Now the commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) has been relieved of his duties in the wake of articles such as the one I referred to yesterday.
The Secretary of the Army was quoted as saying:
In an interview with CNN last week, Harvey said, “if we would have known about this, we would have fixed it. Unfortunately, we didn’t know about it.”
Please pardon me whilst I slip into a bit of scatological colloquialism … that’s just bullshit! Absolute, unadulterated, hip-deep manure. Wear your rubber waders when you read the story. WRAMC is the flagship of the USArmy’s medical system. I spent two years of my life driving LightHusband to once or twice weekly doctor’s appointments at that place. Presidents, congressmen, diplomats, secretaries of cabinet level departments … all receive medical treatment at WRAMC.
There are loads and loads of problems with the manner in which treatment is dispensed and handled at WRAMC and within the military medical system in general. However, for the Secretary of the Army to disclaim any knowledge of those problems and fire the commander is ludicrous and slapstick. The idea that the root or solution to any one of these problems might even be identified, let alone executed within 30 days are mere words … more unadulterated, hip-deep manure dispensed in the hope that it will calm tensions and remove the spotlight so that the Army may return to business as usual.
Major General Weightman is playing a very old and venerable role. One that is first documented in the Hebrew Old Testament. That of scapegoat. He is being made to assume the sins of many who went before him and many who will come after him in the hopes that he will divert attention from the true and ugly issues that are at hand. One hopes that he was given some small choice in the matter. That he is being compensated for losing what was once a brilliant military career in mid-stride and quite ignominiously.
The real issues are that we do not and never have cared properly for our wounded veterans. We pay lip service to the sacrifices that they make, but the reality is that Congressmen and women vote themselves ever larger salaries, but ever smaller pay increases for servicepeople. Congress controls the level of healthcare for the military and for itself. Congressmen and women have pos gold standard health care. Military service people have … well … go read the articles. It’s free. But you get what you pay for. Some day I’ll write the stories about the “health” care I and my family received while LightHusband was in the service.
The truly egregious issue? When LightHusband joined the service and up until the mid-90’s those who retired from the service were to receive FREE healthcare for life upon retirement. Their spouses would too. This was a large consideration for us as we made decisions about his career in the service. In the 1990’s his contract was changed and now that “free” health care comes at a price. Right now it’s a pittance, to be sure. But Congress can increase the cost at any time. I worry too, about those veterans who are on a fixed income and who relied upon this being free. Oh, and Congress? Their goldstandard healthcare is free for life upon leaving those hallowed halls.
Removing Maj. Gen. Weightman from his position will not change anything substantive at WRAMC. It will not give aid and assistance to our wounded veterans. This is the flap-of-the-month. Pretty soon the Eye of Mordor … err … the press will turn elsewhere and our fickle attentions will be drawn to whatever other sparkly bauble of the moment is presented. I’m not sure what can be done on a large scale or even small. Write your congressman? Keep writing them. E-mail them. Tell your friends to do it too. Let your representatives know that there are people who care about our servicemen and women. That we want them to be cared for properly. That we’d like to have a greater portion of the Defense Budget going for healthcare each year than for say, expensive toilet seats.
