I received this excellent email from an avid PW reader, who wishes to remain anonymous:
I grew up as an Air Force dependent, then spent almost six years on active duty as an officer, then proceeded to retire as a reserve colonel after 30 years’ service. I am very familiar with military health care.
Some observations: This story is a perfect example of the principle formulated by the New Republic perhaps 20 years ago that the way to create a scandal is to report on what goes on all the time. Consequently, it is perfectly appropriate to ask “why just now?” Was there a lull in reportable disasters out of Iraq? Is there danger that the public might think that recent changes in the ROE might be helping?
Next, it was yet another prime opportunity to print a large color photo of a horribly disfigured wounded GI on the front page of the Washington Post.
Next, Walter Reed, as you note, is slated to be closed as part of the BRAC process.
Next, any given government building (I now work for the FAA), on balance, is simply not going to be in as good condition as a comparable private sector building, whether it is an office complex, a theater, a surgical suite, a biology lab, a gym, or a pool hall.
Finally, the military health system (along with the VA) is probably as good a model of what national single-payer health care would be like in the United States as you can find. Better than Canada. It demonstrates the consequences of having goods, facilities, and services that are determined by congressional appropriations and policies set by civil servants (of which I am one), rather than supply and demand.
None of this has gotten much play at all in MSM media coverage.
Keep up the good work, and please don’t publish my name.
I expect Glenn Greenwald to denounce him on the basis of his anonymity in five, four, three . . .
UPDATE: see also this comment from Howard Veit, in happyfeet’s post
Any idiot can tell Dick Cheney wrote that.
But, but, but….BU$HCO!!!
Good observation. It is also interesting that there’s suddenly a concern, and that WaPo so willfully conflates equates one outpatient residential facility with all of WR. Bldg 18 is basically a dorm, right?
It’s not enough for the dhimmi’s to cut military funding, smear our troops based on the actions of a few or to demean the courage and accomplishments of our brave warriors?
No, they now want us to believe that they’re outraged, OUTRAGED!, at the conditions of a single facility in one of the world’s most advanced rehab facilities.
Can’t the progressive just spit on the troops and be done with it? Must they use the troops and their sacrifice as pawns in their ongoing effort
try and unseat Chimpy McHitlerburton? Is there nothing these people won’t do to achieve their short-term, short-sighted political goals?
Assuming they accomplish the defunding of the war effort, force our troops to retreat from Iraq and surrender to the “insurgents” & Al-Queda, who will they blame when millions die in the regional
Sunni vs. Shia “ethnic cleansing” that follows?
Who will they blame when radical Islam gains control of 60% of all the oil in the world and our gas goes to $6+/gallon, grinding our economy to halt and driving millions out of work? Who will they blame when carbombers and explosive-vest wearing suicide bombers, emboldened by the very weakness of our convictions that OBL assured them we’d display, start maiming and killing American innocents in attacks on Pizza Huts and Starbucks around the US?
Oh, yea, BU$HCO!….pathetic.
Did these idiots learn nothing from Chamberlain about the results of showing weakness and apppeasment towards fascists with meglomanical ambitions? Do they not realize what will happen to the gays and women they purport to defend so assiduiously when Shiria Law takes hold and little things like habeus corpus and civil rights are but a sad, distant memory?
The Left are little more than petulant children, driven by their basest, most selfish impulses.
Have they learned nothing? No, silly. They’ve learned that we’re just like them.
OK am I going crazy or stupid or was there a post about Christina Aguilara that vanished?
There’s been a rash of disappearing, reappearing posts here, recently. I has something to do with variations in our dosage, NE2d.
When would be a better time? the base is closing, there’s a new congress, and a new budget process just starting, and the proposal doesnt’ increase the budget as much as it has in the past and predicts freezes to the VA budget in ‘10.
When would we prefer the article get written? When “Murderball II: Iraq Vets Fight Again,” comes out?
If John Kerry was president and the exact same story broke, you’d be all over him and the Democrats for allowing it to happen and posting about how the Dems don’t support the troops, etc.
