In a letter sent today to Army Secretary Pete Geren, Bayh wrote that Sgt. Gerald Cassidy "received substandard medical treatment while in the Army's care." 

"Why Cassidy was sent to Fort Knox for treatment?," Bayh asked. "What the Army is doing to investigate Cassidy's death? What problems there might be in the Army's 'warrior transition unit' program and did any contribute to Cassidy's death?"

An autopsy concluded Cassidy had been dead for hours before being found at an Army medical facility in Fort Knox, Ky., and may have been unconscious for days.

My full report on Cassidy's death was published in IPS.

Cassidy's death raises the question: How many injured soldiers have died since returning home? How much higher is the real number of US military deaths than the official count of 3,818?

Cassidy's death also comes on the heels of a GAO report slamming the Pentagon's treatment of wounded veterans.

According to the GAO, "46 percent of the Army's returning service members who were eligible to be assigned to a (medical) unit had not been assigned due in part to staffing shortages."

The GAO report found Fort Knox's medical facilities were severely short staffed, but it wasn't the worst.

Over half of the military's special "Wounded Warrior Transition Units" had staffing short-falls of more than 50 percent. Key bases like Fort Lewis in Washington and Fort Carson in Colorado were short massive amounts of doctors, nurses, and squad leaders.