The Hotel Aftermath (WaPo Jihad on Walter Reed; Monday's Target: Mologne House)

The Washington Post ^ | Monday, February 19, 2007 | Anne Hull and Dana Priest

[Danae]

I am absolutely incapable of saying ANYTHING , other than this, that won't get me banned.

M&%@^rF*&%@&GW^(EC^&TBIT@$#S

This Nation needs to re-institute the practice of HANGING traitors, the Iraqi's have got it spot on right in that!

[Dave S]

Sorry, this series is about The Washington Post making Walter Reed out to be the American Abu Ghraib.

The issue is to what extent is the series factual. If it's true so what if the troops are upset by it. They shoudl be, I am. Shouldnt we want to do the best for our wounded? Do we want them living in rat and mold invested rooms? Do we want periphlegics out roaming through the snow trying to get their proper paperwork so their wives can get money for housing etc? If this is true, then we need to do hold Walter Reed to task, not pitch and moan about the MSM undermining the war effort. Its not the MSM doing so, its Walter Reed.

[Just Lori]

I doubt they know any real military men and women who keep their sorry butts free and safe.

If they DO know any, you can bet those military folks will be "misquoted".

[Just Lori]

The issue is to what extent is the series factual. If it's true so what if the troops are upset by it. They shoudl be, I am.

How can you be upset by something you admit you don't even know is true?

[Steel Wolf]

I go to Walter Reed often. The WaPo isn't really overblowing the situation (a rarity for them). The medical staff at Walter Reed is topnotch - unfortunately the support staff leaves a lot to be desired. These kids (and most of them are) deserve a LOT better treatment and their families do as well

I'm with you there. I've visited people at Walter Reed, and there's a lot of room for improvement. Sad that things have gotten so partisan and twisted that we can't say that without being accused of commie RAT sympathies. FR should be putting out articles like this, not the WaPo. We certainly shouldn't be tearing them down, because we mistrust their intentions.

Stopped clock or not, bad intentions or not, the WaPo is right on this. Our guys deserve better.

[cake_crumb]

It's the same psychological warfare tactic used by John F'n Kerry and Co on troops returned from Vietnam. The message is: don't fight or our side will kill you. Of course, THEIR side wants to kill us even if we don't fight, but that doesn't fit the mantra and is therefore conveniently ignored.

Remember there is no hospital on the planet that every patient of familiy member is 100% happy with. Such a creature DOES NOT EXIST. In my rather extensive experience, where you find ten people satisfied with the care they or their loved one recieved - and they WILL give you examples - you will also find ten others who say the place is a butcher shop or band-aid station which you should avoid at all cost - and they WILL give you examples. This is part of the nature of humanity. Or health care. Most likely, it's the nature of health care because we're all human, even doctors and nurses.

[TNdandelion]

Exactly! The focus was not on improving the care and facilities for the injured troops but rather on the fact that thousands of WR employees would have to relocate to the newer hospital (to be renamed WR) or relocate to facilities out of state.

Then there was the complaint from the locals who can no longer have picnic lunches on the facility grounds due to increased security and eventual closure. All from the WashPost!

[Olney-Keith]

The perception I get when talking to dozens of wounded heroes at WR is quite different than that of the Post article. I do not pretend to have talked to all soldiers and I havent been behind the scenes, but I am amazed by the attitude and spirit of the soldiers I talk to. I feel as though its almost an entirely different hospital than the one I visit.

The more I get involved with politics, the crazier I get. I swear, I'm going to lose it. I was happier when I was ignorant of the MSM bias. When is the American public going to stand up and take action.

[Dave S]

How can you be upset by something you admit you don't even know is true?

That is not the issue. How can so many people here be furious that the Washing Post is reporting this? Have you ever known the government to be on top of anything. We're from the government and we just want to take care of ya'll.

[af_vet_rr]

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.

I don't know the history behind WRAMC, but the problem maybe the Army, and more importantly, bureacracy - everything I've seen and heard, and what you've said, and others, the people are good.

It's just not made for handling a wartime situation apparently (or rather, it's not being maintained/managed as a wartime facility). My brother-in-law recently attended a little ceremony or some such in San Antonio at Brooke Army Medical Center, and said they are doing a lot to increase their capacity (I believe an Air Force medical wing is going to end up there as well, if they aren't already there). Obviously there is money somewhere - BAMC is bustling with activity.