I’ve worked in plenty of hospitals and medical facilities, both public and private sector in the U.S. (and abroad). That includes prisons, jails, State hospitals, county hospitals, county nursing facilities, private hospitals, San Francisco General Hospital, public hospitals in New Zealand, etc. I’ve never seen anything as bad as what is being described in that story. Granted, I’ve never worked in third world medical facilities, so I’m sure there is worse out there.
The timing of the story is quite simple. There are more and more wounded U.S. troops because we are having a war that is getting out of hand and they are cutting corners to pay for it.
Everyone’s got a perspective, emmadine. This is the educated perspective of a military man who’s observed how the WaPo has covered military matters for a long time.
Is it fairer to say that this proves The Decider doesn’t care about the troops?
Oooh! Can I join the group-wank? Lemme try:
I QUESTION THE TIMING!
No, wait. I think I got that wrong. Does an ironic capitalized sentence work here? Perhaps a spittle flecked and irrelevant screed against single payer medical systems… Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Knock yourself out, heet.
Better to say that a lot of extraneous stuff in DoD is being cut back. And by “extraneous” I refer to budgets that really are well padded, or programs that have a lower priority than, say, treating our wounded.
And, oh by the way, my salary comes out of one of those budgets. And while I am an employee of the Department of Defense, said budget has very little direct contact with the war fighting effort. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but there you have it.
So it possible, steveXXP, that those corners being cut have nothing to do with medical care. And since you probably aren’t in the know about those budgets (last I heard, you were unemployed—has that changed?), your comments are little more than ill-informed guesswork.
(I’d say “hyperbole”, but that would be something of an exaggeration. But not by much.)
Are you justifying your being all over this? ‘Cuz, y’know, I’d hate to think that you’re being hypocritical or something like that.
Um, no. I think not. That one building on a facility that is about to be closed anyway is in poor repair means absolutely nothing about the party in power.
What does that have to do with Bldg 18, steve? Do you have some budget data that supports your thesis, or did you just whip that up from pure feeling?
Real Jeff,
Sadly, I am not unemployed. I don’t know where you heard that.
As to your other point, I agree that trying to break through the funding of various government agencies is next to impossible. However, you have a situation where more funding was needed and not provided, because you have more patients to treat, because of a war. I think it is reasonable to surmise that a lack of increase in funding would be related to a lack of funds, related to spending it instead on the direct war effort. This is almost always the case historically, particularly when you start losing a war.
The timing of the story is quite simple. There are more and more wounded U.S. troops because we are having a war that is getting out of hand and they are cutting corners to pay for it.
No. But the logical streatch used to reach that conclusion was. Don’t hurt yourself. No. Seriously.
Again, please substantiate this assertion, steve.
Pablo,
Your thesis is that the Washington Post was deliberately trying to time a story in order to make Bush look bad and that they exaggerated it and it was just an isolated incident. In other words, your entire response to the story is that the Washington Post just has evil motives and was doing a hit job on the Bush Administration. So when would a good time for this story have been in which you wouldn’t complain about the timing of it? Anytime in the past 4 years?
Steve, the WaPo is pretty much always trying to crap on the administration, and that really isn’t news. See also the Howard Veit comment linked in the update.
Now, about that lack of funding you were talking about, please tell us how you came to the conclusion you did.
Pablo,
Do I need to substantiate that there were more patients to treat because of a war? Is that really the position you want me to substantiate? Would more patients being treated not cost more money? Are you suggesting that the thousands of wounded U.S. troops would not cost us more money to treat? Really, be sincere in your arguements. I am supposed to chase down links of the medical budget to prove that we have to spend more money on wounded soldiers during war time than we would during peace time? Don’t waste my time.
No steve, I want you to substantiate that there was a lack of funding. That’s why I’ve asked you to do so 3 times.
Pablo,
Are you trying to make the point that it was just neglect rather than a lack of funding? Are you trying to get me to admit that it might just have been a complete disregard for those troops rather than a lack of funding that caused the problems? I’m trying to be nice and give the Bush Administration the benefit of the doubt here, but if you think they just blew off the troops even though they had plenty of money, I’ll cede that point to you.
