Sgt. Jason R. Lyon sprained his ankle in 2004, jumping off a Humvee in Iraq.

The US Army says he can perform any duty, military or civilian.

The US Postal Service says he is physically unfit to carry the mail.

While Sgt. Jason R. Lyon was serving with the Army in Iraq, he suffered a sprained ankle when he jumped off a Humvee. He also nearly had his head blown off by a roadside bomb that killed three of his friends.

After extensive medical treatment and physical therapy, military doctors have certified the Hamburg serviceman physically fit to return to combat duty in Iraq.
But the U.S. Postal Service says he is physically unfit to deliver mail.

"To me, it really seems unfair," said the National Guardsman, who was recently turned down for a postal carrier job because of the ankle injury he suffered in Baghdad in July 2004.

"The military says I can go to combat. I can march, run, fight in a war and do anything else a soldier can do. But the Postal Service says I'm not fit to deliver letters."

A frustrated Lyon, 28, spoke about his dilemma in his home Monday, showing a Buffalo News reporter his Purple Heart for wounds suffered later and a thick stack of medical reports from the Army, declaring him fully fit for military duty.
"Currently no limitations of military or civilian activity," a National Guard medical officer wrote in a report on Lyon last month.

A doctor for the Postal Service saw it differently, ruling that Lyon's ankle injury makes him unfit to be hired as a mail carrier. A physician for the Postal Service called the injury a "physical impairment" that would make it difficult for Lyon to walk or stand for long periods of time.

IÂ’m speechless beyond words at the absurdity of this decision by one doctor/bureaucrat who does not seem to realize that a sprained ankle is an injury that HEALS.

Not even congressional intervention has helped.

The office of Rep. Brian M. Higgins, D-Buffalo, has been trying to help Lyon in his dispute but without results. On March 11, Lyon got a letter from the Postal Service, saying a doctor for the service had refused to change her medical assessment.

Is it just me, or does this absurd and nonsensical slap at a veteran serve to reinforce the stereotype of the Post Office as an out-of-touch bureaucracy that needs to be eliminated so that private industry can do the job better and cheaper?

Posted by: Greg at 01:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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