Walter Reed Patients - Just Shut Up

It's amazing how stupid the Army leadership can be sometimes. Having faced a great deal of scrutiny over its handling of poor housing conditions for war veterans receiving out-patient care at Walter Reed, the Army's response is to hassle those vets who talked to the press.

Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.

“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

It is unusual for soldiers to have daily inspections after Basic Training.

Soldiers say their sergeant major gathered troops at 6 p.m. Monday to tell them they must follow their chain of command when asking for help with their medical evaluation paperwork, or when they spot mold, mice or other problems in their quarters.

They were also told they would be moving out of Building 18 to Building 14 within the next couple of weeks. Building 14 is a barracks that houses the administrative offices for the Medical Hold Unit and was renovated in 2006. It’s also located on the Walter Reed Campus, where reporters must be escorted by public affairs personnel. Building 18 is located just off campus and is easy to access.

If this is true - as the reporter tells this story - it's pretty insane. Hassling the troops with petty inspections as if they were green troops, moving them to buildings where the press can't talk to them - this just seems like a lot of misplaced energy, especially when the SecDef and the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army said they were going to investigate this issue. The very least these guys should get is relief from bullshit inspections and decent care now that they're off the battlefield.

It's probably worse than we know. Today's Washington Post reveals that the Army leadership at the post has known about these conditions for years, failing to address basic issues concerning living conditions. Once again, Sen. Barak Obama is leading the pack on addressing this issue.

Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) will today introduce a Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act to mandate that wounded soldiers receive proper treatment at decent facilities when they return from war. The legislation comes after a Washington Post series on deplorable conditions for veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Among other things, the bill calls for a Wounded Warrior Oversight Board appointed by Congress, 24-hour bilingual hotlines, federal protections for the jobs of family members who are caring for recovering service members, and establishment of a zero-tolerance policy for pest infestation at medical facilities.

I'm sure the Republicans are concerned also, but they have to ensure that there's no congressional debate about the Iraq war first, and to address funding Halliburton continued contingency operations and more Air Force jets and Navy submarines second. Then they'll take care of the wounded troops here at home... hopefully.

UPDATE: General who oversees Walter Reed hospital relieved of duties. Oh, SNAP!

Comments

[Currahee]

As a serving soldier, I am distressed (OK, pissed off) by a couple of points:

1. The Walter Reed chain of command failed to fulfill its most basic job -- to take care of its soldiers. This is not some namby-pamby, kumbaya aspect of leadership; its critical to maintaining the force. Excuses are sure to follow (unprepared for influx of combat casualties; staff overwhelmed; maybe even attempts to blame the soldiers themselves) but they should not be allowed to justify the root failures. Unless the hospital commnder has been pleading his case for more resources (in terms of both money and people) then he is ultimately to blame. The Navy's culture has it right -- the Captain is responsible, and will take the lumps.

2. The apparent knee-jerk reaction to get back at the soldiers needs to be hip-checked back over the boards. It is not only petty, it's probably also going to be found to be unmanagable. Earlier press articles seemd to imply that there was a shortage of NCO, which contributed to the problems. Now, if that SGM can't find better things for his newly assigned platoon sergeants to do, then I think that we may have found one of the points of failure (see para 1).

3. Obama's proposal to create a Congressional committee grabs headlines, but I fear that it's going to be not much more than that.

4. I hold hope that the Army leadership -- my chain of command -- will step in and address the problem without the need for Congress to jerk the knot.

[dK]

In response to the previous comment, in theory, the Army has the same policy as the Navy in terms of where the buck stops. We're just not seeing it applied these days. And as an aside, the Army used to have a much, much better record in terms of the way its officers treated the enlisted force than did the Navy, but admittedly, I've been away from the services for some years now, so probably can't comment on how it is today.
That said, the comment, and the post, are spot on. It's disgraceful. The sacking of a few NCOs over the huge mismanagement of facilities at Walter Reed is embarrassing, and reflects the culture of denial that seems to permeate the whole Iraq fiasco, starting with the CinC (and by CinC, I mean president, since Rumsfeld declared that this acronym should henceforth be reserved for the president and only the president.)

