Walter Reed Mess Is A National Disgrace

http://www.janereinheimer.com ^ | March 3, 2007 | Jane Reinheimer

[janereinheimer]

THIS WALTER REED MESS IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE!

This hospital is supposed to be a medical haven for our soldiers who have fallen in harm's way. Instead, they got tripped up by the very people who are supposed to be committed to their healing return to health.

It appears to be a decrepit old building with chipping paint and moldy stowaways in every nook and cranny. We probably have better looking buildings in the ghettoes here in Chicago. In fact, I remember some old buildings that were so falling down awful that the only solution was just to tear them down. Boom. Problem solved.

Everybody's scurrying off this stinking ship now. Those who haven't quit will be fired. If they're fired for cause, don't they lose their pensions? I sure hope so.

Their future financial misery is nothing to compare with the awful stuff they've put our soldiers through.

What I don't understand is how anybody could have gotten away with the building falling into such disrepair. Weren't there maintenace people filling out forms for buckets of paint? Or building engineers putting in budget requests for maintenance needs?

I would just love to see what the building maintenance budget looked like.

Did they only take care of the hallways that visitors came through? Or did they have ship-shape routes for the President when he came to bestow Purple Hearts? Didn't anybody ever do a "white glove walk through?"

I'm sure there's a high falootin' congressional committee or sub-committee that has something to do with checking out hospitals that are dedicated to the healing and care of our servicemen. Don't the congress critters ever do anything useful like actually getting out there in the field to see what's going on?

They certainly have enough time to go flying off to scenic spots around the world looking for clues about how civilizations in South America fell. They go flying off to Iraq for photo ops with anybody who'll sit down with them.

Guess they'd rather look for gold, not mold.

[msnimje]

It is.

And so is a Democrat Senator comparing the US Military to Nazis on the Senate Floor.

[End Times Sentinel]

Thank you for recognizing that FreeRepublic is a great place to hawk your blog. I hope it brings you many hits and that no one calls you a blogpimp or bandwidththeif.

[umgud]

What a bunch of horse puckey. 30 some odd years ago I stayed in several less than pristine military medical facilities. I don't remember caring about their condition as long as they were clean. This has just been hyped to embarass someone (Bush maybe?).

[La Enchiladita]

Pimping your blog, are you, new lib poster?

[EndWelfareToday]

Well expect to see more of this type of crap now that the demoncraps are in control of the purse strings again. Military hospitals were only one of the casualties suffered by the huge cutbacks in military spending under Carter and later Clinton. It's been all this nation could do just to have a fighting force equipped with the proper weapons needed to stay alive on the battle field. It's been so bad that only recently has the military been able to actually fix some of their most basic equipment. Sure... some of the blame at Walter Reed falls on it's commanding officers but I personally lay most of the blame on Carter and all the demoncrap congressmen, along with their RINO brethren, that have followed in his footsteps of castrating the United States Armed Forces.

[Past Your Eyes]

Okay. Now here's the question that seems to be screaming for an answer: If it's that bad and has been for a long, long time, how come it never came to light until now? Military folks and their relatives being the way they are, why didn't it ever get noticed or at least receive publicity until now? That just boggles my mind.
And do the letters "IG" mean anything any more? Simply amazing.

[La Enchiladita]

What is your involvement with our troops and our veterans, Ms. Weisenheimer? Do you work in a veterans hospital or in any hospital? Have you ever volunteered at the VA? What have you personally done for wounded warriors?

Be specific, please.

[La Enchiladita]

It's been so bad that only recently has the military been able to actually fix some of their most basic equipment.

Traitor tripe! Jon Cary/Jack Murtha/Dick Durbin, is that you?!

[Tallguy]

I think either Bethesda Naval Hospital or Walter Reed Army Hospital (can't remember which) was slated to be closed around the time of Operation Iraqi Freedom, but that proposal got postponed on account of the immediate needs of the military. That would suggest that the Pentagon recognized a need to streamline so that funds could be better spent on individual care (which is after all the mission of both facilities).

