Overlooked

[Lanya]

Overlooked: Army Times on the Wounded

Overlooked in the tremendous media response to Washington Post staff writer Dana Priest's critically important two-part examination of how the military's wounded are treated is the Army Times's own investigative piece published Tuesday, "Wounded and waiting." The Army Times emphasized 1) the long waiting periods (see below) and 2) the attempts to reduce or deny disability benefits.

Before the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, in 2001, "10 percent of soldiers going through the medical retirement process received permanent disability benefits" and 16 percent of reservists were granted permanent disability. In 2005, only 3 percent of soldiers and 5 percent of reservists were granted disability. Soldiers can go to the VA for more help, but "the department had a staggering 400,000-case backup on new claims in fiscal 2006."

CAPTION: SPC Karl Unbehagen, a 3rd Infantry Division soldier discovered, diagnosed with a brain tumor is currently a patient in the Medical Hold Unit at Walter Reed Army Medical. Since the tumor is deemed a pre-existing medical condition by medical evaluators, Unbehagen will receive no disability from the Army and has re-enlisted and re-classed as a Satellite and Electronic Repair Technician. December, 12, 2006. (James J. Lee / Times Staff)

One of the more critical points was made on Countdown with Keith Olbermann (transcript) by Iraq war veteran Jon Soltz, now chairman of the political action committee VoteVets.org: THE PENTAGON PAYS FOR THE COSTS OF RUNNING WALTER REED HOSPITAL.

    SOLTZ: You know sir, I think the “Washington Post” piece speaks for itself. Walter Reid is in a specifically different position than some of the other out patient places around the United States Army and the Department of Defense. You know, last year the Republican Congress decided they were going to have BRAC a lot of military installations around the country, which means Base Realignment and Closure. Walter Reid came up on that list.

    I think you‘re seeing the affects of that policy, which is Why are you going to fix the paint and clear the mice out of an institution that‘s closing. I think the second striking thing about this piece is that this is actually part of the Department of Defense. This is not the Veterans‘ Administration, which we know is woefully underfunded.

    The DOD is responsible for these soldiers until they leave active duty. So, basically, the same administration that brought us no body armor and no up-armored humvees, the same administration that just brought us mice at Walter Reid, and their support for the war fighter is abysmal.

DONALD RUMSFELD and GEORGE BUSH and DICK CHENEY, and now ROBERT GATES: THIS IS ON YOUR WATCH. THIS IS YOUR FAULT.

Here's what happened to Spc. Karl Unbehagan (PHOTO ABOVE), reports the Army Times:

    In August 2004, as Spc. Karl Unbehagan, 29, reported to his new unit at Fort Benning, Ga., he developed intense migraine headaches. Doctors told the infantry soldier he was not used to the humid weather. A couple of months later, they ran a CAT scan.

    “I had a tumor in the third ventricle of my brain,” Unbehagan explained, pointing to the shunt that runs from the scar on his head down to his stomach to relieve the pressure in his brain. “They realized it had nothing to do with the weather.”

    The physical evaluation board rated him at zero percent, saying the tumor was a pre-existing condition. Unbehagan has been in the Army for four years, and his doctors found no proof the tumor existed before he joined, he said.

    Rather than face the civilian world with no benefits, he talked with a free counselor from Disabled American Veterans who told him how to fight the discharge, reclassify as an electronics and satellite repair specialist, and stay in the Army. The process took eight months, which he spent in the medical hold company.

    His board was restarted three times: First, his medical profile was lost. Then, somebody forgot to counsel him — a required part of the process. And finally, no one made his file active after he changed his job field, so no one saved him a slot at the repair school, he said.

Dana Priest appeared yesterday on PBS's Newshour, as well as Countdown with Keith Olbermann (transcript), where she did her own report on her WaPo story (video: "Shameful treatment of veterans"), and on Hardball with Chris Matthews (transcript).

    DANA PRIEST: ... the Army at Walter Reed really has a very well-oiled public relations machine.

    They've allowed us to see the good part of Walter Reed, the medical care which people are not complaining about, the rehabilitation clinics which people are not complaining about. But we discovered this other world, which is actually populated by many more people.

    At any one time, there are only about 30 combat wounded in the hospital. But there are 700 living as charges of Walter Reed in one of five buildings, either on post or right off post or in apartments and houses nearby. Nearly 700 in an outpatient world that is quite different -- has quite different standards than the medical facility.

    [...]

    [W]e know Walter Reed as the crown jewel of medicine ...

    [W]hen we started hearing these stories of neglect, and in some cases indifference, it was unbelievable. And we wanted to gather many more anecdotes before we put it together.

    What we found is that there are people, as the Staff Sergeant Shannon that you referred to, many people who get out of the hospital, they're discharged, they go to live in one of these buildings, but nobody really follows up on them.

    In his case, he sat for weeks. A sniper had shot out his eye and part of his brain. He was on heavy medication, like many people coming out of surgery, so he was very much in a fog. And they expected him to remember when his next appointment was.

    He has PTSD, like many other people we talked to, and other people with traumatic brain injuries who just couldn't remember things on their own, and they weren't given one person to follow them around. They had, instead, platoon sergeants, who were actually often wounded soldiers themselves, who couldn't distinguish them from others and had stress problems on their own.

    (FULL TRANSCRIPT of PBS Newshour interview of Dana Priest, February 19, 2007.)


There are MORE IMAGES and STORIES from the Army Times investigative piece:



CAPTION: Pvt. Martin Jackson, a former 1st Armor Division soldier, injured his back in Balad, Iraq, running from a mortar attack. The 30-year-old patient from Montgomery, Ala. has been in the Medical Hold Unit at Walter Reed Army Medical for a year and says he is dissatisfied with the evaluation process and will leave the Army.

Pvt. Martin Jackson's story:

    Pfc. Martin Jackson, 30, spent 16 months in Iraq as a supply sergeant with 4th Brigade, 27th Infantry Battalion. Two years ago, while running from a mortar round in Balad, Iraq, he tripped and twisted his leg.

    “I thought it was just an ankle sprain,” he said. “One day I woke up and just couldn’t move.”

    He had twisted his spine. Now the soft-spoken soldier cannot sit or stand for too long, or lift anything over 10 pounds, which limits his work as a supply clerk.

    He has spent two years at Walter Reed going through rehabilitation and waiting for his discharge, which means he hasn’t lived with his wife of 10 years for more than three years.

    “She’s been talking about a divorce,” he said. “I just signed [my rating] so I could go home and be with my family.”

    He said his physical evaluation board counselor was another private first class. “She didn’t know what she was doing,” he said. “Sometimes I had to tell her what was going on.”
The Army awarded him 20 percent disability — no medical retirement for his war injuries, and no insurance for his family.

    “It’s frustrating when you know the love you used to have for the military, and then you lose that,” he said. “This is their job: It shouldn’t take months to give a person the same percentage you gave someone else with the same injury last week.”

CAPTION: Spc. Cari Uyttewall, 24, of New Smyra Beach, Fla., was once a nurse at Walter Reed, and is now on medical hold. She has decided to leave the Army. (Her more complete story is not told in the Army Times piece.)

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There's so much more in the Army Times story, including a complete description of the medical review process, more photos, and stories of neglect, confusion, self-medication and suicide attempts.

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/02/overlooked_army.html#more

[hnumpah]

But it's all written by people with an agenda, who are against the war and want to make the Army look bad, thus it couldn't possibly be true.

[BT]

Perhaps the dems will hold hearings and get to the bottom of this.