[Miles]

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

COMMANDING GENERAL AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER FIRED AFTER REPORTS OF SUBSTANDARD CARE AND LIVING CONDITIONS

[mosquito]

It's posts like this that make you my fave military blog.

buzz...buzz...

[angaothin]

My father, who died at an Army hospital at Fort Benjamin Harrison within months of returning from his 7th tour of duty in Vietnam, is literally rolling over in his grave. As a SGM, his job -- indeed, his self-described moral duty -- was to take care of his men. At all times. Period. Not just when they were in transit or in the field. When they were in barracks. When they were at mess hall. When they were on TDY. When they were medivac-ed. When they got home to WRAMC or BAMC. They were his men, and it was his responsibility to take care of them.
And which moron thinks that making a soldier jump out of bed to salute some asshole first thing in the morning contributes to morale or discipline, especially when many of those soldiers are missing arms and legs, or are blind, or have half their heads blown off? For f*"?'s sake. The only thing that contributes to morale or discipline is respect. And the Army ain't showing one bit of respect for its wounded or their families.
The Commander in Chief should be punished for this. After all, as he likes to remind us, he's in charge.

[dK]

Angaothin,
Your dad as you describe him is the model for the huge majority of senior NCOs I knew in my 20 year association with the Army. It was internalized, and real. And smart officers understood and worked to support that ethos. I think some of that has disappeared. That is not to say there aren't good officers and NCOs today - I'm sure the majority are so, but in the past, those that held self-interest first, didn't last long. The system saw to that. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

[angaothin]

So Harvey just resigned over this. BFD. When is Bush going to pay penance for this transgression?

[Neal]

Does it strike anyone besides me as ironic that the NY Times had side by side front page articles on medical care on its' front page this morning? One article "talked" about how screwed up the bureaucratic and care nonsense is for returning veterans at a government provided health care facility. Right beside that article was another on a poll of morons stating that 60% of Americans favored government provided health care. Those of us who served long and honorably in the Army have seen the face of government sponsored health care and its pretty damned ugly. Walter Reed is probably worse than most but this is really just the tip of the iceberg. And remember, this is goverment health care provided by one of the most accountable government institutions around. Just think what will happen when less accountable governmental institutions get hold of health care. I guess like magic it will all work wonderfully. I would also encourage everyone to read the orginal Washington Post articles very very carefully. One of the biggest problems with Building 18, beyond ill repair were the pimps, pushers and hookers who infest the area. When you get a chance, go look at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and compare it with Walter Reed. One is a big inner city dirty hospital that reflects the neighborhood and local culture. The other is a big, upscale, clean facility that also reflects its neighborhood and supporting culture. 20 years ago my first child was born at Walter Reed and I would lock the car doors, ensure my tank was full of gas and that the windows were up before I began a nightime run to the gem of Army Healtcare.

[Dennis Peifer]

As a career Navy medical staff member, who due to disability was assigned to Medical Hold companies, I have a unique perspective. It is all about dollars and cents. When I was assigned to the medical hold company to await the findings of my medical board, I was given assignments such as painting rocks surrounding the NCO club, picking up trash on the parking garage, and the like. Prior to this I was a Pathologist Assistant and laboratory technician. The reason for this is simple. They make life so miserable for you that you will sign the first findings of the medical board, which always comes back a "low-ball". In my case, they offered me $15,000.00, no pension, no benefits. I had served 17 years. I had to send my wife and kids home as I had been assigned to med hold, so I had no allowance for quarters, no allowance for food (comrats), so, naturally, life was made quite difficult. I declined the first offer, and was told that I might have to wait another 3 to 6 months for another finding. I had to do so in the poorest of conditions. The med hold barracks was purposly placed the greatest distance from the clinincs and chow halls (remember, many in the unit had trouble getting from place to place)had no air conditioning (the only barracks without a.c.) you were not allowed to have your own vehicle on the compound (which made getting place to place even more difficult). On the second finding of the med board I was found to be permanantly disabled, given full retirement, and currently recieve 80% disability from the V.A. This was not at WRAMC, but at Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia. This is how the Navy takes care of their own

[NVH]

HEY, anybody hear about them putting Weightman in charge of Ft. Detrick? Is this concerning anyone other than me?