No, steve, I’m trying to get you to provide a basis for your repeated assertion that the conditions at Bldg 18 are the result of a lack of funding. You know, something like evidence that their budget has been cut.
Or, you could admit that you pulled that factoid out of your ass.
The VFW hasn’t liked funding numbers in the past. Don’t know how they feel now. But we know they are ‘pretty much always trying to crap on the administration.’
The VFW? What funding numbers?
Oh, and you realize, emmadine, that the administration doesn’t do the approriations, don’t you?
The whole story is fascinating because it so perfectly illustrates the Murtha/Pelosi/SteveXX version of “support the troops”: cut them off at the knees, then see to it that they get the very best prosthetics.
It also gives me great hope, as it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Press thinks the war in Iraq is going well for a change.
Regards,
Ric
VFW? Probably some liberal anti-admin front.
I know the admin proposes the budget. Sometimes people react to that. Like this moonbat, discussing the 04 budget:
“In a statement issued shortly after the budget was released, Edward S. Banas Sr., commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, called the VA’s health care spending proposal “a disgrace and a sham.””
Jeff_S,
Best Turn of Phrase Today:
“I’d say ‘hyperbole’, but that would be something of an exaggeration.”
BRD
SteveXX,
I recognize that the budgetary process is initiated by the submission of the President’s budget, but it is ultimately amended and ratified by Congress. It would seem that this would be a spectacular opportunity for Congress to increase military spending. However, I do not seem to recall much pressure from the Hill to increase the budget of the DoD. How do this, the story referenced above, and the claims to ‘support the troops’ work together. I would be most appreciative if you could help put those bits together, because I just don’t see it.
Thanks,
BRD
Boy, it sure got quiet around here.
At Walter Reed, at building 18, that is causing the discussed hardship….most certainly.
Otherwise you are merely making things up.
Uh, emmadine, you know that Walter Reed is not a VA facility, don’t you?
But what does MADD think about the Department of Agriculture budget?
Reminder: the VFW is primarily made up of old people. (NTTATWWT.)
They complain about VA funding so that their own costs can stay low. They will always complain about VA funding, no matter how high it gets.
This has nothing to do with medical treatment for active-duty soldiers.
The letter mentioned the VA as well. But if you think care in the military is not connected to care after (you know, by it being of same people, later, lest they die) then I guess it was over before it started. I suppose we should only care about funding for people in the service today. I can deal with that. Yellow ribbons are waving.
For what it’s worth, I seem to recall VA funding being from an entirely different part of the discretionary budget, and under a entirely different committee. I could be totally off base here, but I think that funding authority for the VA is an entirely, radically different beast.
Not that this matters, but I had a thought, so I figured I should write it down before I get distracted by something shiny.
You know, I find it interesting that all the trolls have managed to competely ignore the entire basis of this thread, the letter written by the reserve colonel.
Of course, that would actually require addressing the issues and answering questions, and we know how much they go out of their way to aviod icky things like that.
No, but perhaps you should start a blog where you can voice your thoughts on such issues instead of trying to present them as arguments against entirely separate issues. Because, you know, that’s just weird.
Did you have something to tell us about Bldg 18?
No, you’re correct, BRD. The Veterans Health Administration is part of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and Walter Reed is a Department of Defense facility. They’re completely different animals.
steveXXP, I had the impression that upon your return from New Zealand, you were unemployed. If I got that wrong, my bad.
On the other hand, it’s clear that you’re not the PW resident subject matter expert on the Federal budget:
Actually, that’s not true. But, I will agree, it’s difficult to monitor, given how the budget process works. Doing so, especially at the agency-congressional level, is not for the faint of heart.
But that’s a point against you….since you are unable to produce (for example) any Congressional budget conference notes relating to DoD funding priorities.
Me? I might be able to dig them up, but at least I am not pulling factoids out of my ass. My observations are based on the status of a rather large portion of the DoD budget that I do have sight of. Anecdotal data, as I said.
One non-medical building is in shitty condition, and you infer that funding for the wounded was not provided? That’s a leap of faith, expressed as an assertion. Other persons have called you on this, and you have yet to respond.
