Supporting the Troops

[SecDef]

First the Good News

Gates’ candor on hospital woes lauded

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 13:13:39 EST

While lawmakers don’t have much good to say about problems combat-injured soldiers are facing with the bureaucracy and their living conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, two key senators have high praise for how the new secretary of defense is addressing the problems.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has struck the right tone with him. Gates has addressed the situation “with unusual candor,” has been open to congressional oversight and to correcting problems “very quickly,” Warner said.

The current Armed Services chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., agreed. “I thought he was very direct and nondefensive,” Levin said.

Gates said Friday that he was “dismayed” to learn some injured service members “were not getting the best possible treatment at all stages of their recovery, in particular the outpatient care. This is unacceptable and it will not continue.”

The House defense appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. John Murtha, R-Pa., plans a closed-door hearing Friday to hear from senior defense and Army officials about reports of problems with care for injured service members who are being treated as outpatients at the Army’s premier hospital.

The Army has been rushing to repair unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, and several independent reviews are underway to try to cut the red tape and bureaucracy that have resulted in problems with medical appointments and fair treatment in seeking medical disability retirement ratings from the military.

The Senate Armed Services Committee also plans an open hearing March 6 to determine why nothing was done to correct problems until conditions facing the injured combat veterans were reported in the news media.

One reason Gates won praise from the Armed Services Committee members is that he did not try to cover up the problems or blame the media for sensationalizing the plight of a few combat veterans, a defensive posture that Army officials initially took after the first news reports. “I'm grateful to reporters for bringing this problem to our attention, but very disappointed we did not identify it ourselves,” Gates said.

“The men and women recovering at Walter Reed and at other military hospitals have put their lives on the line and paid a considerable price for defending our country,” Gates said. “They should not have to recuperate in substandard housing, nor should they be expected to tackle mountains of paperwork and bureaucratic processes during this difficult period. … They battled our foreign enemies; they should not have to battle an American bureaucracy.”

And the next day, the Bad News, also from Army times:

Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 28, 2007 12:21:45 EST

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.

The soldiers said they were also told their first sergeant has been relieved of duty, and that all of their platoon sergeants have been moved to other positions at Walter Reed. And 120 permanent-duty soldiers are expected to arrive by mid-March to take control of the Medical Hold Unit, the soldiers said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Army public affairs did not respond to a request sent Sunday evening to verify the personnel changes.

The Pentagon also clamped down on media coverage of any and all Defense Department medical facilities, to include suspending planned projects by CNN and the Discovery Channel, saying in an e-mail to spokespeople: “It will be in most cases not appropriate to engage the media while this review takes place,” referring to an investigation of the problems at Walter Reed.

 

[JuanCarlos]

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.

Classy. Punish a bunch of soldiers on medical hold (many of which are presumably on this status because of injuries received in a combat zone) because somebody had the audacity to blab outside the chain of command that conditions were grossly sub-standard.

In case anybody's wondering, I've had an experience with a similar holding unit...and I can tell you that working within the chain of command often accomplishes nothing. In units like these by the time any complaints work their way up the chain generally the soldier is already gone and so nobody really cares anymore. At least, that's about how it seemed to me. So I'm not surprised somebody started firing outside their lane.

Then again, go outside the chain and be prepared to reap the whirlwind...you may manage to affect some change, but be prepared to deal with whatever consequences they can come up with that can't technically be shown to be retribution.

And yes, daily inspections are almost always used as a form of punishment outside of basic training. Weekly inspections (with generally lax standards...at least in military terms) of personal quarters were common when I was in a line company...but daily inspections were reserved for when somebody had really screwed up.

 

[SIGSHR]

I also commend Gates for reacting promptly, but i won't hold my breath waiting to see some real punishment of the guilty, such as court martials
and demotions. As an Army veteran the only Medical Corps personnel for whom I have any respect and admiration are the Combat Medics and the Medevac teams, the further back you go you find slackers and goof offs who
whine and complain when they have to perform the duties they signed up for
and who feel they are being imposed on. And of course they think they're tin
gods and get cheap gratification from lording it over those of lower rank, and
in true Army fashion they think that anyone who is wounded, injured or falls
ill is a malingerer trying to get over.
And JuanCarlos, you are right, trying to work throught the chain of command-especially in a unit in which you are not Permanent Party-is a waste of time.

 

[woodbridge]

Rally to save the West Los Angeles VA campus and services

You have all read about Walter Reed hospital recently. We need help to correct serious problems here at the West Los Angeles VA hospital as well. Please read this and pass it on to friends who are veterans, who are in the media, who are politically connected or who are otherwise outraged by the treatment of veterans and are willing to stand up.

There will be a rally at the VA grounds at 0900 on 16 Mar to protest the lack of care and programs for veterans at this facility. At least one Iraq veteran's recent suicide at the hospital has been traced to an unforgiveable lapse in medical treatment, according to Keith Jeffreys, rally organizer and a member of Citizens for Veterans Rights in Los Angeles.

Keith is a veteran of both the 82d Airborne Division and Fifth Special Forces Group (ODA 594 Scuba). He is also the founder and artistic director of the Los Angeles Area Veterans' Artists Alliance (LAAVAA). LAAVAA is a dynamic group of talented veterans and artists working together to provide opportunities for men and women veterans in the arts.

In addition to bad medicine, the VA is a bad steward of the land that was donated to the government in 1888 for the "permanent maintenance" of a veterans' facility. VA is underfunding programs here, then using the excuse that the facilities are "underutilized" as a pretext to declare land and buildings as "excess". This opens the door to selling off or leasing the land to commercial interests, most recently in an attempt to give land to Fox studios, Cirque du Soleil and a car rental company.

For example, the VA is trying to say "mission accomplished" because all 300 (+/-) dormitory beds for emotionally disturbed homeless veterans are filled. Problem is, there are 18,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles County alone. There are more veterans within a 50 mile radius of the hospital than there are in 42 states combined according to the Congressional Research Service.

Veterans and citizen groups here have been fighting this for years. The VA is under federal mandate to provide a master plan for the property. They have resisted the law for nine years. The VA won't even respond to direct inquiries from Congress about uses and planned uses of the land or facilities. It will take a political solution to get the VA to do the right thing. Exposing the VA's tactics in the media would be an enormous help. Standing with us on March 16th will help.