Sanford Bishop: “as I speak today, more than 170,000 of our servicemen and -women are serving in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. We…”

“as I speak today, more than 170,000 of our servicemen and -women are serving in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are grateful for their service. We owe these brave men and women the best that we have to offer. At a minimum, we owe them what they were promised. I am talking about medical exams before and after we send them into combat. A 1997 law requires the DOD to perform comprehensive pre- and post- deployment medical examinations on all deployed troops, including National Guard and Reservists. DOD has unilaterally decided to define these exams not as was intended, as a hand's-on examination by a doctor, but as a self-administered survey to determine if a service member is fit for combat or if he or she suffered as a result of war. It is beyond irresponsible to base the health of our troops on their individual ability to self-diagnose. Therefore, today, I am introducing legislation to require the Department of Defense to comply with the 1997 law and guarantee each of our men and women will receive an actual clinical examination before and after they are deployed. Today, I request my colleagues to join me and support the Healthy Troops Act. We owe our troops that much.”