The disgrace at Walter Reed

[Secretariat]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/18/AR2007021801335.html

THE OTHER WALTER REED
The Hotel Aftermath
Inside Mologne House, the Survivors of War Wrestle With Military Bureaucracy and Personal Demons


By Anne Hull and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 19, 2007; Page A01

....


"...Mostly what the soldiers do together is wait: for appointments, evaluations, signatures and lost paperwork to be found. It's like another wife told Annette McLeod: "If Iraq don't kill you, Walter Reed will."

After Iraq, a New Struggle

------

The conflict in Iraq has hatched a virtual town of desperation and dysfunction, clinging to the pilings of Walter Reed. The wounded are socked away for months and years in random buildings and barracks in and around this military post."

....

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/20/bush-walter-reed

Snow: President Bush ‘Certainly’ Was ‘Aware Of The Conditions In The Wards’ At Walter Reed

"In today’s press briefing, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Tony Snow about the Washington Post’s two-part series over the weekend, highlighting the Walter Reed hospital’s dilapidated conditions. Snow stated that “the president certainly has been aware of the conditions in the wards where he has visited, and visited regularly.” Snow also affirmed that the administration was aware of Walter Reed’s conditions “before the articles appeared in the paper.”

....

I didn't even speak to the fact that GW's budget cuts veteran health care for vets in his recently submitted budget in two years just as many vets may "potentially" be returning from the Civil War. In other words, as he leaves office his legacy to vets is I am cutting your benefits.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/13/vets.budget.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Bush budget cuts veterans health care in 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration's budget assumes cuts to veterans' health care two years from now -- even as badly wounded troops returning from Iraq could overwhelm the system.

Bush is using the cuts, critics say, to help fulfill his pledge to balance the budget by 2012. But even administration allies say the numbers are not real and are being used to make the overall budget picture look better.

After an increase sought for next year, the Bush budget would turn current trends on their head. Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing rapidly -- by more than 10 percent in many years -- White House budget documents assume consecutive cutbacks in 2009 and 2010 and a freeze thereafter.

The proposed cuts are unrealistic in light of recent VA budget trends -- its medical care budget has risen every year for two decades and 83 percent in the six years since Bush took office -- sowing suspicion that the White House is simply making them up to make its long-term deficit figures look better.

"Either the administration is willingly proposing massive cuts in VA health care," said Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, chairman of the panel overseeing the VA's budget. "Or its promise of a balanced budget by 2012 is based on completely unrealistic assumptions."

A spokesman for Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, called the White House moves another step in a longtime "budgeting game."

"No one who is knowledgeable about VA budgeting issues anticipates any cuts to VA funding. None. Zero. Zip," Craig spokesman Jeff Schrade said.


.............

"All of America's veterans have placed America's security before their own lives. Their sacrifice creates a debt that America can never fully repay. Yet there are certain things the government can do. My administration remains firmly committed to serving America's veterans." - GW Bush

[Dave Schwartz]

"All of America's veterans have placed America's security before their own lives. Their sacrifice creates a debt that America can never fully repay. Yet there are certain things the government can do. My administration remains firmly committed to serving America's veterans." - GW Bush

I love this quote. Same crap handed out by every administration in my lifetime. They always know the words but never get the job done.

The appalling things mentioned in the article are (to my knowledge) the way it has always been in the VA system.



Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[bigmack]

Sure the VA in most cities has been rife with blunders for years. We're talking about wartime now, and for goodness sake we're talking about Walter Reed!

What a disgrace this Federal Government has become. Good God

[Snag]

I have been using the VA med clinics and hospitals. I can tell you, regardless of Sec and his ilk, that the process has improved from year to year even with the increased load. I know my perception is limited, but maybe, just maybe, it is getting better at some locations and not at others.

I find it strange that those critics of the system seem to look only at the numbers and not at the benefits provided.

[Tom]

So Sec, why are you whinning here about it?

YOUR guys are in power - why is this allowed to continue? You posted BUSH cuts vet benefits in 2009 - not true. YOUR guys vote on the budget.

And as Dave said - EVERY ADMNISRATION......this is NOT a new thing, some new BUSH breaking news, as you portray it.

Why don't you go goggle what the DEMS are planning to do about it?

BTW, are you trying to break the record for longest post without one single orignial word in it?

[JustRalph]

I remember my uncle a WWII prisoner of war complaining about LBJ not taking care of Vets........Dave's right.......and it is a disgrace

[Secretariat]

So Sec, why are you whinning here about it?

To wake you up.


YOUR guys are in power - why is this allowed to continue? You posted BUSH cuts vet benefits in 2009 - not true. YOUR guys vote on the budget.

