Comments on: The Truth About Walter Reed

By: Navy Wife

Navy Wife — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 02:21:21 +0000

Gunnutt is so right. There is a HUGE difference between the medical care and the administrative problems. I was livid when I first read the Post article because the first paragraph of the original article IMPLIED that the entire Walter Reed hospital was full of mold, wall paper hanging from the ceiling, etc. Wasn’t that all of your initial reactions? Isn’t that the image we see every night on our TV?

Our family has been using that hospital on both an inpatient and outpatient basis since 1978 and that hospital is spotless.

Now, many of us have known that building 18 is in no great shapes, but the lousy base closure board is closing the hospital even though it is their “crown jewel of Army medicine.” How can that be if it isn’t good enough to keep open? Ask your politicians that question.

What is not taken into consideration by the politicians and knee-jerk media is that that neighborhood is not where you want any of our boys staying. I would suppose that the Army rented or leased building 18 as an overflow and then didn’t have the money to fix it up.

They just finished a state of the art rehab center on the campus at Walter Reed several years ago, and they have quite a bit of unused land on that 113 acre site where a decent handicapped-accessible outpatient hotel could have been built except that they are CLOSING IT ALL DOWN IN THREE YEARS. What are they going to do with the rehab center? Bulldoze it?

As for the outpatient staffing problems and difficulty with paperwork, that does need fixing! I did not realize the staff was so small and overwhelmed by their caseloads.

I’m sorry General Wightman got fired. Poor man had only been there for six months and it sounds like the buck should stop at the desks of our politicians. Oh dear, sorry to rant, Gunnutt!!

By: Sssteve

Sssteve — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:08:23 +0000

GN, great wrap up! I beleive that if they had found nothing wrong they still would have spun it to be bad! The place could have looked like John Hopkins inside and there would have been something Bush or Rummy had screwed up! Those media guys are bastards!

By: Rex

Rex — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:47:15 +0000

Thank God you are on top of this! Anything against our country or the armed forces is all they want to print

By: Sammy D

Sammy D — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 04:22:24 +0000

Thanks GN – mainly for your dedicated work at the hospital, and for your insights on the situation. Good reminders from Jim B. too.

By: jim b

jim b — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 14:33:48 +0000

I have like many others visited a couple of VA hospitals. There is a difference between a VA hospital (there are two in our area) and a military hospital.

Perhaps it is just me, but I have always found the building itself to be depressing(VA Hospitals).

Military hospitals are nothing to write home about, but at least they are in the main stream of things. The VA hospital is definitely a “Back water” thing to me.

That is why it is so important to go visit the places and let the guys and girls there know they are not forgotten. Let them know they are appreciated. The paint and the plaster is just that. The warmth that is so important to healing comes from family and friend, and visitors who assure them they are not throw aways. Their sacrifice is important, and it is noted.

And remember in this age of terrorism, there but for the grace of God, goes us.