Walter Reed and another big one the VA

[Pseudomind]

I have been hinting and talking about about this for quite some time, especially when I hear about some out of this out-of-the-world fund amount for the Firemen and Police from 9/11. I am not upset about them, the Firemen and Police receiving aid, I am against the media outcrying, while the Veterans Administration has to keep enduring budget cut after budget cut , but I am tired of the way the Veterans have been continually mistreated. I have been around during agent Orange, the first Gulf War and now the current Iraq mess.

Not to mention, I have dealt with the VA and still continue to deal with them. For example, I had an appeal in during the start of 2002, it was finally, finalized at the end of 2005. The problem is not the people at the VA, as they are just over-whelmed by the amount of cases they have to deal with daily, while still losing their normal budget, and additional people. I know in my recent dealings, when an employee left the VA, no replacements were authorized to be hired

I would like to urge every veteran to write their representative and let them know how disgusted they are with the way our veterans are being treated. I have seen it first hand. Many may not know or feel they need VA service's, but if they ever did time an dwere either somewhere in between a general discahrge and honorable, they are still entitled to VA medicall services, if they cannot affford medical elsewhere. I do not have all of the particulars, one would need to see their local VA offfice, or perhaps inquire at a local VFW for information.

First hand (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17466102/)

Thanks

[Bill Heygster]

Isn't it amazing that all those good folks from congress went to walter reed and bethesda to "visit" the wounded and of course have their pictures taken but not one of them ever noticed any problems. Now they are standing on the floor of Congress asking how all this could possibly happen and blaming the other political party. What a joke. Sadly this is nothing new.

[CyberFire 12]

Isn't it amazing that all those good folks from congress went to walter reed and bethesda to "visit" the wounded and of course have their pictures taken but not one of them ever noticed any problems. Now they are standing on the floor of Congress asking how all this could possibly happen and blaming the other political party. What a joke. Sadly this is nothing new.

Exactly! Once the photo-op is over they go back to their usual-posturing and planning the next election. a "Pox" on both parties!

This is a national travesty. OK, they'll fire a few generals and hold hearings, but Congress won't do anything substantive.

[68Roadster]

It is beyond comprehension for me to believe that the commander of that facility has no idea of the conditions that exist there......he musta been hangin out every day in the wing where Cheney gets all his heart work done.....bet it's real nice over there......
I'm a vet, not of conflict or wartime service, but I think the boys going in there now deserve the best d*mn care they can get.....pi**es me off.....just what we need, politicians on a tour! I guess Pelosi signed their Field Trip permission slips.....

[HD2HVETTE]

There is so much more to this story. Gen. Kiley, who relieved the Commanding General of command of Walter Reed, was CG of Walter Reed until less than a year ago. And now he is going to turn things around? He is more reponsibile than the CG who was relieved. Wasn't Walter Reed scheduled for closure anyway? You're right-I heard a comment made by one of the patients who said John Kerry would come in, have his photo-op, and leave without hardly speaking to anyone there.

[THORIN]

I would like to know how Walter Reed and Bethesda compare. One is for our wounded Army grunts and the other is for our high and mighty polititions, for their old age problems. I bet Bethesda smells like a rose in comparison. Another question about Walter Reed. Think on this. You can have a Hospital that looks old and broken down but gives top medical care because of the personel, or you can have a great looking one, that you would not want to take your dog to. I like to beleive that the Commander of the hospital was spending the limited funds Congress hands out on good medical care. If I were a private that just came back from Iraq all shot up. I would not care about the living conditions. They are probably better than what he was in. But I would want the best medical care I could get.

I work in the Minneapolis VA. When I started here 28 years ago, it was an old set of buildings, going back to WWI. We had 1000 beds and 3600 personel. We are now in a new building (finished in 87). We have around 260 beds and about 2400 personel. We are doing more patients than ever. But we are doing most of them as out patients. It doesn't matter that we have a new hospital and cutting edge equipment and procedures. We are running ourselves ragged. The good news is, I am sure that someone is getting some nice bonuses off our effort. Seriously, I like to think we do very well for our Veterans with the limited resourses that Congress is willing to give us. We could do a hell of a lot more and provide better service if we were staffed and funded better.