Bottom line: you can’t prove this. Sorry about breaking that shield across the magic portal into your fantasy world, but life sucks, doesn’t it?
This is based on your earlier assertion, and is not a valid conclusion, no matter how much you wish it to be.
Two things:
1. Historically? Can you cite examples? I’d like to see your research.
2. Nice assertion that we’re losing. And nice to know just exactly where you stand. And maybe you’re begging the question here, hmmmmm?
BTW, in an earlier thread, steveXXP said he was good for about 10 posts per thread. I count only 5 or so. Do you suppose that he really strained his brain on this one, and had to the bar for medication?
PS: BRD, thanks for the ‘Best Turn of Phrase Today’!
The writer nails it.
I began a similar comment last night, but deleted it and shut down the computer. The only other mention I would have thrown in is Gramm-Rudman, but honestly, that’s just more of the same.
Why did I delete my comment? Because those like alphie and stevexx and emmadine don’t give a damn, they aren’t concerned with reality and have no interest in making a difference. They only want to play politics – the same reason we see the story in the media.
I’ve lived (as a dependent)in the military system on and off since 1989, my husband has served since 1985. (active duty, reserve and guard under Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush)
It’s a world of red tape, a huge bureaucracy that moves at the pace of a dead turtle. If someone in that huge spool of tape doesn’t do their job, something will fall through the cracks. You learn how to work within the system or you’d go insane.
There will ALWAYS be something that needs more attention. There will always be areas that need more money. There will ALWAYS be areas where someone didn’t do their job.
The last few years have been the source of much dark humor in this household. Watching politicians, pundits and news organizations attempt to be to be the “saviour of the military”
It’s almost laughable to see those who have always treated us with complete disregard, now in front of the cameras wailing about how bad things are.
What bullshit. You can keep your crocodile tears and snarky little comments, you fool no one those who haven’t paid attention, those who don’t care enough to do HONEST research, and yourself. I’m sure you’ll have a whole new cause to be outraged about next week.
It’s certainly your right to feel that way, Tink.
I don’t support our current missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think those who served in them and were wounded should be treated badly.
In fact, I think they should get first class treatment, because sooner or later they’re gonna realize their sacrifice was for nothing.
Only if it saves you, alfi.
Wow, Alphie—that was such a perfect epitome of limousine liberalism and contempt for your “inferiors” in uniform, that it’s almost a self-parody. Except, of course, for its self-righteous earnestness. Oh no, wait, that too is part of the parody, right?
Interestingly enough, I would say that those who have supported left-wing causes over the past 100 years or so largely sacrificed for nothing—except that “nothing” would have been a much superior alternative to much of their legacy, and too often others ended up being sacrificed.
I would like to provide a description of something our government is doing right these days with regard to Vets.
I am currently a resident in a Veteran’s Home after having undergone treatment through the VA for PTSD and Depression, long overdue some 40 years after the Tet Offensive that cap stoned my military 2nd tour in Vietnam with a lifetime of illness.
My blog has attracted the stories of many veterans such as myself and other sufferers from PTSD who were victimized by elements of society other than the VA system of medical and mental treatment. I, for one, became trapped in the Military Industrial Complex for 36 years working on weapons systems that are saving lives today but with such high security clearances that I dared not get treated for fear of losing my career:
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html
When my disorders became life threatening I was entered into the VA System for treatment in Minneapolis. It saved my life and I am now in complete recovery and functioning as a volunteer for SCORE, as well as authoring books and blogging the world.
When I was in the VA system I was amazed at how well it functioned and how state of the art it is for its massive mission. Below is a feature article from Time Magazine which does a good job of explaining why it is a class act:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376238,00.html
I had state of the art medical and mental care, met some of the most dedicated professionals I have ever seen and was cared for by a handful of very special nurses among the 60,000 + nursing population that make up that mammoth system. While I was resident at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis I observed many returnees from Iraq getting excellent care.
I do not say the VA system is perfect but it is certainly being run better on a $39B budget than the Pentagon is running on $494B.
alphie, Thank you so very much for illustrating my point.