Conditions at Walter Reed

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by jbour13

She steps from the car, and pokes me in the chest saying "young man, you've just made the biggest mistake of your short career!!"

Actually, she just made a very big mistake, and if you had chosen to pursue it, could have likely abbreviated her husband's career. This is a classic example of someone who believes her husband's rank extends to her. It does not. She is entitled to no more courtesy or privileges than a buck private's spouse. Putting hands on a soldier at a guard post is a criminal offense. You were very kind to overlook this offense and did the CG a favor.

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

There are pros and cons to this and then there is reality. When you are dealing with manpower ceilings everyone filling a slot that cannot fully perform in that slot prevents someone who can or prevents someone with the potential of being promoted to contribute at the next higher level from doing so. Unfortunately injury and disease are part of the price we all might have to pay for the profession that we have chosen. I cannot speak for anyone else, but when I found I could no longer perform at the level that I had set for myself I retired even though I had been "selected" for a position that would have allowed me to go to my full thirty years. I felt that I "owed" those for whom and with whom I served better and that no one "owed" me anything. Now that is just me, I am sure others will have different opinions.

I argued this point at SWCS on several occasions.

We had a number of personnel at the HQs who could no longer jump due to accumulated injuries. Certain people wanted to separate them from the Army.

I pointed out that we were already short on 18s at the ODA level, and on SFQC instructors as well. Any relieved instructors would have to be replaced with guys from Groups and likely from teams, or with GS employees, or with contractors. The GS employees or contractors, to meet the prereqs, would have to be former 18s who were instructor qualified. After the selection process people would quite likely be the very same people who were just released, but they would be coming back at a significantly higher salary, in the case of contractors, with a cut which would have to go to the company providing them.

I think that a head full of knowledge, 20 years of experience, and a desire to teach more than makes up for the inability to exit an aircraft anymore, in most SWCS jobs. If not, we would not hire the same guys to come back and do the same jobs as civilians.

Just my .02, YMMV.

TR

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

[QUOTE=The Reaper]I argued this point at SWCS on several occasions./QUOTE]

I agree with you on this and also this could work at many of the TDA organizations such as the various SOCs, but only to a point. There comes a point when relevance and past experience begin to separate too widely in some of the positions which would be best filled by an active duty soldier-especially in the junior grade positions- where they will be going back with additional experience and insights to the TOE organizations. I often feel on this forum that my observations become less relevant when reading some of the comments and offerings from the folks that are still serving or have only recently retired or left service. For that reason, and others, I am often hesitant to offer any opinions. I guess knowing one's weaknesses might be considered a point of strength, but knowing what you don't know often takes insight, experience and education. While I am sure that I could walk into some organizations today and do what is necessary to make things work, I would not only have to surround myself with good people but also those will current experience so that I did not make stupid decisions based on old perceptions and irrelevant past history.

Of course, some of the things I also see today seem to be mistakes revisited rather than lessons learned.

Jack Moroney-I can still see but it is difficult sometimes to see with clear vision.

[dennisw]

Col Moroney,

I would contend that what prevents most folks from seeing clearly is their arrogance or lack of humility. In reading your various posts, even if your eyes are not what they once were, you probably see more clearly then most.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by jbour13

...and there are more deserving people that came before me that benefit from shorter walks.

There are those that have trouble walking and need the closer parking space. However, there is another important feature to disabled spaces. If you take a look at a disabled parking space that's to standard, you'll see that its significantly wider than a normal parking space. This extra space allows those with walkers or wheelchairs to fully open their door, which is necessary to bring the walker/wheelchair close enough to the car to reach it. Without that extra space, if someone parks next to you, you can't fully open your door, so you can't get into your car and you have to 1) wait for that person to finish whatever they're doing and leave, or 2) ask a complete stranger to move your car back for you. Obviously, neither option is all that great.

I bet if you put a few of those wide handicapped spaces at the far end of the parking lot instead of right by the door, only those that truly need them would use them.

