Soldiers face neglect, frustration, at army's top medical facility.

[CathyBogart]

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

The Wounded and Walter Reed
Five and a half years of sustained combat have transformed the venerable 113-acre Walter Reed Army Medical Center into a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients.

The common perception of Walter Reed is of a surgical hospital that shines as the crown jewel of military medicine. But 5 1/2 years of sustained combat have transformed the venerable 113-acre institution into something else entirely -- a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients. Almost 700 of them -- the majority soldiers, with some Marines -- have been released from hospital beds but still need treatment or are awaiting bureaucratic decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty.

They suffer from brain injuries, severed arms and legs, organ and back damage, and various degrees of post-traumatic stress. Their legions have grown so exponentially -- they outnumber hospital patients at Walter Reed 17 to 1 -- that they take up every available bed on post and spill into dozens of nearby hotels and apartments leased by the Army. The average stay is 10 months, but some have been stuck there for as long as two years.

Not all of the quarters are as bleak as Duncan's, but the despair of Building 18 symbolizes a larger problem in Walter Reed's treatment of the wounded, according to dozens of soldiers, family members, veterans aid groups, and current and former Walter Reed staff members interviewed by two Washington Post reporters, who spent more than four months visiting the outpatient world without the knowledge or permission of Walter Reed officials. Many agreed to be quoted by name; others said they feared Army retribution if they complained publicly.

While the hospital is a place of scrubbed-down order and daily miracles, with medical advances saving more soldiers than ever, the outpatients in the Other Walter Reed encounter a messy bureaucratic battlefield nearly as chaotic as the real battlefields they faced overseas.

On the worst days, soldiers say they feel like they are living a chapter of "Catch-22." The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide.

Disengaged clerks, unqualified platoon sergeants and overworked case managers fumble with simple needs: feeding soldiers' families who are close to poverty, replacing a uniform ripped off by medics in the desert sand or helping a brain-damaged soldier remember his next appointment.

"We've done our duty. We fought the war. We came home wounded. Fine. But whoever the people are back here who are supposed to give us the easy transition should be doing it," said Marine Sgt. Ryan Groves, 26, an amputee who lived at Walter Reed for 16 months. "We don't know what to do. The people who are supposed to know don't have the answers. It's a nonstop process of stalling."

Soldiers, family members, volunteers and caregivers who have tried to fix the system say each mishap seems trivial by itself, but the cumulative effect wears down the spirits of the wounded and can stall their recovery.

"It creates resentment and disenfranchisement," said Joe Wilson, a clinical social worker at Walter Reed. "These soldiers will withdraw and stay in their rooms. They will actively avoid the very treatment and services that are meant to be helpful."

Danny Soto, a national service officer for Disabled American Veterans who helps dozens of wounded service members each week at Walter Reed, said soldiers "get awesome medical care and their lives are being saved," but, "Then they get into the administrative part of it and they are like, 'You saved me for what?' The soldiers feel like they are not getting proper respect. This leads to anger."
************************************
It goes on...and on and on...it's one of the most depressing things I've ever seen. Bush talking about how our soldiers deserve the best care when they get home...

"We owe them all we can give them," Bush said during his last visit, a few days before Christmas. "Not only for when they're in harm's way, but when they come home to help them adjust if they have wounds, or help them adjust after their time in service."

...then more stories about how that is NOT what we are providing....

Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, 43, came in on one of those buses in November 2004 and spent several weeks on the fifth floor of Walter Reed's hospital. His eye and skull were shattered by an AK-47 round. His odyssey in the Other Walter Reed has lasted more than two years, but it began when someone handed him a map of the grounds and told him to find his room across post.

A reconnaissance and land-navigation expert, Shannon was so disoriented that he couldn't even find north. Holding the map, he stumbled around outside the hospital, sliding against walls and trying to keep himself upright, he said. He asked anyone he found for directions.

...Next time I see someone with a W and a yellow ribbon on their gas guzzling SUV something in my brain is going to burst.

[Lady's Human]

Of course there's no comments in the article about the fact that WR is being closed and consolidated into a new facility.

