matters of time

GonzoGate has eclipsed the WRAMC problems in the news.  The media only has the attention span that Nielsen Families provide.  Fortunately there are still many Veteran Advocacy groups working very hard to make sure the military medical mess can keep the attention it needs in order to create positive change for troopsvets/patients.  I have a list of links posted on the sidebar of this blog, but here they are again:  [LINKS]

a bitter taste

If the administration was going to address problems "quickly" they would have done so when the first casualties returned from the war back in 2001. For almost SIX (6) years this problem has been brewing. It's past brewing, it's rotten. Ever forget that the coffee pot was on? After a few hours of baking, the coffee gets bitter, acidic and dry - it doesn't taste so good anymore - but it'll sure deliver a good WAKE-UP!!!! on the taste buds.

It's gonna take a lot of cream and sugar to sweeten that coffee. And the coffee was hot - it burnt a lot of people, all the way to the heart.

In a perfect world the system would really only need some minor correcting. But we live in an invented world - one corrupted by some serious political BS.

My prediction: Few, if any, individuals will be held accountable for their wrong-doings and failures as leaders/humans being; more systematic procedures (read: additional bureaucracy) will be created to ensure better treatment for troops/vets; a few featured troops/vets will be treated wonderfully and be seen on TV; the long-term outcomes will be very slow and painful for the majority of troops and vets.

Why so bitter? Not bitter, I'm an idealist at heart, really, but I've seen how money flows and how policies get muddled by politics. Sad.

More money will be spent on investigating and creating additional "checks" (bureaucracy) for the system than will be spent within the system - where it would benefit the individuals in need.

But I remain hopeful that eventually troops and vets will get the care they need.

easy off

Kiley got let down easy.  He started this whole mess when he was the commander at WRAMC just a few years ago.  His successor looked up to Kiley for help - and got none.  When Kiley's successor retired, Weightman entered the fray - and bore the shame of Kiley's mess when he was fired - relieved of his command - just six months into his tour.
And Kiley sat at WRAMC and tried to defend himself, passing the buck all the while.  He started this CF (military slang for big mess) and didn't try to fix it even when promoted to a more powerful position with greater capability to make the changes they needed to make.
The Army isn't poor!  These troops were outpatients - put them in a hotel!  Use a van to transport them.  If a patient can't ride in a van then that patient gets priority for a room in near-by barracks.  Its not that hard - Generals can make decisions like this, they have that power.

In the wake of all his own damage, Kiley gets to just fade away and will be honored at some dog-and-pony show retirement party.  The money spent on his retirement celebration could probably pay for lodging for half the troops that were stuck in building 18 to stay at the Ritz downtown.

monetary and staff problems at WRAMC

But these problems only came to this point because of leadership failures. Somewhere in the chain of command or concern a leader failed to provide accurate reports and another failed to inspect within their sphere.
The Army probably doesn't need more money - but there needs to be accounting of Total Military spending to ensure proper spending priorities. I'm one of those guys that worries about contractors over-charging for services and lining the pockets of corporate execs at the expense of Military Readiness Spending. I would rather have had more bullets, even toilet paper for that matter, than to have Internet and satellite TV available.
But the Military spends the money congress sends (or the prez pushes) on "stuff," I'd really like to know what "stuff" is. Half of the "wazzuu" expensive toys we take to the sandbox suck. They break or just don't work with other systems already in place. Computer programs don't share the same platforms - but what difference does it make when the sand ruins the electronics.
I'm sure Walter Reed could have found money SOMEWHERE to make sure soldiers were well cared-for. The Army CAN authorize TLA - Temporary Lodging Allowances - to house soldiers in adequate living conditions. But in order to save money the administrators (they don't deserve to be called leaders anymore) tucked the troops away and hoped that no one would look.

Too little too late

Where does the buck stop??
So Weightman was only in Command for 6 months -- who was there 6 months ago and what did they do about this? Those kinds of structural problems don't happen in a few months - we're talking years of abandonment.
What next? What happens after this knee-jerk reaction settles? Will there be follow-up but the administration? Walter Reed is supposed to be the Flag Ship of Army medicine.
Actually the problems at Reed are fairly simple when considering the problems at other hospitals - the ones out of range of national reporting - like here at Ft. Campbell.

