Less-critical?
Weren't there wounded servicemen being treated there? How could that be anything less than very critical?
"Weren't there wounded servicemen being treated there? How could that be anything less than very critical?"
My understanding is that this was temporary housing for outpatients that needed to stay in the area for continuing outpatient treatment at WRAMC, which has pretty decent facilities. I know WRAMC has just opened a beautiful outpatient treatment clinic for severely disabled (i.e., quadriplegics and paraplegics) active-duty here in the Pentagon. I believe the staff is so overburdened by the very high numbers of casualties from VBIEDs and suicide (homicide) bombers that there just isn't the capacity to worry about facilities maintenance.
I'm not involved in any way with the medical side of the house, so to a degree I'm speculating based on what I see every day here...
TC
The facility receiving the most condemnation is Building 18. It is not the main hospital and is not even on the grounds of the Walter Reed base. It is one building out of the many barracks and other non-hospital buildings associated with the 116-acre Walter Reed base.
Building 18 is a former motel across the 6-lane avenue from the WR base that was purchased to house an overflow of ambulatory outpatients - people who have been hospitalized and are now well enough to walk, make it over to the base for appointments, et cetera. The men refer to it as a "barracks." It is not a caregiving facility, but only one of many WR housing facilities for recovering outpatients.
The following video gives both sides of the story, including not just the complaints, but also a view of several of the nicer rooms in Building 18. This video gives both sides of the story, including a view of several of the nicer rooms in the place.