[CathyBogart]

Yes. There are.

So because it's going to be closing by 2011 we don't have to care for the people there now?

[lizbud]

I've heard of other reports on this very subject. No one is talking about
the enormous amount of wounded coming home from war zones. :(

It galls me no end that the very people who shout about support for the
troops, can overlook the abysmal care they are given when they come home.

[Lady's Human]

Okay, enough.

I have had several friends from my unit go through Walter Reed, and NONE of them have complained about the care they were given there, either in the hospital itself or as outpatients.

If you want to point fingers at someone for this, ask congress why they hadn't given the military the money to repair or upgrade the facility. WRAMC has been on the BRAC list for years, and as such there is no money for facilities maintenance. Congress couldn't decide whether or not they wanted to close it, and the Army has gotten burned too many times for "scandals" because major renovations were done at a post that got closed. It was a running joke in the military in the '90s that if your post got a new comissary, start packing, the post is gone.

There isn't a post in the military that has enough money for proper housing. Base maintenance isn't cool, doesn't bring jobs or megabucks to congressman XYZ's political district, and you can't exactly make the front page for getting $$$ to renovate post housing at the local base. It has long been a sore spot in the military, and in the Army in particular.

Does that make WRAMC wonderful? No. This, however is not solely the fault of the current administration. The administration deserves credit for finally getting something done about it.

When they close military posts, you know what happens to the housing on base? 90% of it gets torn down, as it is substandard for section 8 requirements. No one wants it. The officers' quarters normally get sold, as they are the only ones that meet any kind of building code,. When FT. Devens in MA was closed, over 95% of the post housing was torn down. they kept 15 brick buildings from the oldest section of post. The rest was to the scrapheap.


The leasing of hotels off base to house soldiers in post operative care is thinking out of the box for the army. The WRAMC commander deserves credit for getting that done, and the former SecDef also had something to do with it.


As to the soldier's comments? Soldiers complain. Period. You could put a soldier in a suite at the luxor in Vegas for recovery, and they'd find something wrong. Add to the nature of most soldiers the fact that that most of them are going through treatment for psych injuries as well as physical injuries, and that alone explains some of the comments.

[Lady's Human]

BTW, as far as the Army retribution for complaining? It's not the complaining the Army would take action for. There are a myriad of ways to address complaints like this in the army, and they involve internal Army channels as well as external political channels. What the Army would take action for is talking to non-credentialed reporters, which is a violation of a standing order. A soldier can say almost anything they want to to a reporter, as long as it doesn't involve tactics/techniques/procedures or other confidential information. What a soldier CANNOT do, however, is talk to a reporter who doesn't have proper credentials. Nice scoop, guys. I hope the article 15's that the soldiers may get for your report are worth it.

[Cataholic]

As to the soldier's comments? Soldiers complain. Period. You could put a soldier in a suite at the luxor in Vegas for recovery, and they'd find something wrong. Add to the nature of most soldiers the fact that that most of them are going through treatment for psych injuries as well as physical injuries, and that alone explains some of the comments.


Just wanted to bump this thread back up and see if we can now all agree that something is stinky at WRH? Or, are the soldiers still simply complaining.....

[lizbud]

Just wanted to bump this thread back up and see if we can now all agree that something is stinky at WRH? Or, are the soldiers still simply complaining.....


I've thought about this thread since the sh** hit the fan recently. Where
are the defenders of the status quo now?

[LilacDragon]

As to the soldier's comments? Soldiers complain. Period. You could put a soldier in a suite at the luxor in Vegas for recovery, and they'd find something wrong. Add to the nature of most soldiers the fact that that most of them are going through treatment for psych injuries as well as physical injuries, and that alone explains some of the comments.

Well, I sure don't know which soldiers you talk to that complain so much. In the 18 months that my husband was in Iraq, I can count on one hand the number of times he complained about anything. One of my best friends is in Bagdad and I haven't heard him complain about his job, accomodations or anything else that has to do with his being deployed. My BIL is headed out in just a couple of months - back into a war zone - and I haven't heard him complaining much either.

