Army leaders defend supervision of soldier care unit

LAWTON, Okla. — Mold infests the barracks that were set up here a year ago for wounded soldiers after poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center triggered a systemwide overhaul, soldiers say.

Twenty soldiers, who spoke to USA TODAY early last week, said their complaints about mold and other problems went unheeded for months. They also said they had been ordered not speak about the conditions at Fort Sill.

Officers at the Army base last week ordered that ventilation ducts in two barracks be replaced and soldiers be surveyed, anonymously if they wished, about any concerns. Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel, the commanding officer, said it was “inappropriate” for soldiers to be ordered not to talk about the mold.

“We’re going in and we’re going to take care of this for these guys,” he said over the weekend.

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Soldiers: Mold infests Okla. barracks for wounded

LAWTON, Okla. — Staff Sgt. Michael Riley plans to leave the Army later this month on a medical discharge. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder along with back and brain injuries from blasts in Iraq. And he’s angry about the care he received at Fort Sill’s program for wounded soldiers here.

Riley is among 20 soldiers who complained to USA TODAY last week about mold in the barracks, delays in processing medical cases and morale in the Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) for wounded and injured outpatients at Fort Sill, an artillery training installation. While leaders of the unit are addressing the mold issues, they defended the unit’s supervision and morale.

After problems surfaced last year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the Army established a WTU at each of 35 installations. Soldiers assigned to these units receive specialized care. They are assigned a squad leader, nurse case manager and doctor to care for them, and usher them to return to duty or medical retirement. “Those three people are with this soldier from start to finish … (to ensure) that the soldier can get through the system without having to fight,” Gen. Michael Tucker said in announcing the program last year. “The soldier’s mission is to heal.”

But as the number of soldiers in the program doubled from 6,000 to 12,000 by June, individual care slipped, congressional investigators found. In July, Army leaders told Congress they were struggling to improve the program. “It takes time to kill bureaucracies,” Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle said.

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Army leaders defend supervision of soldier care unit

We spend BILLIONS of U.S. taxpayer dollars to finance the Iraqi government in their CIVIL WAR, but we won’t spend the necessary money to properly care for the troops that we send into harms way to carry out the actions and wishes of our President.

I wrote a piece a while back called A matter of Inconvenient Hypocrisy, and in it I pointed out the hypocrisy that I feel is shown by so many sites that support Bush, and ANY decision he makes, sites that declare their undying love of George W. Bush and the troops, sites that declare they are 100% in support of the troops and the wars we fight. Unequivocal support.

Yet in that support they never, or at most, rarely, address issues such as this. Why does it take having the MSM get involved to get anything done for the troops?

A matter of Inconvenient Hypocrisy? Or blind Bush Bot devotion? Either way, I am NOT drinking that Kool Aid. You either support the troops, AND their after-action care, 100%, or you’re a hypocrite that’s waving the flag in an effort to impress a few weak minded readers.

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