SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING RETURN OF MEMBERS TO ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE UPON REHABILITATION FROM SERVICE-RELATED INJURIES.

SEC. 588. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING RETURN OF MEMBERS TO ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE UPON REHABILITATION FROM SERVICE-RELATED INJURIES.(a) Findings.—Congress makes the following findings:(1) The generation of young people currently serving on active duty in the Armed Forces, which history will record as being among the greatest, has shown in remarkable numbers an individual resolve to recover from injuries incurred in such service and to return to active service in the Armed Forces.(2) Since September 11, 2001, numerous brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines have incurred serious combat injuries, including (as of June 2004) approximately 100 members of the Armed Forces who have been fitted with artificial limbs as a result of devastating injuries sustained in combat overseas.(3) In cases involving combat-related injuries and other service-related injuries, it is possible, as a result of advances in technology and extensive rehabilitative services, to restore to members of the Armed Forces sustaining such injuries the capability to resume the performance of active military service, including, in a few cases, the capability to participate directly in the performance of combat missions.(b) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that—(1) a member of the Armed Forces who on the member’s own initiative is highly motivated to return to active duty service following rehabilitation from injuries incurred in service in the Armed Forces should, after appropriate medical review and physical disability evaluation, be given the opportunity to present the member’s case for continuing to serve on active duty in varied military capacities;(2) other than appropriate medical review and physical disability evaluation, there should be no barrier in policy or law to such a member having the option to return to military service on active duty; and(3) the Secretary of Defense should develop specific protocols that include options for such members to return to active duty service and to be retrained to perform military missions for which they are fully capable.