Ceremony marks closing of Walter Reed hospital (After 102 years of service)

WASHINGTON – Maj. Walter Reed's sword was symbolically handed over to the Navy at a ceremony Wednesday marking the closure of the Army hospital bearing his name, where hundreds of thousands of the nation's war wounded have been treated for more than a century.

The tone was somber at times, but mostly celebratory, as more than a thousand former and current staff members and patients — some of them wounded troops from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in wheelchairs who have lost limbs —gathered under a white tent to say goodbye to the Army's flagship hospital.

The Army band played, paratroopers jumped out of a plane, and flags representing various units on the hospital grounds were symbolically cased in black.

The hospital opened in 1909 and has a storied history of care to military members, their families and presidents. President Dwight Eisenhower died there, as did Gens. John J. Pershing and Douglas MacArthur. But in 2007, that reputation was scarred by a scandal about substandard living conditions on its grounds for wounded troops in outpatient care that led to improvements in care for the wounded throughout the military. No mention was made at the ceremony about the scandal.

Instead, the innovation in prosthetics and care to the nation's war wounded at Walter Reed was honored. Most recently, more than 18,000 troops from the current wars have gone there for treatment.

You don’t really get the whole picture just by looking at the title.

The hospital’s operations are being moved in August to new and upgraded facilities at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and at Fort Belvoir, Va. The price tag for the new facilities is $2.6 billion.

The hospital in Bethesda will be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

So, from old Walter Reed, to new Walter Reed.

New facility - but just try to get there ... There were NO BRAC funds for upgrading the transportation infrastructure.

Med Center is bordered east and west by Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues [3 lanes each way on each road]. Bordered on north and south by Cedar Lane and Jones Bridge Roads [2 lanes each way on each road].

CURRENT rush hour traffic by civilians going to work backs up Connecticut and Wisconsin for about a mile [ON A GOOD DAY - GOD FORBID A TRAFFiC ACCIDENT]. Cedar Lane and Jones Bridge ALSO back up too.

With the move - more than 4,000 NEW personnel at the complex, PLUS DOUBLING the annual number of patients from 500,000 to 1 Million +. IMAGINE the NEW traffic headaches ...

Hospital clinics ARE NOT ready, NOT enough parking for the NEW influx of people, the food court area is ALREADY overflowing at lunch time [NOT TO MENTION THE TRINKET VENDORS WHO SET UP SHOP IN THE SAME HALLWAY - LOOKS LIKE AN F*IN’ INDIAN BAZAAR].

How do I know ALL this - I live 2.5 miles away ...

I agree with Lmo56 as the the “cluster f...” it will be in and around Bethesda, but I have a problem with the complaints and in the calling the 2007 incident a “scandal”.

Here is the story on the “scandal”. I know this is true because of personal conversations with other wounded warriors and my knowledge of the area. After all, I have been at Walter Reed (WR) on Friday nights since Sept., 2005, and have been inside with the troops. I have even played poker with them.

I have never heard a wounded soldier complain about the treatment they received. Their treatment is top notch. Moving to Bethesda will not significantly increase their treatment. In fact, some wounded warriors were being sent from Bethesda to WR for rehab because WR had a better rehab facilities for some injuries. The only complaint I have heard is about the time it takes to be discharged. And most of that was with the VA. The number of wounded around this time was greater than the VA had manpower to handle. Chastise the VA but not WR.

The “scandal” with mold was only one incident. Also, the wounded warrior’s room was NOT inside WR. It was in a WWII era hotel that WR uses when the base is full. Granted the hotel was old and needed remodeling, but it was no where close to being dilapidated.

The reporters lied about who the were to gain access to the hotel.

The room in question was originally not being assigned a soldier because of the mold. But the soldier who occupied it for the “scandal” asked to be there because he did not want to share a room with another soldier.

A group of wounded soldiers from WR even held a press conference to defend WR. Since the press did not get a ‘got ya’ moment, the press conference did not see the light of day. Again, I was there along with several other members of the DC Chapter of FReeRepublic.

Hope this clarifies the misconceptions of Walter Reed. I believe its closing is a travesty.

[Mr] T

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