I was military and then a military wife - living in crappy base housing around the world - and not only did I rarely complain about it, I don't recall anyone else complaining either.

[Lady's Human]

Soldiers around family members are completely different from soldiers around other soldiers. I've said things to my father (who is a Korean war vet) and other soldiers that I would never say around the non-military members of my family.

Liz, my post wasn't defending the status quo. However, it is what it is. The people who control the purse strings of the military (congress) never give enough funding to base improvements, especially bases that are going away.

[mugsy]

Welcome to socialized medicine

[joycenalex]

from what i've read, not socialized medicine, just "support" services sold to a rich powerful and cheapa## company that did the least amount of work for the contract. in columbus, a few years back, something simular happened, the cleaning services were seperated out and contracted to a low bidder that did horrible job. blood, stool, vomit, hot and cold bugs IN SURGERY suites. complaints made, nothing done. some bright person called the paper and the feds...medicare, a well run cost efficient division of government, told the hospital owners and administrators, you're closed. the situation was fixed, fast, hospital reopened and sold to the ohio state university chain. it's called osu east today

[Edwina's Secretary]

As In These Times reported in a piece entitled "Dishonorable Discharge," back in 2003 "Even more than his father, and Ronald Reagan before him, Bush is cutting budgets for myriad programs intended to protect or improve the lives of veterans and active-duty soldiers." Among the cuts the Administration was pushing back then were $75 a month in "imminent danger pay" and a $150 family separation allowance, deemed by the White House to be "wasteful and unnecessary," In These Times reported. Democrats in Congress led the opposition to those cuts. But a Bush budget still included $3 billion in cuts to VA hospitals. "VA spending today averages $2,800 less per patient than nine years ago," In These Times pointed out.

<<shrug>>

Check the budget the [B]administration proposed for this year. Did it increase or decrease funding for medical care for veterans?????

[Lady's Human]

Regardless of what is proposed by the administration, Congress, not the White House, controls the purse strings. WRAMC has been on the chopping block for a long, long time, and as such no one has been willing to appropriate money for improvements.

As far as the mass of resignations/firings lately, I have one question on that score. Have there been any charges filed or UCMJ action taken against the officials who have resigned? Generals are not immune to prosecution. No charges=someone was fired to give the press the requisite head on a platter.

[Lady's Human]

BTW, the VA budget request from the Administration in 2006 was $70.8 Billion. The Administration request for 2008 is $87.6 Billion.

$17.6 Billion in funding increase can hardly be called a reduction in spending.

[cassiesmom]

I did my graduate nursing student rotations at the VA. I learned a TON and got way more out of it than I ever put in. The people were great - the doctors, nurses, therapists, especially patients. I met WW I and WW II veterans, Korea and Vietnam veterans. I was there two semesters and the summer quarter in between. It was just a wonderful experience all around.

My dad (who's a Korean war veteran) just enrolled with the VA about a year ago for health care. My mom's stepfather (a WW II veteran) received care through the VA for a number of years. There are some things about the VA system that work really well and deserve to be publicized so they can be duplicated. There are other things that work really badly that I wish could be overhauled. One thing that bugs me about the VA is that it's so huge and has so many responsibilities - health care, housing, insurance, even death and burial. Maybe it is too big to be effective. But Walter Reed is supposed to be top-notch and from what I am reading and seeing on TV, it is a long way from top-notch.

[Lady's Human]

WRAMC itself, the Hospital, is in excellent shape, and IS a top notch facility. What is sub-par are the outbuildings on the base that house outpatients and base personnel.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Generals are not immune to prosecution. No charges=someone was fired to give the press the requisite head on a platter.

I am certainly not an expert in this area...but in today's paper was an article that the only military who have been charge in the Abu Ghraib have been enlisted personnel. Was no one in charge or are they simply sacrifical lambs?

At least this time it was someone other than grunts falling on the proverbial sword.

And perhaps more than just the press need a head on a platter...maybe the public and the soldiers would like to see....I don't like heads on a platter...I would prefer to say....SOMEONE take responsibility.

BTW...the VA has an outstanding program for ensuring that doctors and nurses have the right information for the right patient. It uses realtime computer technology to allow access to medical charts and is a model that is being copied elsewhere.

