Botta Skates

Good news for Erik Botta and his wife Jennifer seems in order. Remember how I commented on his case before. In what appears to be a strange move from the Army, they have released Botta from duty.

According to what has been released by the United States Army, Erik Botta is medically unfit to deploy and is being released. Of course this has puzzled Botta and his lawyer Waple since Botta has never claimed any medical disability.

I can think of one reason for the Army to rule this way and it may mean Botta's celebration will be short lived. I can imagine the discharge to read in part:

It is the determination of this board that SGT Erik Botta be forthwith discharged from military service due to him being medically unfit for deployment. The board has reached this determination upon review of all of SGT Botta's military and medical records. At the end of this review it became clear that SGT Erik Botta, due to his previous short-notice deployments, has experienced undue emotional hardship that another deployment would only compound negatively. Henceforth SGT Erik Botta is discharged under Honorable conditions from service in the United States Army.

Erik Botta and his lawyer just may regret dragging this into the spotlight and a court case. Bureaucracies hate to be made to look like insensitive ogres. While the above appears to be magnanimous, would anyone hire Erik Botta if he has emotional issues that render him unfit to serve his country? Mental problems are medical problems after all.