Imagine being a soldier, who has sacrificed for his country, to the point that he is laying in a hospital or an outpatient facility because he was wounded enough to be discharged home. Now imagine where you're at. There are stains on the carpet. Okay, so that's not that big of a deal, right? Now imagine that there is mold on the walls. Not only that, but rats have infested the building where you're at as well. You don't think that's possible?
Building 18, a dilapidated 50-room former hotel, across from Walter Reed Army Medical Center is where many outpatients are housed. Before renovations were rushed in January of 2007, this building had just that: moldy walls, stained carpets, and rat infestations. Not only was this a big problem, but many commanders in charge of handling this facility and that of Walter Reed, seemed insensitive to the situation.
Defense Secretary, Robert M Gates, declares that he is
"disapointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation. Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems."
A recent article by David Cloud of the N.Y. Times reported that Francis J Harvey was forced to resign on March 2nd of 2007, for how he handled public news that wounded soldiers weren't receiving efficient and humane treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. At the same time that Gates made Mr. Harvey's dismissal public, the army already replaced Harvey with a new general.
Harvey was dismissed because Gates was dissapointed that Harvey temporarily named Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley as Commander of Walter Reed. The Army's top medical officer, General Kiley had previously seemed to make the problems at Walter Reed appear trivial, where he was previously in command until 2004. Kiley, on a tour of outpatient facilities for patients responded, in January of 2007, "while we have some issues here, this is not a horrific, catastrophic failure at Walter Reed. I mean these are not good but you saw rooms that look perfectly acceptable, you saw the day rooms with the pool tables and plasma screen t.v.s, and we're working everyday to make those rooms look better."
Those comments, and others, did not please Gates. Though he endorsed a decision to remove General Weightman, he was unaware that General Kiley was chosen as acting commander - an appointment that lasted only one day (to say the least). Now, veteran Army doctor and brother to the current Army Chief of Staff, Major General Eric B. Schoomaker will take over command for Walter Reed.
On a visit to the outpatient facilities in January of 2007, before renovations took place, Harvey claimed the conditions were totally unacceptable. He placed most of the blame on noncommissioned officers. "We had some NCO's who weren't doing their job, period," he said.
This could be an embarrasment to many in high command and offices, that previously visited the facilities at Walter Reed. Bush, himself, who had made previous visits, did not seem aware of the situation until he read about it in a news article. Following the news article, however, he did appoint staff to look into the matter.
President Bush plans to appoint a bipartisan commission to look into the medical treatment that's administered to wounded soldiers, both by the Department of Defense and Veteran's Administration. White House officials plan to make a review, examining troop's medical treatment - beginning from when they were wounded, as they were transferred to Defense Department hospitals, as they received care in Veteran's Administration facilities, and after leaving the Armed Services. Bush names commission members the week of March 5th, 2007.