It has Happened!!

No doubt someone's head was going to roll, but is this an issue of mis- management or chronic underfunding?

Jon

The first step should have been to fire the CIC who sent these brave soldiers to be slaughtered and maimed for no good reason and then didn't followup on their treatment.

The fired general is no doubt a scapegoat whose hands were tied by underfunding.

That should have happened long ago but I don't think it'll make much difference in the overall picture.

first, it is a crying shame that it took the media to report this before anyone would do anything. they never did shit when it was just the vets complaining. makes it seem like this is all just to appease us because if they really gave a shit this would never happened in the first place.

but, it is a first step. hopefully someone (maybe the media again) will dig in and find out if the head guy is just a fall guy or really to blame. id also like to know who else was at fault and move them out of the decision process. this whole thing is a tragedy.

Lack of funding, lack of preparedness, lack of just about everything but patients.

Good point. If someone knows, how strong of a tie is there between the administration in charge of taking care of those in duty and the VA?

Not sure what you are asking here. Walter Reed is not a VA hospital. Yes it does treat vets, but it does not fall under the Dpet of V.A. is falls under and is funded/maintained (yeah right) by the Dept of Army.

So, if I am reading this correct, the answer would be, not a strong tie at all. The VA has little to nothing to do with the care of Active Duty military. As an example, a wounded soldier will be treated at Walter Reed (or Bethesda or Malcolm Grow) and if discharged from the service the VA picks up care for all service related disabilities.

This guy that relaced him was there before and was by all accounts unresponsive to complaints as well. There are supposed to be hearing next week on this mess.

ABC said again last night that Woodruff will continue his reports and investigation. Seems like they have turned him loose to do it, he seemed real pissed of about so hopefully he really can cut deep enough to get to those who are responsable.

id also like to know who else was at fault and move them

What I remember is if you are found to have wounds serious enough you are medically discharged from the service. Years ago there were enough military hospitals so that a person would stay there and rehab. A year or more was not uncommon. They tried to put the wounded in a hospital fairly close to their home so family could visit and if able to travel, between operations, the patient could go home on convalescent leave. After a decision was made as to what the outcome of the patient would be, if he wound progress anymore or if the military hosp could offer no more in the way of treatment he would retire and move to the VA. So imo the tie is very close. The VA warehouse wounded vet's. The guy who runs the VA is a cabinet level position appointed by the president. In the case of the current one, I believe he is the ex chair of the republican nat'l committee.

What I see that has been happening is a huge number of military hospitals have been closed. The ones that are still being used are overburdened. So the conditions suck and the care sucks. It would seem that the wounded are being stabilized and being sent home for the families to care for, with no support for the family. Think about that for a minute. A wife with a couple of school age kids get's her husband or what was her husband back home, he can barely walk, or he's in a wheel chair in a home that isn't designed for a wheelchair, he can't care for himself. She has to quit her job and stay at home to care for her husband. Now, to get treatment she has to get him to the VA. Well the funds have been cut for the VA and they have consolidated the facilities. So the one that use to be 50 miles away is now 150 miles away. He has to be there 3 times a week for treatment. The family car has

100K on it and can't handle 1,000 mile's a week. Money is tight 'cause she is no longer working, bills are past due, tensions are high. You can guess the rest. Now comes the divorce, the wife goes on welfare or maybe she is able to support herself and the kids. The vet ends up warehoused in some shit hole. That's the price that vet's and their family pays in a lot of cases.

That's why I am so friggin' pissed about this whole situation. It was all avoidable imo. Okay, I'm off my soapbox.

and trust me, i'm happy to see that they are and to see that something is happening. it's just that i am very skeptical when it comes to gov. doing the right thing. i have a bit of experience with that and my trust level is really low. especially the feds. its just a cya thing. i fear that they will just do enough to get the light of day off of them and that nothing really substantive will take place. but sometimes they surprise me, so i hope this is one of those times.

You are correct. It is a start. For now it looks like a typical military(Gov.) solution. Let A head roll and hope that quites the nay sayers. Get a new top brass and see if the team does better.

I share your lack of trust and also am a bit skeptical. One can only hope that once the ball really starts to roll changes for the better will follow.

Nope, Walter Reed has always been a dump.

beekeep

As an example, a wounded soldier will be treated at Walter Reed | (or Bethesda or Malcolm Grow) and if discharged from the service the VA | picks up care for all service related disabilities. | |

And then said Vet will really fall through the cracks and be dumped on...

More than one head has rolled over this sorry finding. The hospital CG, his replacement who lasted 24 hours or so, and the Secy of the Army. All gone, gone. But what exactly is new about this exposure?

This crap has been going on all of my life; all 75 years of it. People serve, whether volunteers or draftees, do the (sometimes miserable) job the country expects and demands of them, come back home wounded, sick or disabled, and they are shuffled under the rug. This country Does Not Like To Care For Veterans!

Most VA medical centers are. Welcome to socialized medicine.

In my younger life I was a gov't contractor and worked at several VA facilities. Fort Howard (VA paraplegic hospital) and one in Perrryville (mental hospital) were very well kept. Most of the buildings at Walter Reed needed to be totally rebuilt. The Naval Medical Center up the street was always impecable but then again that's where the president often goes.

I hated going to Fort Howard as I saw mostly men my own age that lost limbs in Nam.

beekeep

Walter Reed is not a VA hosp.

I was in Valley Forge General a army run hospital and it was really pretty good during the year I was there.

Roy