"Casualties of the Budget Wars" and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center

[[R-MOD]Saobh]

An interesting point of view about the the Walter Reed Army Medical Center story by retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton

IN his 1997 book “Dereliction of Duty,” Col. H. R. McMaster wrote that “the ‘five silent men’ on the Joint Chiefs made possible the way the United States went to war in Vietnam.” So it is today with the war in Iraq. Regrettably, the silence of our top officers has had a huge impact not just on the battlefield but also on how we have brought our injured warriors home from it. These planning failures led to the situation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center recently reported by The Washington Post, which resulted in the firings of the hospital’s commander and the secretary of the Army.

The sad truth is that The Post’s reports weren’t entirely new: Mark Benjamin, of United Press International and the Web magazine Salon, and Steve Robinson, the director of veterans affairs at Veterans for America, have been reporting on the disgraceful treatment of our war wounded since 2003. More important, the Walter Reed scandal is simply the tip of the iceberg: President Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Congress all pointedly failed to provide the money and resources for our returned troops wherever they are, both the obviously wounded and those who may seem healthy but are suffering mentally and physically from their service. ...

read the rest here.


ps: Lets keep it on topic and civil please.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

The VA system is a mess and has been for 30 or more years.
But just think, that's what Hillary wants for the whole country.
Can you imagine what would happen if the Feds ran every hospital in the country ?
I really hope that the attention being brought will improve the way the VA operates because it is horrible how our returnning wounded vets are treated.
I think anyone wounded in combat should not have to pay income taxes for 20 years.

[TheOldDog]

Originally Posted by ArmedDrunk&Angry

The VA system is a mess and has been for 30 or more years.
But just think, that's what Hillary wants for the whole country.
Can you imagine what would happen if the Feds ran every hospital in the country ?
I really hope that the attention being brought will improve the way the VA operates because it is horrible how our returnning wounded vets are treated.
I think anyone wounded in combat should not have to pay income taxes for 20 years.

Your post angers me. It angers me because you recognise that this IS a decades old problem but wish to swipe at <insert hated political figure/party here> when it is obvious that being such an old problem it would have had to cross the books of every conceivable political party, their relatives, their mistresses, their teachers and their neighbours dog. Its not a political problem, it never was, it’s a social one that should be fixed politically to benefit society.

Your idea that vets should not pay income tax for 20 years is….words fail me… I wonder what it would have done for a vet I met in San Francisco back in 199X. He had a flagpole flying the star spangled banner above his house, it helped hold it up, that is to say the flagpole held up his house, not the other way around. He had to replace his home every time it rained because, being made of cardboard, it would disintegrate when wet. He told me he preferred to live where he did, as opposed to unfolding his house somewhere else, because he shared the space with other vets living in their own boxes at the base of their own flagpoles, and they hung together for comfort and security. So, by all means, make income tax-free for 20 years, but without an income or the income of a minimum wage slave below taxable threshold it means nothing.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

Your post angers me !
You imply that all vets are homeless living in a box ?
Words fail you ?
The homeless are a whole other issue that is much more complicated than running a hospital system in a logical effective way.
The problem with the VA system is the government runs it and they do not do it well. It's one party that wants to expand the government to include all heath care so it is relevant that the VA sucks.
I don't know about San Francisco but in NY that vet would have access to housing and tens of thousands of dollars in aid for treatment, education and housing.
There are how many millions of combat vets and how many live in a box ?
So yeah, you piss me off with anecdotal evidence that is supposed to do what ?
I am supposed to think that making every hospital in the US work like the VA does now is a good idea ?
The point is that we do need to reform the VA and show our returning service members the respect they deserve and have earned ten times over.

Society makes rules via politics and politicians so it IS a political problem.
I take a "swipe" at one politician, one who is running for President.
The one who takes credit for the good of the 90's but seems to forget the bad she and her molester husband ignored and swept under the rug.

[Ghostrider]

Keep it civil guys.


-Ghost

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

I suggest an idea to materially benefit those who have given their blood for this country and TheOldDog wants to make it a touchy feely BS story.
The whole country should be demanding an independant review of the VA and a solution to the problem.

[trogdor1289]

We do need a independent review of this but taking a swipe at Hillary was completely uncalled for. The problem I feel is that soldiers just aren't as likely to complain as other people.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

How is the probable next President's ideas on health care not relevant to the discussion ?
Not to mention that there was 8 years she had to improve the system to show how it could work if we had universal health care ?

[Ghostrider]

Originally Posted by ArmedDrunk&Angry

I suggest an idea to materially benefit those who have given their blood for this country and TheOldDog wants to make it a touchy feely BS story.
The whole country should be demanding an independant review of the VA and a solution to the problem.

What I meant to say was that both should avoid turning it into a heated discussion. Just trying to remind the next one to post not to escalate it or something, that was all.


-Ghost