Newsweek@MSNBC
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An Army staff sergeant suffering from stress ends up fighting for his life?in a U.S. courtroom
By T. Trent Gegax
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
Nov. 7 ? The timing could have been devastating for S/Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany. As Jessica Lynch prepared to uncork on television about her heroic gun battle to the near-death, Sergeant Pogany sat in a military courtroom while a prosecutor formally charged him with ?cowardice.?
Here?s what happened. When Pogany, an Army interrogator newly assigned to a Special Forces unit, told his team leader he couldn?t shake the image of an eviscerated Iraqi, he was told to take some Ambien sleeping pills and get lost. The entire episode happened in a blur. According to Pogany, he arrived in Iraq from the United States on a Sunday night. On Monday, he saw the mutilated corpse dragged across his path by another soldier. Tuesday morning, before missions were assigned, Pogany told his superior that he needed help. He was throwing up and shaking. A few hours later, he was ordered to turn over his weapon. The unit chaplain referred him to the Combat Stress Management Team, which filed a report describing Pogany as showing ?signs and symptoms consistent with those of a normal combat-stress reaction.? Nevertheless, Pogany?s apparent plea for help was translated into an act of cowardice, one of the highest crimes in military justice, and he was shipped back to the United States to face criminal charges.
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