Like a worn-out warship there's only so much you can do with antiquated facilities, but the current situation will see that plenty of attention & money gets thrown at the problem.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

That's the problem - Eleanor Holmes Norton has been bitchin' and bitchin' and bitchin' about the plans to move the facilities to a new medical campus at Bethesda - i.e., taking them out of the district (her fiefdom). I noticed her in some of the early video coverage that surfaced right after the Post stories appeared. She has been sandbagging the President on this - it's in her district and she has been arguing in favor of keeping Walter Reed where it is and spending an inordinate amount of money on it - yet she seems not to have known or been doing proper oversight on thie "valuable asset" in her district.

[muawiyah]

Some bad plaster and paint in Building 18, just one building in an immense campus setting of a massive hospital complex and you think the whole thing is falling down?

You are too easily misled by professional propagandists.

[sobieski]

Why is anyone surprised? This is the government, and a good warning about what will happen when we get "national" health insurance.

[Arcy]

I blame the Bush administration for this one folks. GW and his administration should have made sure these hospitals were in top condition BEFORE we went to war. Our solders, sailors and marines deserve the best of care! For the democrats to have to point out these conditions to the present administration is disgraceful. Why did this administration even give the democrats the opportunity???

Bush pisses me off on several issues. The first is immigration. The second is failure to implement the fair tax. And now we have these dilapidated hospital conditions which to me, is the worst of all!

Checking to see that our army hospitals are in the best condition BEFORE we go to war would seem to me to be a NO BRAINER! Apparently, the mindset that you do the job with what you have and do it without complaining is still employed within this administration. I for one say if we can spend billions and billions on countless other projects then BY GOD we can spend the money on bringing Walter Reed into the 21st century.

The simple mindedness of the Bush administration is dumbfounding to me. He and those around him, namely Rumsfield and Cheney have made some outstandingly stupid decisions over the last 2-3 years. Frankly, I'll be glad to see them all go in favor of a REAL Conservative with the capacity to think ahead of the curve.

And to those of you who would like to claim I'm some kind of "troll" or "impostor" or whatever name you want to apply, I invite you to look at any of my posts over the last several years. Maybe I'll feel different later but right now I'm just pissed off at this administration and its lack of preparedness!!!

[HarleyLady27]

Just remember: the monies comes from the Defense budget and President Bush has had more money than any other POTUS for a while, and all Klintoon did was cut...cut...cut...but yet they are 'concerned' about our troops, right....

If you point a finger, it best be at the Klintoons....on more than just this mess.

[janereinheimer]

And Hillary -- the Housewife on the Potomac -- says that when she's elected, it would be a unique time in history because the president would have the advantage of being advised by a president.

Yeah, right. And what advice could he possibly give about soldiering? I'm just finishing reading "Losing bin Laden" --it's about what was going on when he was president and bin Laden was running around declaring war on the United States -- no less than 5 times. If you haven't read this book, take a look at it. I hope it comes back as a reprint when the campaign gets closer to election day -- just in case Hillary thinks she's got even a chance at the White House.

Eight years was way too many!

[HarleyLady27]

I have read that book, and plan on putting sayings from it in a while until the election is over....

We CANNOT let them 2 anywhere near the WH again....our nation cannot take them again....

[janereinheimer]

Re: "Losing bin Laden" -- Right on there, lady.

If I could afford it, I'd buy up a full press run and send them out to a bunch of people I know. In the meantime, I may do a blog -- kind of like a book review for the people who haven't read it.

As far as the Hillary thing is concerned, she wouldn't be unique at all. Apparently she forgets that President G.W. Bush has the advice of 41.

I don't think she has a prayer anyway. Don't know anyone who can put up with the shreiking for more than a couple of minutes. And I'll tell you -- her southern accent is horrible. I'm from Arkansas originally, and she's not anywhere close to sounding either southern or sincere.