Vowing Quick Action on Walter Reed

The facilities at Walter Reed have been in decline for decades, known to military officials and journalists alike for years, and yet we're supposed to believe that Congress will act swiftly to solve the problems? Right.

In a letter Sunday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday, Schumer asked for an independent commission, possibly headed by former Secretary of State
Colin Powell, to investigate all post-combat medical facilities and recommend changes.

"To think that men and women are serving their country in the most honorable and courageous way possible and all we give them is a dilapidated, rat-infested, run-down building to recover is a disgrace," Schumer wrote. "My fear is that Walter Reed is just the tip of the iceberg, and merely highlights the pervasive and systemic mistreatment of our service members."

President Bush last week ordered a comprehensive review of conditions at the nation's network of military and veteran hospitals. They have been overwhelmed by injured troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House said the president would name a bipartisan commission to assess whether the problems at Walter Reed exist at other facilities. Last week, Gates created an outside panel to review the situation at Walter Reed and the other major military hospital in the Washington area, the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.

Gates also dismissed Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey, who had fired the medical center's previous commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, and replaced him with Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army's surgeon general and a former commander of Walter Reed. Gates said that Harvey's response was not aggressive enough.

The Army announced that Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker will be the new commander of Walter Reed, which is in Washington.

They'll be quick to name a blue-ribbon panel that will outline changes, that will be quickly forgotten or dropped by the wayside as the next crisis demanding Senatorial attentions shows up.

As described in the article, Walter Reed is the crown jewel in the military's medical community, and yet it was slated to be realigned by BRAC. How come that part isn't mentioned in this article. There was a good reason that BRAC called for the facility to be realigned. Some of the problems outlined in the Washington Post expose were as a result of pending closure and funds diverted to the construction and operation of the new facility.

The mission at Walter Reed has been hampered by the outdated and archaic facilities and could be better served by more modern facilities elsewhere. The realignment is scheduled to be completed by 2011, when the new campus of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is scheduled to be opened.

Unless Congress is going to accelerate the switchover to the new facility, the infrastructure problems at Walter Reed are going to continue. Paperwork changes and bureaucratic changes may improve some aspects of care at Walter Reed, but one could say that for every medical facility in the country - from private medical care services to government operated health care facilities.