to return to active duty

[babylonsister]

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_5562143,00.html

U.S. soldiers with missing limbs allowed to return to active duty

By AP
May 30, 2007

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — In the blur of smoke and blood after a bomb blew up under his Humvee in Iraq, Sgt. Tawan Williamson looked down at his shredded leg and knew it couldn't be saved. His military career, though, pulled through.

Less than a year after the attack, Williams is running again with a high-tech prosthetic leg and plans to take up a new assignment, probably by the fall, as an Army job counselor and affirmative action officer in Okinawa, Japan.

In an about-face by the Pentagon, the military is putting many more amputees back on active duty — even back into combat, in some cases.

Williamson, a 30-year-old Chicago native who is missing his left leg below the knee and three toes on the other foot, acknowledged that some will be skeptical of a maimed soldier back in uniform.

"But I let my job show for itself," he said. "At this point, I'm done proving. I just get out there and do it."

Previously, a soldier who lost a limb almost automatically received a quick discharge, a disability check and an appointment with the Veterans Administration.

more...

[brentspeak]

1. Kudos for Sgt. Williamson. But really, he should not be back out there.

He wants to return to active duty out of a soldier's sense of duty. That's understandable. But notice how the Pentagon isn't refusing him, as they ordinarily should (he's already sacrificed more than enough).

Bush = destroyed U.S. military (as well as decimated U.S).