Free Republic

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2007 – Better job and educational opportunities or family reasons may have led them from the lands of their birth to the United States, but serving in the armed forces made it possible for four servicemembers to become citizens yesterday. Three soldiers and a Marine took the oath of citizenship in a naturalization ceremony at Washington’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center hosted by the Defense and Homeland Security departments. “By your willingness to become citizens, you keep alive the dream of countless immigrant soldiers who have come before you and will surely follow in your footsteps,”...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2007 – Army leaders are committed to improving the service’s health care systems for wounded servicemembers and their families, top officers told the national security subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today. The committee held a meeting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here to gather facts behind problems reported there that have tarnished the once-stellar reputation of the Army’s top medical facility. Part of the problem, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Richard A. Cody said, is that policies and rules governing many of the health care systems have...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2007 – Injured American troops should not return home to battle the bureaucracies of a broken outpatient health care system, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here today. Gates’ comments came after surveying repairs at the center’s outpatient facility Building 18, where reported maintenance and administrative problems catapulted the center into the national spotlight this week. Gates toured the facility with Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani. “Like many Americans, I was dismayed to learn this past week that some of our...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2007 – The Defense Department is working to address patient-care problems recently identified at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the department’s flagship medical facility, a DoD spokesman said today. Wounded servicemembers at Walter Reed still receive the best medical care available, but they do face some administrative and personnel problems that need to be fixed, Bryan Whitman told reporters. “Taking care of our wounded servicemembers is about taking care of the entire person, and taking care of the entire person is making sure that their administrative needs are taken care of, that when they’re outpatients that...

Last night, ComedyOpenMike.com sponsored a show at Walter Reed Medical Center. We had five comedians, including myself, and pop singer Jessica Mellott. This show was for the injured soldiers recovering at Walter Reed, and their families. It was incredibly fun for everyone. I opened, and emceed. Then, Jessica came up and did three songs. The crowd fell in love with her. Every comedian brought their A-game, and were 100% clean. The only complaint I have is that my sound system developed a a problem that caused feedback, and the only way to fight it was to adjust the equalizer. After...

Precedent-wary Army must weigh capability Chuck Bartles took heart when President Bush pinned a Purple Heart to his chest this year, lauding him for courage and determination despite grievous wounds. Sgt. Bartles, then struggling to recover from having his right arm blown off in Iraq, felt even better when Bush walked out of the hospital ward and made a stirring speech. Just because a soldier has lost a leg or an arm in combat, the president said, doesn’t mean he’s useless. "People are no longer forced out of the military," he declared to applause. "Today, if wounded service members want...