Sick, wounded U.S. troops held in squalor

UPI ^ | Oct. 17, 2003 | MARK BENJAMIN

[Cold Heat]

This is largely crap, but (some) of the VA system hospitals have more than they can handle. Not the majority.

Currently, there is a billion or so dollars in emergency funding working it's way through congress to alleviate backlogs.

[Pilsner]

Camp Swift in Texas has the cinder block and communal shower motif. Except for the fact that the cinder blocks are unpainted it is very much like my college dorm.

[Thunder 6]

I suspect we are going to see a signficant drop in reenlistments in the RC. Ask all those ARNG Infantry ans Armor soldiers we've sent to Germany and Italy over the past two years to guard kasernes (along with contract guards) how they liked their deployments. It is not what they signed up to do, and in one case, when some of them approached the AC commander at one location (I won't name it, but it starts with a "V" and is next to Graf) about the possibility of training and pulling maintenance on the tanks and getting in the simulators there during their off duty time as gate guards, they were told, "no, you are here to guard the gates so my soldiers can train." One team.

Hard to convince folks to stay on as tankers and infantrymen when they get little or no respect from the folks they were there to support, and are doing something that has nothing to do with their primary duty description...and they are away from their homes, jobs and families for almost a year. And, often times are housed for months in places we wouldn't dare put a regular army soldier. Outside latrines, no potable water in the buildings. In the field in Iraq is one thing, but I'm guessing whe could do a better job taking care of these guys.

Are they whining? Perhaps, but they also get to vote when the reenlistment NCO comes around to talk them up about staying...
regards,

[contessa machiaveli]

i meant "inhumanely"

[Thunder 6]

;0)

[Thunder 6]

Note to self: Proofreading is an important skill to master.

[Prodigal Son]

Outside latrines, no potable water in the buildings. In the field in Iraq is one thing, but I'm guessing whe could do a better job taking care of these guys.

Come on. How can you say no regular Army soldier would be in these conditions? Outside latrines? Is using a latrine that is not connected to your sleeping quarters really this bad? Some of the best, most memorable craps I have ever taken have been outside.

You are describing acceptable conditions of life in the Army. You might have a skewed perception of it because you saw RA troops with better housing or whatever than you had while you were deployed to whatever mission but it happens. I have endured those same sorts of conditions. The Army issued me a sleeping bag. There's my bed. An E-Tool, hey, I can sh!t where I need to. A poncho? If it aint raining we aint training. Hungry? MRE.

You had to guard the gates at Vilseck? It could've been a lot worse.

[Hot Tabasco]

Have you been there? Can you refute this story directly?

Do yourself a favor, perform a google search on this Benjamin guy then come back and tell everyone here that he doesn't have some sort of an agenda..........

[Thunder 6]

I didn't say I guarded the gates at Vilseck. I used that as an example. Perhaps you missed my point, and you certainly made assumptions about my experience. We've all lived like this in the service, anyone can be miserable. But why force it on American soldiers when the resources are there to prevent it?
regards,

[goodnesswins]

"Did I mention that I found the press' new fascination for the military interesting?"

Yeah...interesting...kinda like Robert Byrd's new interest in HOW Senators spend OUR money.....

[Hot Tabasco]

There are people here who got back in April

Doesn't this statement raise any flags for you?

[goodnesswins]

HELLO America....Welcome to GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE...

[MediaMole]

The reserves are already taking a hit. Several of the reservists I have talked to after returning from the latest deployment are planning to get out as soon as they can.

The armed forces are going to be in a lot of trouble if they continue to rely on reserves for long-term active duty. If we are going into a period of intense deployment, we need to increase the levels of active duty troops.

[Archangelsk]

Remember the drawdown initiated about 10 years ago? Here's payback.

More like 15 years ago. (And yes it's true thanks to the peace dividend).

[CheneyChick]

The armed forces are going to be in a lot of trouble if they continue to rely on reserves for long-term active duty. If we are going into a period of intense deployment, we need to increase the levels of active duty troops.

That is so very true.

[Lokibob]

Pure and simple, this is the life in a holding company. Guys waiting for reassignment, transportation, reclassification, and courts martial dates. There is no military organization, no extras, no organized training.

Generally there is a 1sg, a CO (in name only), a few clerks and hundreds of troops.

I have been in 1 holding company in my life, and after 3 days of it, I volunteered to work as a prison guard to get out of the company. The MP's treated me as one of their own and it made the 6 weeks go by fast.

In the holding company were AWOLS from Europe (troops that overstayed their leaves and turned themselves in), medical holds and guys like me awaitng orders to new posts. They had 6 formations a day, all work details, and passed out painting assignments, butt calls, and KP assignments. You miss any one of the formations and you could miss your shipping orders.

Is it easy living, no!!!! Is it necessary? probably. After all, if they made it a Holiday Inn, nobody would ever want to ship to their units.

I can't believe that they have no doctors. The military was certainly willing to send troops to the big hospitals that had ample medical personnel.

I suspect that these troops are complaining because they are not getting the medical care THEY THINK they need.

In any case, where is the IG in all of this? He is the troops ultimate go to person for all injustices. Troops get into more trouble talking to reporters than to the IG.

[Prodigal Son]

But why force it on American soldiers when the resources are there to prevent it?

To prevent what exactly? I have seen nothing in this article that I would consider deplorable or outside the parameters of normal. Each soldier in this place would have to be taken on a case by case basis. If some of these soldiers have a legitimate complaint or injury, I certainly hope they will get their due but without more knowledge...

You realize how easy it is to skew an article the way you want? Here's an example:

Lockerbie bomber rushed to hospital- a Free Republic exclusive

Now, I wrote that article. All the accounts are factual. But I did intentionally skew the article through wording to carry the impact I wanted it to carry. This is journalism 101. This is exactly how they operate. I could take any conversation between you and your best friend and make it seem like you had been feuding with him for years and get many readers to dislike either you or him simply through the use of words. Now you ask me any question about why I worded this or that the way I did in that article (which is still a legitimate news account) and I will tell you why I did and I think the answers would surprise you. I wrote nothing that was not factual. My intent was sensation but not to mislead.

And I am a relative amateur. I could've written this particular story to make you believe these soldiers were toughing it out with typical American heartiness or to make you believe they were on the brink of disaster. You have to question these types of articles. You have to. The reporter had an agenda. He showed you what he wanted to show you. He sculpted the reality you live in to fit the one he wanted you to live in. The question is why and to what end?

[GraniteStateConservative]

They don't count the votes of military people anyway, right? So, no ramifications to pissing them off...

[boxerblues]

There are people here who got back in April
Doesn't this statement raise any flags for you?

Not if they were injured in April, it is possiable they have been there since that time

[judicial meanz]

Harshness in training is one thing. Harshness for injured soldiers recently discharged from medical hospitals and waiting for medical retirement/discharge processing in medical hold is another.

Ever been in medical hold? I have. I nearly had my head blown clean off in a shipboard explosion. Medical boards and medical hold can go on forever.

The Military treats you until you are well enough to be discharged from the hospital, and then they send you to a hellhole like this to wait for the medical boards and the eventual medical retirement.

Part of the reason they do this is to get you to take the first offer they give you for pension, and therefore they save money.

It also aggravates the problems you have, and many are probably going to have to be re-hospitalized because of the conditions while they wait in the unsanitary hellhole barracks they are assigned to.

I have direct knowledge from my family that injured veterans were bitching about the same thing in WWII, Korea, and the Vietnam era, post Vietnam era, and modern times.

Its a "fine old tradition" that needs to end. These guys deserve to be treated with respect. They definitely arent "soft" because they were injured fighting a war.