Treating our wounded like yesterday's paper

Our soldiers are fighting for us in the name of our government and all of us, but what is our government and military doing for the mentally and physically wounded soldiers once they come home?

A few reporters from The Washington Post wanted to find out some answers. Last Sunday's paper WaPo ran a story called Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility, written by Dana Priest and Anne Hull, with additional reporting by Julie Tate. This story rips the scab off of the belief put forth by the Bush Administration that it's doing everything it can for our wounded returning home from battle. In short, the piece describes in intimate detail how appalling the conditions are for recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Military hospital in Washington, D.C.

The story details the sad, decrepit, pathetic way our military is treating (or in many cases, barely treating) our returning heroes from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. The two reporters spent unauthorized, covert time at Walter Reed, interviewing many soldiers. Some soldiers would not give their names out of fear of retribution because they are still on active duty. But, a number did talk with Priest and Hull.

I'll be the first to confess that I didn't know a whole lot about Walter Reed before reading the piece. I knew of it, and from what little I did know, I thought it was an enormous, spit-shined hospital that housed thousands of mentally and physically wounded soldiers, getting the best care that taxpayer money can buy. We wouldn't give our soldiers any less, right? After all, that's what I've heard President Bush say on TV on more than a few occasions.

Goes to show you what I know about Walter Reed and our returning soldiers. However, I don't think I was alone in my ignorance.

It bears repeating that I'm thankful that we have a press that can really have an impact on injustices such as these, when it elects to do it.

The photos that accompany the article are powerful and a jolt - I've included a few of them here. When I read and see things like this, I really do take time and reflect how lucky I am, and also how grateful I am for the sacrifices that the men and women are making for all of us, regardless of how I feel about the War in Iraq.

On soldier who did go on record in the piece is Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon (above), who spent several weeks at Walter Reed, beginning in November 2004, after his eye and skull were decimated by an AK-47. For several years, Shannon had to deal with the enormous, frustrating bureaucracy that defines Walter Reed. 43, came in on one of those buses in November 2004 and spent several weeks on the fifth floor of Walter Reed's hospital. His eye and skull were shattered by an AK-47 round. The WaPo piece describes in detail how his experience began at Walter Reed shortly after arriving:

His odyssey in the Other Walter Reed has lasted more than two years, but it began when someone handed him a map of the grounds and told him to find his room across post.

A reconnaissance and land-navigation expert, Shannon was so disoriented that he couldn't even find north. Holding the map, he stumbled around outside the hospital, sliding against walls and trying to keep himself upright, he said. He asked anyone he found for directions.

Shannon had led the 2nd Infantry Division's Ghost Recon Platoon until he was felled in a gun battle in Ramadi. He liked the solitary work of a sniper; "Lone Wolf" was his call name. But he did not expect to be left alone by the Army after such serious surgery and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He had appointments during his first two weeks as an outpatient, then nothing.

"I thought, 'Shouldn't they contact me?' " he said. "I didn't understand the paperwork. I'd start calling phone numbers, asking if I had appointments. I finally ran across someone who said: 'I'm your case manager. Where have you been?'

"Well, I've been here! Jeez Louise, people, I'm your hospital patient!"

It's inexcusable that our returning soldiers are treated like this. INEXCUSABLE. Put another way, can you imagine a patient in a private hospital being treated this way? There would be lawsuits, charges filed and almost certainly lots of press. But, many men and women who are returning to Iraq are simply swept under the rug, ignored and forgotten; sometimes lost in a mountain of paperwork and governmental b.s.

When I hear about the ineptitude of our military and government on this scale, I wonder how we ever won the World War II or hell, even the Cold War. What makes this whole story even more of an outrage is the massive fraud and misallocation of funds in the reconstruction of Iraq, all paid for by American taxpayers.

The story offered more details of Shannon's frustration:

Shannon, who wears an eye patch and a visible skull implant, said he had to prove he had served in Iraq when he tried to get a free uniform to replace the bloody one left behind on a medic's stretcher. When he finally tracked down the supply clerk, he discovered the problem: His name was mistakenly left off the "GWOT list" -- the list of "Global War on Terrorism" patients with priority funding from the Defense Department.