[HD2HVETTE]

I live in MN, and know several Veterans that have used your facilities in Minneapolis. My father worked for the VA. Have heard good things about your facility, except it takes so long to arrange for care. I don't understand how we could spend so much on pork and entitlements and ignore the needs of those who have served to guarantee our country remains free. How do our representatives sleep at night?

[THORIN]

I imagine they sleep very well in their big homes.

[Bill Coke]

Fortunately Kiley is out as of today (3/12/07). I'm not sure they should have fired the MG that was in command. The guy had been there not quite 6 months. heck, it takes that long just to get your feet on the ground. The problem I see with Walter Reed is funding. If you have the funds allocated you can get things fixed. The problem with anything that is in need of repair whether it be housing or WR for example is funding. With WR Congress was not allocating funds..think about it due to BRAC here is a facility that Congress earmarked for closing. When that happens in cases like this the thought always is why throw money after something you are getting rid of. So the first fault lies with Congress for not allocating funds for infrastructture/facility repair. Secondly as I understand it this was under privatization as well. A conrtractor is concerned with profit. Repairs cut into profit. LTG Kiley needed to go. To me he exemplified F--- Up Move Up! Obvioulsy he did nothing to help the problem on his watch. I would like to see for the past let's say three to four years their list of top ten priorities wanted/needed at WR; then I would like to see their list of IJOs and that status.
Just my $.02.
Bill

[BigMike5]

I went to WRAMC when I was stationed at West Point in the early 80's and my wife needed some specialized throat/stomach work. I stayed in a relatively dilapadated guest house across the street from the entrance as I recall. I got off the hospital elevator on the wrong floor one night while she was there and found the entire wing empty and lights shut off. I checked another floor, same story. No staff, so they just shut down floors. Course this was the Jimmy Carter era when the Armed Forces were in pathetic shape. When it was time to leave we had to stay over a weekend because the doctor was not available to sign my wife out. We were not happy with that.

I was not impressed with the physical plant - the buildings were old and decrepit, and the area of the city just outside the gate was ghetto like. Then a few years ago I went there for a prostate biopsy. No room in the DVQ because there are just too many retired generals in the area, retired colonels are a dime a dozen. Parking on the circle in front of the hospital building required 3 stars on your sticker or plate. I ended up in a "standard" guest house room that had the bare basics and shared a bathroom with the room next door. It was tolerable, but barely, and it was walking distance/close to where I was treated so it was OK. I noticed that the facility where I was actually being treated was practically new. A stark contrast to the regular buildings. Other new features were new underground parking garages. [priority to come up with parking which was really tight and to make it secure]. Otherwise the facilities just looked older and more moribund red brick. The pharmacy area was the most overworked area I have ever seen. Tons of old people "going bad" as they waited for Rx to be filled. The rule--if your number isn't called in an hour, come to this window and ask about your Rx. It was unbelievably busy.

Now add hundreds of wounded to that scenario and I can see why things are bad. What I cannot countenance is the mold, and vermin, etc., being allowed to fester or go uncorrected. There are some working soldiers there, and a few buckets of Clorox and mops could certainly have been employed if anyone cared. And since we are kind to animals we use stick sheets to catch the rodents in our own facility, and they are very effective.

Now as to the finger pointing. It is a fact that the facility is on the hit list to close, and that translates in to no monetary support, or less than normal. Couple that with the fact that no one has any money anywhere, and the finger gets pointed at Congress who is suppose to appropriate it. We have been at zero growth since Christ was a Corporal, or so it seems. Our contracts to cut grass, clean the buildings, etc., got cut last summer--no money. We used to have Gov't ees to do that but they got cut and the service got contracted out. Cheaper--right, especially when you terminate the contract for no money. remaining employees had to do the services as an extra duty until some money finally came down months later. Cleaning latrines, emptying trash, and cutting grass--you have to love it. Anyway, it was right to fire the 2 generals, tho the 2nd guy may have just been getting his feet wet at 6 months. No loss on Kiley or the Sec Army. Sorry to wax on so long.