More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan were sent anyway, according to DoD records. The numbers of nondeployable soldiers are based on health assessment forms filled out by medical personnel.

A House panel Wednesday backed a 3.9 percent pay raise for all military personnel next year, mirroring Senate plans to give troops a bigger boost than Pentagon officials had requested.