He brought his Purple Heart to the clerk to prove he was in Iraq.

He had to bring his Purple Heart!

Of course, our president, his administration and the Pentagon haven't forgotten about our returning heroes, have they? Of course not. Sunday's story gave readers a presidential flashback from late last year, when President Bush last visited Walter Reed:

"We owe them all we can give them," Bush said during his last visit, a few days before Christmas. "Not only for when they're in harm's way, but when they come home to help them adjust if they have wounds, or help them adjust after their time in service."

Keep up the good work, Mr. President.

Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan (above) came to Walter Reed last February after suffering a broken neck and the loss of his left ear. He nearly died in the field from blood loss. Duncan is housed in Building 18, located just outside the gates of the hospital's grounds and a mere five miles from the White House. This is how the WaPo article described his living conditions:

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

Words fail me when I read stuff like that. The maimed soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan deserve worlds better than this, yet it takes undercover reporting by Washington Post reporters to raise awareness of these conditions.

The article goes on to describe a litany of other frustrations that recuperating soldiers must endure. To wit:

• The typical soldier is required to file 22 documents with eight different commands - most of them off-post - to enter and exit the medical processing world, according to government investigators.

• 75% of the troops polled by Walter Reed last March said their experience was "stressful."

• Suicide attempts and unintentional overdoses from prescription drugs and alcohol, which is sold on post, are part of life at Walter Reed.

• Family members who speak only Spanish have had to rely on Salvadoran housekeepers, a Cuban bus driver, the Panamanian bartender and a Mexican floor cleaner for help. Walter Reed maintains a list of bilingual staffers, but they are rarely called on, according to soldiers and families and Walter Reed staff members. "If they can have Spanish-speaking recruits to convince my son to go into the Army, why can't they have Spanish-speaking translators when he's injured?" a Spanish-speaking relative of a wounded soldier asks. "It's so confusing, so disorienting."

• Soldiers, wives, mothers, social workers and the heads of volunteer organizations have all complained to officials about what one called "The Handbook No One Gets" that would explain life as an outpatient. Most soldiers polled in the March survey said they got their information from friends. Only 12 percent said any Army literature had been helpful.

• And most outrageously of all: lost paperwork for new uniforms has forced some soldiers to attend their own Purple Heart ceremonies and the official birthday party for the Army in gym clothes, only to be chewed out by superiors.

If you aren't outraged by reading about soldiers who can't even get a new uniform to wear to a ceremony where they are awarded a Purple Heart, then you should check your own heart. These men and women can only be described as our nation's heroes, and they deserve worlds more respect than this.

Soldiers' frustrations are perhaps best summed up by Spec. George Romero, 25, who returned from Iraq with what the article describes as "a psychological disorder."

"I've been close to mortars. I've held my own pretty good," he said. "But here...I think it has affected my ability to get over it...dealing with potential threats every day.

"I hate it," continued Romero, who stays in his room all day. "There are cockroaches. The elevator doesn't work. The garage door doesn't work. Sometimes there's no heat, no water...I told my platoon sergeant I want to leave. I told the town hall meeting. I talked to the doctors and medical staff. They just said you kind of got to get used to the outside world...My platoon sergeant said, 'Suck it up!'"

You know who truly needs to Suck it up? Our government, the president and Congress. Find your Senators' addresses Here and your U.S. Representative Here. Write them and express to them your outrage over the conditions at Walter Reed.

They are all going to hear from me this weekend.

I'm sure the story will have its critics, who will come out and say that the reporters are only reporting on isolated incidents at Walter Reed, blah blah blah. There shouldn't be ANY incidents like the ones described above, period.

A quick footnote to the story - this is how journalism and a free press are supposed to function - oversight of the government, and holding our government and its various agencies responsible for its actions. I don't always agree with the things WaPo reports on or the positions the paper takes on in its editorial pages, but I also give credit where credit is due, and the paper has performed a valuable public service by running this piece. I hope to see many more stories exposing what the government is or isn't doing for our returning heroes. Any that I find, I'll bring to you.

Top photo: AP/Lauren Frayer
Other photos: Michel de Cille, The Washington Post