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Insult to injury
Some wounded soldiers back from Iraq are having to pay for meals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Veterans’ groups say it’s another symptom of fighting a costly war on the cheap.
By Mark Benjamin
Most patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington have a lot on their minds: the war they just fought, the injuries they came home with, the future that lies ahead. The last thing a wounded soldier needs to worry about is where the next meal is coming from. But for hundreds of Walter Reed patients, that’s a real concern. Starting this month, the Army has started making some wounded soldiers pay for the food they eat at the hospital.
Paying out of pocket for hospital meals can impose a serious financial burden, costing hundreds of dollars every month. That can be a lot of money to a military family. But perhaps worse, the meal charge feels like an ungrateful slap in the face to some soldiers. “I think it sucks,” said a soldier from West Virginia who broke his neck in Iraq after falling off a roof. “I think that people should be able to eat. They get us over there, get us wounded and shot up and then tell us: Fend for yourself. You are all heroes, but here you go.”
Whether it is the lack of protective armor for troops in the field or, now, wounded troops paying for food, complaints from soldiers have shed an unflattering light on how the military bureaucracy takes care of its troops. And they have prompted accusations that the Pentagon is fighting the Iraq war on the cheap, no matter what the cost to soldiers.
The meal charge policy “is an example of a much larger problem relating to the overall cost of the war. It is all an indication of extreme costs they are trying to make up on the backs of these men and women,” said Steve Robinson, a retired Army Ranger and the executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "If the war is costing too much, the one place you don’t skimp is on soldier and veteran programs.
The administration has no problem deficit-spending on the needs of conducting war, and we see no reason not to apply the same methodology to veterans’ benefits and soldier care."
A veterans’ advocate who lost the use of his legs fighting in Vietnam said the meal charges constitute a personal affront to soldiers. “I don’t care what bureaucratic bullsh*t they come up with, this is an insult,” said Bobby Muller, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and director of the foundation’s Alliance for Security. “I cannot believe that people are being charged for their meals. This is a showstopper.”
For its part, the Army explains – and defends – the food charges at Walter Reed by saying they apply only to some outpatients, not (name removed by moderator)atients confined to hospital beds. “I have been absolutely assured … that no (name removed by moderator)atient has been charged for meals,” Walter Reed spokesman Don Vandrey told Salon.
But until Jan. 3, outpatient soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan ate for free in the chow hall. Now outpatient soldiers there longer than 90 days pay for meals in cash. Although Walter Reed did not disclose the exact number of soldiers affected, the policy is most likely to affect at least the estimated 600 soldiers getting long-term outpatient care at the hospital in what the Army calls “medical hold.”
Soldiers in medical hold are considered outpatients, but they usually live on hospital grounds – some are put up in nearby hotels if housing on the grounds is full – and have little choice but to buy food at the Walter Reed chow hall.
Even as outpatients, soldiers in medical hold often have serious injuries. Some have been blown up by roadside bombs or crumpled in Humvee wrecks. They have serious head wounds and amputations.
Others are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after being flown out of Iraq with shellshock. Some soldiers in medical hold are waiting to get processed out of the Army because their wounds are so serious that they will never return to duty. But processing at Walter Reed can take over a year, much to the frustration of the soldiers who would prefer to get outpatient treatment near their homes and families.
Soldiers in medical hold also complain they are still expected to line up for daily formations and buy new uniforms even as they struggle with debilitating physical and mental trauma from their service in Iraq. They say being charged for food while they’re recovering is one more indignity.
More:informationclearinghouse.info/article7890.htm
Some wounded soldiers back from Iraq are having to pay for meals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Veterans’ groups say it’s another symptom of fighting a costly war on the cheap.
By Mark Benjamin
Most patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington have a lot on their minds: the war they just fought, the injuries they came home with, the future that lies ahead. The last thing a wounded soldier needs to worry about is where the next meal is coming from. But for hundreds of Walter Reed patients, that’s a real concern. Starting this month, the Army has started making some wounded soldiers pay for the food they eat at the hospital.
Paying out of pocket for hospital meals can impose a serious financial burden, costing hundreds of dollars every month. That can be a lot of money to a military family. But perhaps worse, the meal charge feels like an ungrateful slap in the face to some soldiers. “I think it sucks,” said a soldier from West Virginia who broke his neck in Iraq after falling off a roof. “I think that people should be able to eat. They get us over there, get us wounded and shot up and then tell us: Fend for yourself. You are all heroes, but here you go.”
Whether it is the lack of protective armor for troops in the field or, now, wounded troops paying for food, complaints from soldiers have shed an unflattering light on how the military bureaucracy takes care of its troops. And they have prompted accusations that the Pentagon is fighting the Iraq war on the cheap, no matter what the cost to soldiers.
The meal charge policy “is an example of a much larger problem relating to the overall cost of the war. It is all an indication of extreme costs they are trying to make up on the backs of these men and women,” said Steve Robinson, a retired Army Ranger and the executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "If the war is costing too much, the one place you don’t skimp is on soldier and veteran programs.
The administration has no problem deficit-spending on the needs of conducting war, and we see no reason not to apply the same methodology to veterans’ benefits and soldier care."
A veterans’ advocate who lost the use of his legs fighting in Vietnam said the meal charges constitute a personal affront to soldiers. “I don’t care what bureaucratic bullsh*t they come up with, this is an insult,” said Bobby Muller, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and director of the foundation’s Alliance for Security. “I cannot believe that people are being charged for their meals. This is a showstopper.”
For its part, the Army explains – and defends – the food charges at Walter Reed by saying they apply only to some outpatients, not (name removed by moderator)atients confined to hospital beds. “I have been absolutely assured … that no (name removed by moderator)atient has been charged for meals,” Walter Reed spokesman Don Vandrey told Salon.
But until Jan. 3, outpatient soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan ate for free in the chow hall. Now outpatient soldiers there longer than 90 days pay for meals in cash. Although Walter Reed did not disclose the exact number of soldiers affected, the policy is most likely to affect at least the estimated 600 soldiers getting long-term outpatient care at the hospital in what the Army calls “medical hold.”
Soldiers in medical hold are considered outpatients, but they usually live on hospital grounds – some are put up in nearby hotels if housing on the grounds is full – and have little choice but to buy food at the Walter Reed chow hall.
Even as outpatients, soldiers in medical hold often have serious injuries. Some have been blown up by roadside bombs or crumpled in Humvee wrecks. They have serious head wounds and amputations.
Others are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after being flown out of Iraq with shellshock. Some soldiers in medical hold are waiting to get processed out of the Army because their wounds are so serious that they will never return to duty. But processing at Walter Reed can take over a year, much to the frustration of the soldiers who would prefer to get outpatient treatment near their homes and families.
Soldiers in medical hold also complain they are still expected to line up for daily formations and buy new uniforms even as they struggle with debilitating physical and mental trauma from their service in Iraq. They say being charged for food while they’re recovering is one more indignity.
More:informationclearinghouse.info/article7890.htm
