General Faces Demotion in Tilman Case

WASHINGTON -- Army Secretary Pete Geren is expected to recommend demoting a retired three-star general for his role in providing misleading information to investigators about the friendly-fire shooting of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, military officials say.

In what would be a stinging and rare rebuke, Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who headed Army special operations, is one of seven high-ranking Army officers expected to receive official reprimands for critical errors in reporting the circumstances of the Army Ranger's death in April 2004.

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Behind the Veterans' Legal Battles

It took a few seconds for an Iraqi roadside bomb to rattle Sergeant Steve Edwards' head in December 2004. But it took 14 months for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to compensate him for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During one stretch, Edwards called the VA weekly to plead for assistance. "I was saying we're about to be homeless," he says, "and all I got was some schmuck on the other line who says they're trying their best."

Now Edwards, along with hundreds of thousands of other veterans, is part of class action lawsuit against the VA asserting that that just isn't good enough. Filed Monday by a California public interest group and law firm on behalf of vets diagnosed with PTSD, the suit is the first to accuse the federal department of constitutional violations and to seek sweeping changes in its processing of disability claims.

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