It makes me wonder if, at some point, some senior Officer is going to step up and take responsibility.

We aren't losing that many soldiers and Marines a day - every now and then we might hit five or six, but the reason why we are not losing many (at least part of the reason), is soldiers and Marines are getting some amazing medical care in Iraq before they ever leave. My brother-in-law spent a few months working at one of the Air Force hospitals there, and said that there is very little they can't handle inside of Iraq these days - they are working on guys in Iraq, that in the past would have required being sent to Germany or the States before getting what they needed. He said there were civilian surgeons from several major hospitals in the States who were volunteering (mostly surgeons specializing in trauma-type injuries) getting experience they might not otherwise have gotten.

It makes me wonder, if they are getting first-rate care in Iraq, if WRAMC has been turned into basically a station where soldiers are stuck until they are processed out or something. BAMC and some of the others are specializing in treatment and care that WRAMC may not be equipped for - usually when I see BAMC in the news, it's either burn patients or amputees.

It's a disgrace, and it's pretty clear that there are problems (and I'm ignoring what's being said in the media and relying on reports from other FReepers as well as friends/family who know first or second-hand what's going on).

[af_vet_rr]

How can you be upset by something you admit you don't even know is true?

I'm not going to speak for the person you were replying to, but if you read through this thread and others, FReepers are posting their first hand experiences that there are serious problems at WRAMC, and I've heard from family and friends that there are as well.

What it sounds like is *most* of the people working there/assigned there are good people. It's just the bureaucracy, and it's a damn shame that people are falling through the cracks, but it's too be expected when a facility such as that is on a wartime footing - I imagine that if you go back to the '60s or '40s, that people were having problems then.

Having been around the government in one capacity or another for much of my adult life, I am not surprised in any way by what other FReepers are saying, or what I've heard.

[cookcounty]

Have you included in your chart that LEE HAMILTON is now an employee of the CRIMINAL Sandy Berger?

Go to the Stonebridge International (a lobby firm to help you make deals with China) website: Sandy Berger, lead Principal. Lee "9-11" Hamilton, Advisory Board. What a web of crooks.

[STARWISE]

Dear Lord ........ the Clintonistas are aligning, and expect more. There are no depths to which they'll not sink, no ethics they won't breach, no place they won't foul. And the Arkancide squad is plotting, I'm sure.

[Txsleuth]

BumP

[PleaDeal]

Thanks for writing about your experiences at WR, and I'm really glad to hear that you and hubby are getting the medical services he needs!!!!

One thing that makes a HUGE difference for the patients at WR is to have a spouse, parent, or sibling staying at the hospital and making sure that all the paperwork is completed. The patients can't always take care of this and/or don't want to deal with it. Understandable, but it leads to major delays in the process. Having someone there to be persistent and pushy with admin types (like you guys did!) and stay on top of each step can move the beaurocracy a little faster.

[Txsleuth]

I just heard Laura Ingraham talk about the Walter Reed story..and was all praise for Dana Priest..and what a great thing she did exposing Walter Reed..

However, a few seconds later, she said that she had been to Walter Reed before..and sure didn't see or hear anything about this "awful treatment of our guys"...

Of course she wants to get to the bottom of whose fault this is...although she said that the Bush Admin did send people over to clean it up and it is in the process of being cleaned...

[muawiyah]

It's also the Washington Post coming up with something they proclaim to be a "horror" that they keep secret for months on end ~ presumably to make the troops suffer even more.

Not surprised to find out that the Washington Post (particularly their hardcore fascist whiplady, Dana Priest) are into trying to recreate in somebody's mind Abu Ghraib here in the Nation's capital.

[muawiyah]

DC government does not run Walter Reed. That's a United States government institution and I believe it's under direct military command. You'd want to go across the river to the Pentagon to complain about it.

[muawiyah]

Walter Reed is not part of the VA system.

[muawiyah]

The Washington Post is never right on anything. They kept their findings secret for a very long time so that the troops at Walter Reed would suffer more.

The Washington Post, it's owner, managers, editors, writers, reporters and support staff are, at a minimum, the scum of the Earth.