Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans

[unhappycamper]

http://www.propublica.org/article/lost-to-history-missing-war-records-complicate-benefit-claims-by-veterans



Field records from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, needed to document combat injuries, disability claims and the simple history of both wars, were never kept, were destroyed or simply cannot be found, a ProPublica-Seattle Times investigation has found.

Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans
By Peter Sleet, Special to ProPublica, and Hal Bernton, Seattle Times
Published: November 9, 2012

A strange thing happened when Christopher DeLara filed for disability benefits after his tour in Iraq: The U.S. Army said it had no records showing he had ever been overseas.

~snip~

DeLara's case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War.

A joint investigation by ProPublica and The Seattle Times has found that the recordkeeping breakdown was especially acute in the early years of the Iraq war, when insurgents deployed improvised bombs with devastating effects on U.S. soldiers. The military has also lost or destroyed records from Afghanistan, according to officials and previously undisclosed documents.

The loss of field records — after-action write-ups, intelligence reports and other day-to-day accounts from the war zones — has far-reaching implications. It has complicated efforts by soldiers like DeLara to claim benefits. And it makes it harder for military strategists to learn the lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the nation's most protracted wars.

[newfie11]

1. This beyond horrible

My husband was told for years all his files including deployment to Vietnam in 66 were lost due to a fire here in the states. He found out in 2005 that they have his files.
Grrrrrr. I hope someone helps these guys.