Bush submits his budget to the Congress. In it he cuts veteran health care for 2009. It displays the hypocrisy of what he says about vets on Veterans Day and then submits two months later.

Of course Congress votes on the budget, but the President's budget is weighed because it lists HIS priorities. Obviously, we see what they are from this submission.

And as Dave said - EVERY ADMNISRATION......this is NOT a new thing, some new BUSH breaking news, as you portray it.

Why don't you go goggle what the DEMS are planning to do about it?

Though they've been there a little over a month, they will probably get mroe accomplished than an over a decade Repub Congress did to let it get like this.

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/021607/soldiers.html

Democrats Tuesday reacted swiftly to reports that some soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center face desolate conditions.
...
Obama and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said they would introduce legislation to improve the ratio of caseworkers to recovering soldiers, ensure caseworkers are better trained, cut back on the red tape recovering soldiers confront and set a timeline for repairs to "substandard facilities."
...
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Rules Committee, sent a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates Tuesday, asking for an explanation on how Walter Reed, which the lawmakers describe as once being the " crown-jewel of military medicine," could become "a bleak and frustrating place for our wounded soldiers to recover."
...
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a powerful voice on military issues as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, called the Post story "disturbing."

"It is a disservice to those who have bravely sacrificed and it is a dishonor to their brave service to expose them to these conditions," Murtha said. "Those who are responsible must be held accountable and immediate rectification must be aggressively pursued."

[Tom]

Nice list - all tha same HIPPOCRITS who voted to leave our trooops in a war that they deem unwinable.
Great support.

Get off your high horse - our vets have been treated like crap by both parties for decades.

[JustRalph]

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a powerful voice on military issues as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, called the Post story "disturbing."


Amazing, " a powerful voice" when he is a Dem. When a Repub with a few medals on his chest disagrees with Murtha, he is ignored. Or they are accused of "swift boating"

Murtha is a drooling old fool who should be retired to some home in Pa. Did you catch his comments over the weekend? He made several factual errors and looked like he was having an Alzheimer moment..............shameful that you continue your propaganda campaign

[Tom]

Reading is posts are like reading emails from moveon.sec.:D
Even in victory, he seems to be snatching defeat.

[Secretariat]

Is The Army Times conservative enough for you?

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/TNSmedholdmoney070222/

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/TNSreedfallout070222/

[Snag]

Is The Army Times conservative enough for you?


Sec, what the hell does "conservative" have to do with anything?

You claim to have been in the service and now you point out problems in the military as if there is some hiden agenda from those in charge. You know as well as I do that any housing in the military (except maybe officers quarters) is run down and never above standard.

It's not about conservative vs liberal unless you make that way. And please, don't quote Tom and moveon.sec. That was funny no matter who made it up.......:lol:

[Tom]

To Sec, the soldiers do not matter in tis - it is just another Bush Bad opportunity for him. It is blatantly transparent.

[Secretariat]

To Sec, the soldiers do not matter in tis - it is just another Bush Bad opportunity for him. It is blatantly transparent.

First Snag. Snag, when Tom dismisses this with sec and moveon.org, I figured I'd show him a more conservative view on it - the Army Times which generally defends the Army, and here criticized themselves tend to be conservative about criticizing the Pentagon, the President or themselves. There are liberals and conservative soldiers - get over that. Tom mistrusts anything he reads from what he considers a liberal source, so most soldiers trust the Army Times to tell them the truth about what's happening in their own ranks. Snag, it's not housing, it's a frigging hospital for disabled vets returning from Iraq, and vets who served our country. Jesus.

Tom, the way I see it, you're the one who doesn't care about the soldiers. You seem to have no problem with multiple and extended deployments, casualty figures, or GW's proposed cuts in veteran health care benefits from his submitted budget. And just as ready to dismiss incidents such as this quickly. We're not talking about conditions on the front, we're talkiing about conditions for injured soldiers returning home.

Yeah, you're right. This is something that really pisses me off and you're right I want to Bush to hear it. And I want to know why his submitted budget cutrs funds for vets the day he leaves office when more and more vets will be returning, and his butt is cutting shrub in Crawford.

If he wants to send guys to war. You don't screw around with not taking care of them when they return. Got it. It doesn't matter who the President is- it just so happens this is occurring on this guys watch. So go ahead and make all the excuses you want. It's BS.

[Tom]

I'm on record on this forum - multiple times - as oopposed to ALL treatment our troops receive. YOU are the one using it a political statement - as your very comments "conservative enough" point out.
So get off yer high horse.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Ther best way to insure that national problems never get resolved is to get sucked into the partisan blame game. I couldn't vcare less who is in office, by the time studies get done and committes hold hearings and everybody gets done blaming each other it will be swept under the rug.
This is supposed to be 1 auxilary building. It should take 48 hours for basic training recuits to use the rats for target practice and somebody to replace the molded studs and sheet rock and paint.
But that is not the way OUR US governmant works.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Website for the US Corps of Army Engineers, Virginia.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Sounds like the appropriate congresswoman is on top of it.

