Soldiers' release delayed–report

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Severely wounded or sick soldiers have had to wait up to twice as long as the military says they should to leave the service or be sent back to their units because the Army was unprepared for the number of troops that would need to be processed, according to a U.S. House of Representatives study.

The study was launched after staffers from the House Armed Services Committee on a routine visit in June found overcrowding and understaffing at a Fort Hood, Texas, medical facility, according to congressional staff members.  The committee's chairman, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, held a hearing Tuesday to ask the Army why.

In a plan put in place in June 2007,  the Army set four months or less as the time to treat and release soldiers, according to Army officials. But statistics provided by the committee show the waiting periods to be between four and eight months. The statistics also show that while the patient load doubled over 12 months, the staff levels remained the same.

Army officials blame the ballooning patient level on two factors: the increase of troops returning home to their posts as the Iraq troop buildup known as the "surge" began winding down in February, and the stress on soldiers' bodies after multiple deployments. But they said staff levels had been boosted to an adequate level by July 14, except for nurses, who are in short supply nationwide.

–From CNN Pentagon Producer Mike Mount