Conditions of troops need attention

Editors, Asheville Global Report, Thanks to the Washington Post articles, conditions faced by recovering troops at Walter Reed hospital are being corrected. Here are some other items that need attention. To fill recruitment quotas, sign-on bonuses are being offered to enlistees. Sounds like a "sweet deal"… that is unless the soldier is so seriously wounded, he can't return to his unit. In that case, even though an honorable discharge is granted, the soldier will be billed by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to repay the part of the enlistment bonus that [he or she] can no longer fulfill. Post-traumatic stress disorder is affecting many of the returning troops and access to needed counseling is not keeping up with the demand. Evidence of this is the escalating number of suicides as well as homeless vets showing up in increasing numbers at shelters and feeding programs. Lastly, Stacy Bannerman, author of When the War Comes Home…, reports that almost 60,000 military marriages have been broken by the war advocated by the administration that says it's for "family values." Jessica Claydon Hendersonville, NC