[Lady's Human]

The article was wrong. BG Janis Karpinski, the commander of the MP Brigade that was in charge of Abu Ghirab, was reduced in rank to Colonel and retired.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Is this article wrong too?

The Pentagon's Defense Health Program—which includes the Tricare health-insurance plan, used by 9.1 million veterans and involving 65 inpatient clinics, 414 medical and dental clinics, and 257 veterans centers—has actually had its budget cut the past two years. In fiscal year 2006, the program's budget for medical care went up from $15.9 billion to $21.2 billion. But since then, it's gone down slightly—to $20.8 billion in FY 2007 and a proposed $20.7 billion in FY 2008.

These numbers understate the magnitude of the cuts. To keep up with inflation in the cost of goods and payroll, the Defense Department actually had to cut medical-care programs by $1.6 and $1.4 billion in FY07 and FY08, respectively.

Money is similarly tight at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA's budget for medical care has risen in the past few years—from $28.8 billion in FY 2006 to $29.3 billion in FY 2007 to a request for $34.2 billion in FY 2008—but this hasn't been enough. In each of the past four years, according to a March 1 report by the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the VA has systematically underestimated the number of veterans applying for benefits in the coming fiscal year. The result is a shortfall of $2.8 billion in the FY08 budget, just to cover the current level of medical services.

The administration is trying to make up for some of this by raising deductibles on prescription drugs (from $8 to $15) and by imposing an annual enrollment fee (ranging from $250 to $750)—in short, by shifting costs to the veterans themselves. (Even so, these charges would make up only $450 million, or about one-sixth of the shortfall.)

[Edwina's Secretary]

The article was wrong. BG Janis Karpinski, the commander of the MP Brigade that was in charge of Abu Ghirab, was reduced in rank to Colonel and retired.

But was she charged with a crime? Prosecuted?

[Lady's Human]

In part, Yes. Tricare is a system designed primarily for active duty servicemembers and families. All others are served on an as available basis. When the number of servicemembers in uniform drops, as it has over the past few years (The USAF alone cut 40K airmen), the budget for tricare drops, as the number of servicemembers they are expected to care for is reduced. Tricare's priorities are active servicemembers, dependents, reserve servicemembers, and it trickles down from there.

Col Karpinski was subject to a 15-6 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation. She was given a reduction in rank, a letter of reprimand, and was forced to retire. 6 other officers form the brigade were also investigated, and a military intelligence (MJA? I think, don't remember, his name wasn't in the news for more than a second or two) officer was also found guilty.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Well....I would like to see our veterans get the care they deserve...whether there are less people in the airforce or not.

So did either of these officers do any TIME? Jail, brig...whatever?

[Lady's Human]

No, they were not given jail time, as there are limitations within the UCMJ and the Manual for Courts Martial as far as what punishments you can give for what crime. An officer relieved with cause and reduced in grade has no military career left, and many civilian jobs are no longer open to them.


As far as the article goes, DHP is aimed at active and reserve servicemembers, not veterans. The VA is the PRIMARY route for former servicemembers to get care. The others fill in when available. Fewer active duty personnel for DHP to cover=less money.

[Edwina's Secretary]

. An officer relieved with cause and reduced in grade has no military career left, and many civilian jobs are no longer open to them.


If they are interested in a career with the government or a sub-contractor that requires employees to have clearance they may have a problem.

However, no other civilian employer can even ASK the reason for discharge from the military. That leaves a whole lot of employers for the former officers.

Private employers can ask about felony convictions however....which affects the grunts...

[Lady's Human]

Where do most former military officers get jobs?

Defense contractors. Especially for those who earned senior ranks.

A reduction in grade carries with it an instantaneous revocation of a clearance, no clearance, no job in defense industries. (One of the more obnoxious things about the way Pentagon procurement works........ Retire from the Pentagon, get a job with the contractor you just assisted in getting the multi-million XYZ contract, and get your replacement to shift contracts your way)

[Edwina's Secretary]

Where do most former military officers get jobs?