[Warrior-Mentor]

RUMINT: The Company Commander, 1SG and PSG in charge of Building #18 have been relieved.

Last time I checked, Captains don't get a very big budget...especially for Building that's on the BRAC list.

What's the price tags of the repairs?

I hope some bigger heads roll than just some junior officers and Senior NCOs.

If he/she doesn't have at least 1 or 2 stars on his/her shoulder, we've done a disservice [again].

Time for Generals to start taking responsibility for EVERYTHING that their command DOES or FAILS TO DO!

Not to encourage micro-management, but to ensure that they at least walk through their area once in while...

[AxeMan]

Originally posted by Jack Moroney:
There are pros and cons to this and then there is reality. When you are dealing with manpower ceilings everyone filling a slot that cannot fully perform in that slot prevents someone who can or prevents someone with the potential of being promoted to contribute at the next higher level from doing so.

Sir,
You are right about homesteaders stealing oppotunities from other qualified guys. That has been a problem as long as I've been in SF. I think homesteading is more of a problem up at USASFC and higher levels though. TDA assignments don't seem to go to far past three years these days. I guess I was talking more about giving a wounded guy a chance to work out what he is going to do with his life while he is still doing something good for the force. I am also talking about soldiers that have been around for eight or more years in SF. I don't think that less experience than that is really worth keeping around anyway.
Thanks for your input.
......MDW

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

[QUOTE=Warrior-Mentor
Not to encourage micro-management, but to ensure that they at least walk through their area once in while...[/QUOTE]

Absolutely. Learned a long time ago, that the troops do best only what the boss checks.

[The Reaper]

Looks like some senior heads rolled.

I hope that he was truly personally wrong in his actions, and he is not paying the price for the installation O&M and BRAC cuts.

TR

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_frien...255800,00.html

Top Army General Relieved of Command at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Thursday , March 01, 2007

WASHINGTON —

A top Army commander was relieved of his command at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Thursday after senior officials said they lost trust and confidence in his leadership abilities to address injured soldier care at military medical facilities.

Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman leaves his post as two-star general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The change comes on the same day that an independent panel reviewing allegations of poor quality-of-life conditions at two military medical facilities treating soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan plans to meet for the first time.

Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, commanding General of U.S. Army Medical Command, will be acting as Weightman's temporary replacement.

"We'll fix as we go; we'll fix as we find things wrong," said Secretary of the Army Dr. Francis J. Harvey in recent comments in the press release. "Soldiers are the heart of our Army and the quality of their medical care is non-negotiable."

The panel will visit the Pentagon and will receive free and unrestricted access to Walter Reed and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Its report is expected in 45 days.

Officials were forced to respond after news articles drew concerns of a deteriorating environment at the 113-acre institution that helps soldiers recover from injuries. Building 18, a facility that houses hundreds of soldiers recovering from battle wounds, was reported to have mold and soiled carpets as well as mouse and cockroach infestations, among other problems.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised on Thursday to place the matter as an urgent priority and address the problems in the upcoming supplemental appropriations bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congressional hearings are also planned for next week.

"Our wounded military personnel and combat veterans deserve nothing less than the best care, but the continuing revelations at Walter Reed Army Medical Center show a troubling trend," Pelosi said in a statement.

On the Senate side, Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Claire McCaskill are pushing legislation to insure injured soldiers returning from the two war fronts receive appropriate care, including improvements to facilities and procedures and services related to outpatient care for wounded and recovering service members at active military hospitals.

"We need to be aggressive about peeling away the layers and finding some accountability in the system. We need to not just take the word of the command. We have to dig down deeper and talk to the men and women who are living in this system," McCaskill said.

House and Senate lawmakers will hold hearings next week on the issue. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told the House Budget Committee that the conditions are "absolutely unacceptable."

Former Army secretaries Togo West and Jack Marsh are leading the investigative review panel and will have unrestricted access into outpatient issues at Walter Reed, the military said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised last week to improve conditions after The Washington Post reported the decrepit state of the hospital.

