Forced to battle the system at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON - Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This has happened in previous wars. It happened to me
during Vietnam ! I was evacuated out of "Nam" April
1968 and my "head was not right!" I was Thorazined in
Japan ( Thorazine = chemical lobotomy) and was warehoused
for 9 months. I was prematurely ressigned to the west
coast ( Fort Lewis) from Vallye Forge hospital. I didn't
make it - got lost in Tucson, AZ. My sister had me readmitted.
The nurses were great...but I never saw a Dr. in Valley
Forge. Many were "anti war" cavalier Doctors who violated
their OATH !
Military medical care is great when you ARE IN the hospital
but post hospital care is often very inadequate, inconsistent, incompetent, whatever. If you posters have
not been in combat or a combat theater...shut up!
It is always the "non servers" in government that defecate
on the troops after a war, or between wars. Remember
the Veterans who marched on DC in 1933 demanding their
WWI "bonus money" only to have their shacks burnt by
General McArthur ! If you haven't read your history or
especially military/war history ! SHUT UP!!!
Bien Hoa 67 -68 / Tet Offensive
Retired school administrator...south central LA !!

Just about every major hospital has a bug and rodent problem.

There are reasons.

It is not OK with me, but it is still simply something that is recognized by health care providers of my acquaintance.

It should be addressed, and it is, regularly.

Still, suddenly MSNBC gives a crap about our wounded troops, after their alleged coverage?

These people ought to look in a mirror.

A$$holes.

It is always the "non servers" in government that defecate on the troops after a war, or between wars.

That bears repeating. Thank you for your service, from someone who has never served. I appreciate it. And you.

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