What’s happening at Joint Base Lewis-McChord?

Stars & Stripes ^ | September 17, 2010 | Megan McCloskey

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

First the medical center at this sprawling joint military base was alleged to have turned away National Guard soldiers seeking help for war wounds on the grounds that they were merely “weekend warriors” who were feigning injuries.

Then a dozen soldiers based here were accused of involvement in one of the worst war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

And then three soldiers associated with the base suffered dangerous public mental breakdowns after returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to confrontations with police and the deaths of two of them.

Now multiple criminal and military investigations are under way into the conduct of Lewis-McChord troops and the adequacy of the medical and mental health care they are receiving when they come home from war.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

In a PowerPoint presentation prepared by the acting chief of Madigan’s family practice department, the National Guard soldiers were depicted as “weekend warriors” who were feigning injuries to maintain their active-duty pay.

So much for the "Total Force."

[downtownconservative]

We need a lot more facts before coming to any kind of conclusion here. I spent almost 8 years in the military (most of them with the collateral duty of Legal Officer), and malingering and gaming the system were real issues from time to time.

There are probably a few nuts on both sides of this issue.