Merry Christmas, Army Style

Well, this is just lovely...

The Army said yesterday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty.

The letters were sent a few days after Christmas to more than 5,100 Army officers who had recently left the service. Included were letters to about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action. The 75 represent more than one-third of all Army officers who have died in Iraq since the war began.

"Army personnel officials are contacting those officers' families now to personally apologize for erroneously sending the letters," the Army said.

I suppose it was inevitable that they would get desperate enough to start recalling dead people, especially now that we're on the verge of a surge.