Army officials said last week that they were appalled by the conditions, and had they known they would have acted sooner. But family members, veterans groups and lawmakers say they first warned the Army's surgeon general as well as other top officials about outpatient neglect more than three years, a report in The Washington Post revealed Thursday.

The Pentagon wouldn't comment on the Post report, but Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told the Senate Budget Committee on Thursday that Gates is "pretty much outraged as we all are. We are going to take whatever action we need to do and that is anything we need to do." He said the panel will review whether the conditions are systemic or an anomaly.

Spokesman Bryan Whitman said the review panel will have full access to facilities and personnel. The Army, however, has apparently told veterans at Building 18 not to speak with reporters on site. They are still free, however, to meet with anyone they want off campus.

According to a report in the Army Times, some soldiers say officials told them not to talk to reporters and to wake up at 6 a.m. to be ready for room inspections at 7 a.m.

“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the newspaper.

FOX News Mike Emmanuel and Nick Simeone and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Looks like some senior heads rolled.

I hope that he was truly personally wrong in his actions, and he is not paying the price for the installation O&M and BRAC cuts.

.

I do too, but I think there is a lot of politics involved in this also and some of the bill payers are just going to those that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. My son just called from Bragg and tells me that they are expecting a visit tomorrow to review their handling of folks. He has the "pleasure" of escorting them as XVIII ABC representative. He will look like one of the walking wounded however seeing as he broke his butt on St Mere a couple of nights ago and hopes no one will ask him to sit down for any period of time. You know, while there is no excuse for any of this I can just imagine all those folks at WRAMC having to jump thru their 4th POC on a daily basis just for all the damn VIP visits. You all know what that is like, when some shit bird do gooder shows up-everything stops, things that should get done routinely get put off routinely. I think that these folks, regardless of their degree of culpability here, were in a no win situation and I am sure while their was all the money needed for care that they probably had jack squat for routine stuff to just take care of the little things. Just my .02 cents YMMV.

[Roguish Lawyer]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/03/01/D8NJIQOO4.html

Walter Reed General Loses His Command

Mar 01 2:44 PM US/Eastern

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army said Thursday that the two-star general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been relieved of command following disclosures about inadequate treatment of wounded soldiers.
Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command as well as Walter Reed hospital, was relieved of command by Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey.

In a brief announcement, the Army said service leaders had "lost trust and confidence" in Weightman's leadership abilities "to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care" at Walter Reed.

The Army and the Defense Department launched a series of investigations after The Washington Post published a series of stories last week that documented problems in soldiers' housing and in the medical bureaucracy at Walter Reed, which has been called the Army's premier caregiver for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After a visit to the hospital compound last Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said those found to have been responsible for the problems at Walter Reed would be "held accountable."

"A bedrock principle of our military system is that we empower commanders with the responsibility, authority and resources necessary to carry out their mission," Gates said at the time. "With responsibility comes accountability."

A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said before the action against Weightman was announced that an outside review panel created by Gates was holding its first meeting Friday at the Pentagon. Headed by two former Army secretaries, Togo West and Jack Marsh, the panel is to review treatment and administrative processes at Walter Reed and at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md. Gates has instructed the group to report its findings publicly within 45 days.

Being relieved of command means Weightman is almost certain to have lost his future in the Army.

A native of Vermont, he graduated from West Point in 1973 and got his medical degree from the University of Vermont. He later served as the surgeon for the 82nd Airborne Division, including during Desert Storm.

He has held a number of medical commands, including service as a leading surgeon during the initial stages of the Iraq war.

Weightman's duties at Walter Reed will be assumed temporarily by Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the commander of U.S. Medical Command, until a permanent replacement is found, Harvey said.

"The Army is moving quickly to address issues regarding outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center," the announcement said.

Last week the Army took disciplinary action against several lower- level soldiers at Walter Reed, but officials have declined to publicly confirm any details of those actions.