[Tom]

More importantly, the new Secrectary of Defense if on it too.

[Secretariat]

After watching the Bob Woodruff special on Iraq and wounded on ABC tonight, I was pretty damn moved.

This figure was pretty staggering from the show.

Despite 23,000 injured reported "per the Department of Defense", 205,000 have been treated "per the Veterans Administration" from Iraq or Afghanistan. That's a lot of soldiers.

For some of you who have wives who want to help, my wife showed me this site;

http://www.madandolls.com/BABS/babsSQ.html

[Secretariat]

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/Weightmansubpoena/

Committee subpoenas former Walter Reed chief

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 2, 2007 18:51:46 EST

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has subpoenaed Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who was fired as head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, after Army officials refused to allow him to testify before the committee Monday.

Read complete coverage of the Walter Reed controversy.

[Tom]

De ja vous all over again.

1. Sec posted full article in violation of TOS
2. The libs are holding committees
3. The new SOD already has the situtaion in fix mode - heads have rolled, miltiary hospitals all over the country have been put on notice and things are getting done.

Meanwhile, the libs are looking at who to blame.

"It wasn't that bad. I've been in worse holes by choice." - one of the soldiers at WR housing on news this week.

[Secretariat]

De ja vous all over again.

1. Sec posted full article in violation of TOS
2. The libs are holding committees
3. The new SOD already has the situtaion in fix mode - heads have rolled, miltiary hospitals all over the country have been put on notice and things are getting done.

Meanwhile, the libs are looking at who to blame.

"It wasn't that bad. I've been in worse holes by choice." - one of the soldiers at WR housing on news this week.

Tom,

I didn't post the whole article. Don't misstate again. Hopefully, you'll click on the link and read the full Army Times article. Take a chance and becoem informed. I guess the Army Times is lib to you as well.

[Tom]

1. You posted more than a paragraph.
2. Why do you keep making refrences to lib or conservative reports? I have disagreed with any of the stuff that went of there.
3. What in my list is untrue? ACTION is being taken by the new SOC while libs form committees. Leaders walk, whinners talk.

[Secretariat]

1. You posted more than a paragraph.
2. Why do you keep making refrences to lib or conservative reports? I have disagreed with any of the stuff that went of there.
3. What in my list is untrue? ACTION is being taken by the new SOC while libs form committees. Leaders walk, whinners talk.

1. You stated the "full article" Again, look up your own post.

2. I make reference to lib or conservative reports because that often replies "to a post I make are "The "lib" NYT", "that piece of garbage", "Who can belevie that liberal rag", "the "lib" CBS", "A paper from San Francisco?" "Michael Moore?' Therefore, when I post an article from the Army Times which tends for the most part to be conservative about protecting the integrity of the military instead of criticizing it, you might actually read it. But perhaps I'm hoping too much.

2. Untrue? Well, saying I posted the full article for one when I didn't. In specific cases I list my observations about the veracity of your posts after you post them. btw..do you mean "winners talk or whiners talk" above?

[Tom]

1. Read your own quoted passage - I clearly said "more than a paragraph" and it was edited down to it's current length later by PA.

2. I mis-typed - meant to say "have NOT disagreed with...."
3. Why do you assume I would be interested in reading the article?
4. No, leaders - as in new SOC leading by example - addressing the mess head on, replacing two top Army guys, sending out a message to all other hospitals. Wonder what problem he will be fixing when the dems finally get thier coffee and donuts and gavel thier first neetings on the topic? :D

[Secretariat]

1. Read your own quoted passage - I clearly said "more than a paragraph" and it was edited down to it's current length later by PA.

So, what? It's PA's fault now. It was not the whole article btw.. Amazing you say nothing when someone like melman puts extremely long posts. If you don't like the post by the Army Times, that's one thing, but be consistent.

De ja vous all over again.

1. Sec posted full article in violation of TOS

[Tom]

There you go again. lying through your teeth.
Conveniently ignoring posts 24 and 26 where I corrected that startment and purposely going back to 22 like it was my only comment.
You couldn't even wait until it was new page! :lol:

And no, it is not PA's fault - it is YOUR fault. More than a paragraph is violatin of TOS.
If melman made a CAREER of doing that, I would memtion it to him, but he is nowhere close to your habitual disrespect for PA.

And I did read the article, will not read it, do not care what it says, and have no problem with what it said. I have no INTEREST in reading it. I am not obsessively compulsive about it like you are.