Army regrets urging dead and wounded officers to return to service - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

Army regrets urging dead and wounded officers to return to service

(Washington-AP) January 6, 2007 - The Army says a computer mix-up is what caused recruitment letters to mistakenly be sent out over the holidays to the families of 275 officers killed or wounded in action in Iraq.

General Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, says every Army leader "is just sick" that it happened and called it "an inexcusable mistake."

Cody says the Army used the wrong database when it generated a mass-mailing of letters between Christmas and New Year's Day to more than 5,100 Army officers who recently had left the service.

Included were letters to 75 officers killed in action and 200 more wounded in action. The letters encourage the officers to consider returning to active duty.

Cody says the Army immediately began contacting each family to offer a personal apology.

Posted 4:55pm by Logan Smith