The problems at Walter Reed pertain not to the quality of medical treatment for wounded soldiers but rather to the level of care for those who are well enough to be outpatients, living in Army housing at Walter Reed. One building was singled out in the Post reports as suffering from ill-repair, including mold on interior walls.

The Army also has acknowledged problems with the system it uses to evaluate wounded soldiers in determining whether they are well enough to return to active duty.

At a breakfast meeting with reporters Thursday, in which he refused to discuss any aspect of the Walter Reed investigations, Harvey said the Army also was reviewing conditions at its medical centers elsewhere in the country. He would not be more specific.

[incommin]

Army Fires Commanding General at Military Hospital (Update2)

By Ken Fireman

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- The commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which is under investigation for outpatient care deficiencies, has been relieved of command, the Army announced.

Major General George Weightman was informed today ``that the senior Army leadership had lost trust and confidence in the commander's leadership abilities to address needed solutions for soldier-outpatient care'' at Walter Reed, the Army said in a statement.

The Defense Department is conducting an investigation of conditions in the facility's outpatient-care wards following a series of stories in the Washington Post. The newspaper reported that dozens of recuperating troops are lodged in mold-ridden, pest-infested buildings, and that hundreds face daunting bureaucratic obstacles to obtaining follow-up care.

Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, head of the U.S. Medical Command, will take over running Walter Reed until a permanent replacement is named, the Army said. The hospital is located in Washington.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++

Well, that doesn't happen very often!

Jim

[The Reaper]

Hmm, RL, looks a lot like the version that I posted on the existing Walter Reed thread earlier today.

TR

[Hipshot]

IMVHO they ought to take that SOB and bust him to E-1, then retire him. But then again, I have a son in harm's way and the thought that he might end up there under those conditions has colored my vision. That's certainly no way to treat our troops and there's no excuses!

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Hipshot

IMVHO they ought to take that SOB and bust him to E-1, then retire him. But then again, I have a son in harm's way and the thought that he might end up there under those conditions has colored my vision. That's certainly no way to treat our troops and there's no excuses!

Pretty quick to throw the switch and assume the worst about the man, aren't we?

That is like giving a man a $100,000,000 plant to run, and giving him $50,000 per year to maintain it, and busting him when things start to slide.

The Army steals (reapportions) money from the Operations and Maintenance account to pay for unforseen contingencies, like the GWOT. It is also the slush fund when Congress underfunds the Army.

Every year I am aware of, the installation O&M accounts are raided to pay for higher priority items. IIRC, the maintenance backlog gets worse and worse. I think we were behind by more than 30 years on Fort Bragg. We were still putting SOPC students and RC soldiers being mobilized and demobilized in the same WW II splinter barracks I stayed in back in 1978, and that soldiers have been in since 1943. Roaches, rats, and mold? Wanna trade for a piss stained mattress on a bunk bed in a building on Bragg far from everything and with no AC?

Maybe this guy was spending money renovating his quarters and buying new furniture for his office while the troops suffered.

Or maybe he was working off a budget which was passed when there was no major combat taking place, he treated a few thousand patients per year, had shuttered several buildings which were unneeded, his post was being underfunded because it was on the BRAC, and had seen his O&M budget cut by 50% in the middle of receiving the most patients for the longest period since Vietnam. Maybe he had asked for extra funds and had them denied. Does anyone think that a General sees wounded American soldiers and does not care about them? Could be he was doing the best he could with what he had.

I would give the man the benefit of the doubt till the facts are all in. He may have just paid the price for bad decisions made well above him, to include Congress and the White House, which proposes the budget.

Frankly, I wouldn't want his job, regardless of the number of stars that came with it.

Let's not be too quick to judge here. Time will tell.

TR

[Roguish Lawyer]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Hmm, RL, looks a lot like the version that I posted on the existing Walter Reed thread earlier today.

TR

You mean Joe Galloway didn't make an appearance on the WRMC radio station? LOL

Threads merged and title changed.