Word: sergeant
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Soldiers fall through the cracks in every war. But the death of Sergeant Gerald (GJ) Cassidy, a cheerful 31-year-old husband and father of two, highlights the tragic and persistent shortcomings of Army medicine. The same Army that spends $160 billion on tomorrow's fighting machines is shortchanging the shell-shocked troops coming home from war in need of healing. Cassidy was promised world-class health care. But he didn't get the simple help--quick treatment, pain-management classes, knowledge of his whereabouts or even a roommate--that could have saved his life...
...immediately dialed Kearney and her husband's platoon sergeant, but they didn't answer. She reached a soldier at his barracks who promised to hunt him down. When Melissa hadn't heard anything by mid-afternoon, she called the barracks again and spoke to Sergeant Rory Martin, another outpatient. She asked him to check to see whether her husband had applied on Wednesday, as required, for his weekend pass. When they spoke again four hours later, Martin told Melissa that Cassidy had not applied for a weekend pass and that a knock on his door had gotten no response...
Martin, who found Cassidy's body, can still recall his horror but says he understands how it happened. "Nobody there had accountability for nobody," he says. Sergeant Jim Hunt, who lived in the Fort Knox barracks from January to July 2007, says only about half of those who were supposed to show up for mandatory formations--at 7 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.--actually...
...writer was a sergeant in the United States Army...
Vela's family, however, believes the sergeant has become a political sacrifice to U.S.-Iraqi relations. According to Vela's father Curtis Carnahan, who, along with Vela's wife, flew to Baghdad to attend the trial, "My son's commanding generals want somebody to be guilty of something so they can appease their Iraqi counterparts. They have tried this killing two times already and have no murder convictions to show for it. I don't think my son did anything wrong and I am optimistic the jury will agree...