Defense contractors. Especially for those who earned senior ranks.

A reduction in grade carries with it an instantaneous revocation of a clearance, no clearance, no job in defense industries. (One of the more obnoxious things about the way Pentagon procurement works........ Retire from the Pentagon, get a job with the contractor you just assisted in getting the multi-million XYZ contract, and get your replacement to shift contracts your way)

While I have known of the interest of defense contractors in retiring officers for their contact....in my career I have done alot of recruiting at military fairs, junior officer fairrs, and even on-base events. Many, many non-defense contractors recruit military personnel...

Don't sell the veterans so short! There are lots of ways their skills can be applied in the civilan world.

In fact my husband just attended and military fair and hired a captain to run one of his operations.

[Lady's Human]

Most of the REALLY senior officials retiring don't go to job fairs, they have their post-military career lined up for them for the most part before they leave. (If they want it)

There's a reason the military can't keep mid-career officers around, however, you guys out on the civilian side keep hiring 'em. That's what I hate about Captains.........you get one trained, and they leave for a civilian job then you have to start all over again. :rolleyes:

[Edwina's Secretary]

Most of the REALLY senior officials retiring don't go to job fairs, they have their post-military career lined up for them for the most part before they leave. (If they want it)

There's a reason the military can't keep mid-career officers around, however, you guys out on the civilian side keep hiring 'em. That's what I hate about Captains.........you get one trained, and they leave for a civilian job then you have to start all over again. :rolleyes:

Truth is...you can have this one back.... ;) ;)

[Puckstop31]

In attempt to cheer up this thread a little... :)

An amazing story about an amazing young man.

http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/ESQ0107bryananderson



What I've Learned: Bryan Anderson
Soldier, 25, Rolling Meadows, Illinois

By Brian Mockenhaupt

When I don't have help, it'll take me ten minutes to put my legs on. The first time I ever did it, it took me an hour.

I think I have the record for falling in physical therapy, because I try to push myself to the max on these things, and if you're not falling, you're not trying. That's my motto. I don't fall as much anymore, but for a while I pretty much fell a couple times a day.

I've been wakeboarding, water-skiing, jet-skiing, tubing, rock climbing, snow skiing, playing catch with my brother. I try to do the same things. I'm not going to let it stop me. We did a 110-mile bike ride from Gettysburg to Washington, D. C. Sixty miles the first day, fifty miles the second day. Hand cycle, three wheels. I ended up ripping the glove, breaking the hand, breaking the whole socket. I might do it a little differently, but I'm still going to do it. I didn't actually get up water-skiing. I was up for a second, then my arm ripped off and I fell.

I used to be a gymnast. I started my freshman year and went to state all three years. Parallel bars, floor, rings, vault, then pommel horse. I hated the pommel horse. I may not be able to do gymnastics like I used to, but I still do little stuff. When I fall out of my chair, I do a handstand to get back in. I lift up my body, push off, and snap up.

Hello? I won a trial gym membership? How did you get my name? You pulled it out of a fishbowl? Do you have any idea who I am? I don't have any legs. And I have only one hand. I lost them over in Iraq. No, don't worry about it. I'm fine now. But I probably won't use it, so you might want to give it to someone else.

You have two options once this happens: Roll over and die or move on. I chose to move on. I'm still me. I'm just 75 percent off. Get a great deal on Bryan Andersons this week. You know who actually told me that the first time? My mom. We were in Vegas, talking about T-shirts we should make, and she said 75 percent off. She said, You should get a shirt showing off your personality.

I believe in God, but I wasn't brought up on going to church. I'm not going to say your whole life is planned out for you, but I think there are certain things that are supposed to happen to you, and however you handle that defines you. So this happened to me. I'm not like, "God saved my life" or "Why did God do this to me?" God did this to me for a reason, and I'm still alive, so God knew I was going to be alive.

From every decision you make, you learn something, whether it was the right decision or the wrong decision. I believe everything happens to you for a reason, and it's going to happen to you regardless. So whether I was in Iraq fighting or I was walking across the street and got hit by a bus, it was going to happen to me regardless.

I don't regret anything.