These failures are directly linked to the administrations failures in the preparation for war.

accountability

Walter Reed's Commander just got canned, NOW WHAT?
In the reports yesterday soldiers at WRAMC were being punished for their leaders' failures. The First Sergeant was fired, and now the 2-star General got fired, too.
I wonder about the people in-between . . .
There is quite a large gap in rank-structure and accountability between the Company 1SG and Hospital Commander.
BUT - the burden of Command is great and a new commander may be the right start. I trust that the investigators will discover many systematic failures as well as human failures in this whole mess - after all, someone has to design, implement, and oversee this broken system.
The President was at WRAMC a few months ago. Having prepared for VIP guests at various-level functions I can assume that the preparations made prior to the President's visit included making sure all the "bad things" were covered over.
So, while I believe our President is failing in many ways, in this instance I would not be surprised if the military shielded themselves from looking bad.
And that just goes back to integrity and the lack there-of at high levels of the military chain of command. The really good leaders, the ones who put their troops before themselves, usually get passed-over and forgotten. But that's another rant for another day.
Instead I am left to ponder what will become of military medicine - this shit storm may be the catalyst of change so desperately needed.
The Army Times is doing a great job tracking the problems with disability ratings and other issues surrounding the Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) process.
Hopefully the new governmental leadership will start doing what they were selected to do - fix the broken shit the current administration won't admit is broken.

Recovery Ops

I'm glad the lid finally got blown off the military covering-up the failures of the administration. These problems so recently brought to light about WRAMC (Walter Reed Army Medical Center) are only superficial. Taco Bell has rats and roaches. The real problem is the leadership's failure to take corrective action. These problems have been known for a long time.
Good leaders are not just the lucky people who have no problems during their periods of responsibility. (Though many generals and high-power politicians have either been so lucky, or have done a hell-of-a-job covering things up) The best leaders are the ones who can take horrific problems and conditions and make the situation better. It will take leadership beyond the capability of those currently in charge to fix this problem.
This should be investigated - letting conditions get this bad is dereliction of duty. But to say that leadership knew nothing of the problems adds insult to injury - quite literally in this case.
Either the high-up leaders didn't care enough to inspect all facilities, facility managers lied to higher-up leaders, or the higher-up leaders knew, and did nothing to fix matters. Each of these possibilities demonstrate the dire circumstances within the DoD's management of military medical practices.

What is more - Walter Reed is hallowed ground for injured troops - it's a MEDCEN (Medical Center), in the middle of Washington D.C.!!! The outlying community hospitals in the Army don't have nearly what WRAMC can provide. Soldiers in outlying hospitals live in worse conditions (yeah, I've seen them and smelled the puke left in the asbestos filled hallways by cancer patients returning from chemo and radiation treatment, and I've seen the moldy showers where burn-victims and amputees have to bathe) and there is no spotlight to fix them!!

These troops have returned home from war with life-changing wounds and injuries and the administration continues their "fight the war on the cheap" mentality by cutting corners on health care.

And why can't soldiers make a cause for this themselves? Why is it that these men and women fought a faceless, far-off enemy and can't stick-up for themselves? Easy - they have no weapon, and no support. The majority of seriously injured troops returning to these piss-poor conditions are low-ranking and have little-to-no family or financial support. Battling the physical injuries and psychological trauma of their injuries and the PTSD most likely linked to that injury leaves our combat-trained service members in an unsupported position. They have no recourse against shitty medical care and have no one to guide them through the red-tape involved in transitioning from active duty to the civilian world. Sure there are benefits and programs linked to service - but what good are these services when they are not made accessible to vets and families who would most benefit from them. Besides, most of these vets-to-be just want to get on with their lives - they aren't the type to wallow in misery.

Hopefully this WRAMC shitstorm won't stop in DC - so many more military hospitals need the spotlight turned on. Hospital leaders need to be held accountable for their neglect of troop health.


So if it takes the press corps to motivate the leadership of "this great Nation" so be it - our troops deserve better treatment and their leadership lacks the character, the moral courage and the intestinal fortitude to find a way to provide it.

Washington Post Article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html

Here is the beginning:

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility

By Dana Priest and Anne Hull

Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 18, 2007; Page A01

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.