The most dangerous man nobody's ever heard of.
Posted on 02/18/2007 8:15:31 PM PST by kristinn
The guests of Mologne House have been blown up, shot, crushed and shaken, and now their convalescence takes place among the chandeliers and wingback chairs of the 200-room hotel on the grounds of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Oil paintings hang in the lobby of this strange outpost in the war on terrorism, where combat's urgency has been replaced by a trickling fountain in the garden courtyard. The maimed and the newly legless sit in wheelchairs next to a pond, watching goldfish turn lazily through the water.
But the wounded of Mologne House are still soldiers -- Hooah! -- so their lives are ruled by platoon sergeants. Each morning they must rise at dawn for formation, though many are half-snowed on pain meds and sleeping pills.
SNIP
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."
SNIP
Two Washington Post reporters spent hundreds of hours in Mologne House documenting the intimate struggles of the wounded who live there. The reporting was done without the knowledge or permission of Walter Reed officials, but all those directly quoted in this article agreed to be interviewed.
SNIP
After a while, the bizarre becomes routine. On Friday nights, antiwar protesters stand outside the gates of Walter Reed holding signs that say "Love Troops, Hate War, Bring them Home Now." Inside the gates, doctors in white coats wait at the hospital entrance for the incoming bus full of newly wounded soldiers who've just landed at Andrews Air Force Base.
And set back from the gate, up on a hill, Mologne House, with a bowl of red apples on the front desk.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Sixty-eight percent of the US Army enlisted force is under the age of 30. Source (US Army G-1: http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/demographics.asp)
"The problem, as such, is not Walter Reed itself, or the people working there, it's the military."
I'd say it's more an Army problem. If you go over to Bethesda, you get great support and care. Same at most AF facilities.
WRAMC has always had a "support" problem - years before the War. It was my primary care facility from 1996 and the support staff was just as bad then as they are now. The medical staff, on the other hand, was and is superb.
I don't mind a rude clerk or two, but I'm not returning from Iraq. The men and women who get injured/wounded in Iraq/Afghanistan/WOT/on active-duty deserve quality care and that includes from the non-medical support staff as well.
Is the support staff military or civilian? If civilian, I can understand the situation being less than excellent.
Who's the more "anti-war"?
^^^^
You are absolutely correct. We will never see the pinko/answer/notinourname crowd protesting the brutality of Saddam or Osama or any other mass murderer.
I would love to come up with a pithy bumper sticker saying what I just wrote.
How I hate those UN blue 'war is not the answer' lawn signs in my neighborhood.
The ones I noticed less than stellar performance, rudeness, losing your medical records, etc are civilians - and seem not to fear any disciplinary action.
If they are government employees it is almost impossible to fire them. DC has had quite a problem with less than efficient and/or pleasant government service employees. I can recall newspaper articles about various mayors trying to encourage more appropriate behavior in their public service people. Perhaps they have never gotten it from all too many. This is very sad for our wounded warriors.
My son is in his twenties and he is a man, not a kid.
I would hope so. But 30 isn't a "kid."
I can't speak about Walter Reed, and Dana Priest is certainly detestable. However, I have worked for a medical equipment company, and I recall that, at least in the 80's and 90's, when it came to x-ray machines, the VA would buy only the most basic, stripped-down models, in fact the same models that were bought by clinics at federal prisons. It was weird, because at the same time, DARPA was funding R&D on the most advanced models, to improve survival in field hospitals.
The most dangerous man nobody's ever heard of.
We could split hairs on this, but most of the guys I see at WRAMC weren't even born when I enlisted. Or maybe I'm just old.
I'm there every week. I see lots of older guys. I'm old myself, btw.
I think it was in The Limbaugh Letter, where Rush interviewed an Army Captain who lost a leg. The Captain mentioned it was inevitable one would become addicted to opiates in the recovery process. It sucks, but it is true. They have to pump you full of Morphine, Codine, and every other -dine. You will end up addicted. Hence the methadone.
Based on what I understand about opiate addiction, you are pretty much an addict after that happens. That has to suck.
That said, these are mostly young, fire in the belly men who still believe they can conquer the world. Who cares if the left a leg or an arm in Iraq.
They deserve our honor, our respect, and our unconditional love. They do not want or deserve pity.
Each one of them have done more, given more, than the editorial boards of the New York Slimes, the Washington comPost, the Boston Glob, and the LA Slimes have done combined.
If these pathetic liberal "journalists" would give them 1/10th the respect they fawn on Max Cleland, we would have no problems.
I doubt they were upfront about being there to do a story.
well done...I admire your restraint
That was a ploy to get support of the local residents.
I recognize some names and stories. I'd love to know if the soldiers knew they were talking to reporters?
Not that I've seen or heard. Seen a fair amount of "Robot Hands" as the article calls them. Those are 50K each.
I told the Washington Post reporter that I don't talk to the Washington Post.
I'll just say I had my run ins with some non medical staffers there at WRAMC a couple of times. It shouldn't be that way. I was already stressed enough as it was and the treatment I received ticked me off. I did, however, let them know I was angry. I didn't let them get by with it. That's unusual for me because I'm a pretty laid back person and it takes a lot to really get me angry. I could go into a lot more detail or talk about how screwed up the system is and provide examples, but it would take up too much space. :) And I (we) was/were only there for 3 weeks. I really feel for those soldiers and their families who have been there for months.
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