Now That I'm Calmer

Suddenly, the Army moves into action. From this morning's WaPo:

Walter Reed and Army officials have been "meeting continuously for three days" since the articles began appearing [in the Washington Post], Weightman said. A large roundtable meeting with Army and Defense Department officials will take place at the Pentagon early this morning to continue talks about improvements in the outpatient system, he added.

Weightman said the medical center has received an outpouring of concern about conditions and procedures since the articles appeared and has taken steps to improve what soldiers and their families describe as a messy battlefield of bureaucratic problems and mistreatment.

"We're starting to attack how we'll fix and mitigate" some of the problems, he said.

Of course, why does it take a series of articles in one of the country's leading papers to get this started? Why isn't there anyone in the hierarchy who can take a look and say "This is unacceptable" and make things happen?

Of course, things like this probably have an impact:

For the past three years, Michael J. Wagner directed the Army's largest effort to help the most vulnerable soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. His office in Room 3E01 of the world-renowned hospital was supposed to match big-hearted donors with thousands of wounded soldiers who could not afford to feed their children, pay mortgages, buy plane tickets or put up visiting families in nearby hotels.

But while he was being paid to provide this vital service to patients, outpatients and their relations, Wagner was also seeking funders and soliciting donations for his own new charity, based in Texas, according to documents and interviews with current and former staff members. Some families also said Wagner treated them callously and made it hard for them to receive assistance.

Wagner claims innocence; former staff members say not. It's just one example of the corruption, waste, inneficiency, and misdirected priorities in the military.

John Aravosis seems to have at least part of the explanation. Wonkette came up with the meat:

Turns out the VA “misunderstood” the DoD numbers, because the Pentagon doesn’t want anybody adding up the 25,000 or so troops hurt in “non combat” situations to the 22,000 or so it admits have been injured in battle.

Blimes says it hardly matters if somebody falls off a ladder or gets blown apart by insurgents — if they survive, they will be in the VA health-care system for the rest of their lives. A soldier shot by “friendly fire” is no less hurt than one hit by whoever it is we’re supposedly fighting over there.

As for the Pentagon, it has ensured Blimes will never find those numbers on DoD websites again, because all the damning evidence has just been changed on the military websites.

(There's a link to Bilmes' paper at Wonkette.)

We've seen this way too much from the Pentagon. The first reaction always seems to be to cover it up. How about a little transparency in the military? Or maybe a new security classification: CYA.

That is by no means the end of the horror stories. From Army Times:

A soldier goes before a physical evaluation board if a medical evaluation board — a team of doctors — determines he is not able to do his job because of his injury. The physical evaluation board then determines again if the soldier should stay in the military and, if not, how much the Defense Department will compensate the soldier. If the soldier receives a disability rating of 30 percent or higher, he gets a disability retirement check based on years of service, rank and the rating percentage. He and his family will also receive medical benefits for life. If the rating is lower than 30 percent, he gets a one-time severance payment.

Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, the number of soldiers wading through the paperwork, physicals and appointments has doubled at Walter Reed. According to a Defense Department directive, it should take a total of 120 days from start to finish, but the average stay for Walter Reed soldiers is 270 days. The soldiers navigate a complicated system with the help of counselors with little more experience — or rank — than they have, and who lack training, according to a March 2006 Government Accountability Office report.

On March 2, 2006, Col. Robert Norton, deputy director, Government Relations, for the Military Officers Association of America, told the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs that since October 2003, medical evaluation boards have averaged 67 days and physical evaluation boards have taken between 87 and 280 days.

“Taken together, the convalescence, [medical evaluation board] and [physical evaluation board] processes appear to average between nine and 15½ months for Army soldiers,” he said.

Whether we'll see any action from Congress is an open issue at this point. There's hope, now that the Republicans are in the minority, although I don't expect much from the Senate -- I think Reid lacks the will and he doesn't have that stable a majority. As for the Republicans, Robert Novak, of all people, shines a little light on their attitude toward our vets (note that this is a year ago -- it's not like no one knew there were problems):

"We are looking more and more like the Democrats we replaced," a House committee chairman told me Wednesday. That comment came before he learned, to his surprise and sorrow, that the House Republican leadership had removed Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The extraordinary purge buttressed the growing impression of arrogance as Republicans enter their second decade of power in the House.

The party's House leaders purportedly removed Smith, a tireless promoter of spending for veterans, to save money. But two days earlier, the same leaders pulled every string during a closed-door caucus to defeat reforms against pork barrel spending. Those disparate moves are united by a common purpose of making decisions from the top down. Smith was a committee chairman who did not take orders. The defeated spending reforms came from conservatives outside the leadership. . . .

The leadership's problem with Smith has been his insatiable desire to make life better for veterans during 24 years on the Veterans Affairs committee (six years as vice chairman, four years as chairman). That fits the job description set by conservative Democrat Sonny Montgomery of Mississippi during his 12-year chairmanship.

Don't look for any help from the right side of the aisle. I think it's time for John Murtha to take a hand.

(Note to country: Do you get the feeling the Republicans don't really care about you?)

AmericaBlog has a summary of yesterday's stories on this.

OK, one last time: these are the young men and women who are out there fighting for us. (I never served. I missed the draft for Vietnam -- high lottery number -- for which I was more than thankful, and now I'm too old -- until the Pentagon gets even more desperate for recruits. I wouldn't have made a very good soldier anyway -- I don't respond well to authority. I admire those who can pull it off.) It's unconscionable that a bunch of draft-dodgers in the White House and Congress would stand there and accuse anyone who disagrees with their hormonally charged fantasies of world domination of not supporting the troops when they are pulling shit like this.

Now I'm pissed all over again.