From Audrey Hudson of the Washington Times comes this story about how American Airlines is charging $100 bag fees to soldiers that the company’s planes are transporting to Iraq.

Apparently it’s on the soldiers to fill out the paperwork once they’re on the ground in a war zone to get reimbursed for this travel expense. In other words, exactly the sort of thing we want our troops worrying about in Iraq—if stuff like this continues, perhaps we’ll have a new form of PTSD, pre-traumatic stress disorder.

Of course, no story of this sort is complete without a preposterous statement from a corporate suit. And here it is:

“Because the soldiers don’t pay a dime, our waiver of the fees amounts to a discount to the military, not a discount to soldiers,” said Tim Wagner, spokesman for American Airlines. “Soldiers should not have to pay a penny of it.”

Assistance with translation is welcome.