[XRdsRev]

I am not certain but my understanding was that the maintenece at Walter Reed is done by a private contractor.

[USNBandit]

You are right. Maintenance was contracted out last year. I disagree with Coulter on this. The commanding officer of the hospital has final responsibility for the condition of his facility. If it was in poor repair when he showed up, he should have noted the discrepancies to his superior and then started getting them fixed.

The bigger issue might be a facility that is on the BRAC list that nobody wants to spend money on finding itself filled to capacity with casualties.

The solution is also much simpler than the one DoD came up with. Instead of having a 45 day fact finding period to figure out what the problems are you get one O-5/O-6 medial corps officer, preferably a nurse, put them in charge of fixing the problems and give them the resources to do it. It's not rocket science.

[XRdsRev]

"what happens when the head of janitorial services at Walter Reed is told about the dirt, mold and rats at the facility? If it's before 2:30 in the afternoon and he's still at work and he hasn't taken a "sick day," a "vacation day," a "personal day" or a "mental health day," I predict the answer will be: "I'm on my break."

By inferring that civil service protected government workers are to blame for the dirt and mold at Walter Reed, Ann is somewhat off the mark here. A quick check reveals that housekeeping services at Walter Reed have been handled by a private contractor since 2003.

[rebel_yell2]

I read elsewhere on FR that maintenance was contracted out last year, but it was only effective this year, and that half of the old maintenance staff quit during the interim, leaving the remaining government staff sorely understaffed, thus the deterioration. If this is true, then Ann is correct.