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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Army Secretary Resigns Amid Walter Reed Probe |
| 2007-03-02 |
| President Bush today ordered a "comprehensive review" of care for wounded service members by a new presidential commission, and the secretary of the Army submitted his resignation, as the administration sought to deal with reports of festering problems in outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In a separate development, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said it is issuing a subpoena to compel Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was fired as commander of Walter Reed yesterday, to appear at hearing on Monday to testify about a controversial privatization effort at the Washington, D.C., hospital complex. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, meanwhile, announced this afternoon that he has accepted the resignation of Francis J. Harvey as secretary of the Army, and he said the Army later today would name a new permanent replacement for Weightman. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #7 I wasn't trying to minimze the problem I just wanted to point out that the Army has ALWAYS had substandard housing. I doubt that either the Commander or the Deputy Sec knew that substandard housing actully existed. I think thye should have been given a chance to rectify the situation and maybe Congress might want to allocate a little more toward Army housing. For the record I was Air Force but stationed on an Army post and every Air Force Base I ever lived on had great housing. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-03-02 23:29 |
| #6 Of course, they do... but this is the Army. Which, IIRC, always griped, half-enviously at the Air Force troops about how well the Air Force lived, comparitivly speaking. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2007-03-02 21:00 |
| #5 Most career service people have spent large chunks of their service lives in places that aren't any dumpier than the outpatient housing at WRAMC. I've done temdu living in WWII era Q-huts, strongback tents and 12 to a room post war bunkrooms. That said, the wounded deserve better. |
| Posted by: Snoluns Ebboluth3749 2007-03-02 20:54 |
| #4 Truth. Most spend a fair hunk of their own money just getting the assigned hovels into livable shape. It has been this was since the sixties, when I first experieinced it, and probably well before. It is about time this problem was rectified. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2007-03-02 19:31 |
| #3 Or when they discover that maintenance dollars requested by our commanders and approved by our civilian leadership for the upkeep of military facilities and housing go as far as a pat of butter on an acre of bread. Practically every facility I lived in and/or worked in for a 20 year career spent mostly overseas was a dump. Aging, cheap to begin with, and about two or three decades past its 'best-if-used-by' date. You wanna know the dirty little truth? Most career service people have spent large chunks of their service lives in places that aren't any dumpier than the outpatient housing at WRAMC. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2007-03-02 19:18 |
| #2 CS may be right about the general but the SEC ARMY has to go. This signal of need is long over due. The budget is set and approved by the SECARMY before going to congress. This place was, as I understood it, on the BRAC list to be torn down. When the POM budget is drafted many componants fight for the limited dollars. BRACKed facilities are last in line and usually get less than enough to just maintain what they have. The logic is to not throw money after a facility that is being torn down anyway and spend the dollars on places like CS talks about that will continue to be used. This is how it goes in a nut shell. For the command to allow this to happen required a number of leaders from the hospital commander on up to SECARMY to allow this and not ask congress to take care of the wounded. From my chair-"off with their heads" and it probably will land on Rummy's shoulders in the end. There is no excuse for not taking care of those who give it all for us. The next great disaster will be when the press discover how totally destroyed the VA situation is. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-03-02 19:05 |
| #1 One of those things I learned while I was in the service is that the Army has THE worst housing for personnel (regardless of status). When I arrived at Ft Meade MD as an E-4 with a wife I was offered a two bedroom SUBSTANDARD apartment. Substandard in the Army must have meant buildings that predate WWI, because these places were very old. Along with your apartment you got all the critters that came along with urban living (Rats, Cockroaches, and my favorite bats). After a couple of bug bombs, the acquisition of one-each rodent control system (Feline), some curtains, and a window mounted air conditioner the place didnÂ’t look too bad. Now I am not excusing the Army for putting wounded soldiers in substandard quarters but I add that they were using the same type of quarters since at least 1984. Maybe Congress should allocate some money to build some new barracks at Walter Reed. I donÂ’t think the General should have been relieved until he had a chance to fix the problem, especially since it was there before he took command and by and large it was an Army policy to allow substandard housing to exist. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-03-02 18:02 |