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COLONEL DAVID HUNT OF FOX NEWS LASHES
OUT --
"We are no better than how we treat our
nation's bravest. Right now, we suck!"
Story here...
http://www.foxnews.com/
story/0,2933,253883,00.html
Story below:
---------------
Soldiers at Walter Reed Deserve Better
By Col. David Hunt
Stop right now. Stop watching Anna Nicole Smith's death; stop watching
lawyers yell about nothing. Pay attention, because this next one is
important. No more politics, no more hiding behind empty phrases and
photo opportunities and nine-second sound bites.
Wounded — and by wounded, I mean missing arms, legs, eyes, heads caved
in, all wounds that will be visible for the rest of their lives —
soldiers have been left to sleep in rooms with mice and mildew,
substandard in every respect, at Walter Reed Medical Center. Just so we
are clear — this is happening in Washington D.C., less than ten miles
from the White House. This is happening to soldiers who were blown apart
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Politicians and generals of every ilk have been visiting our great
soldiers at Walter Reed during this war and making all these grand
statements about caring, love, sacrifice and — my favorite — the best
medical care money can buy. Well, apparently that pays for rats and
lousy treatment.
As bad as these living conditions are, and they are bad, the amount of
crap that a wounded soldier and his family have to go through to
continue to get the treatment they have earned is staggering.
Soldiers from all our wars have served and been forgotten, and because
of the type of men and women they are, they seldom complain; but they
damn well should. Have you ever wondered what would happen if more
senior officers like generals or (God forbid) politicians or a secretary
of defense were forced to spend their days in rooms such as they ones
discovered by the press, or treated like second class citizens as so
many wounded young men and women are? Well, wonder no more. If that were
the case, the problem would have been fixed already.
If we’re going to send soldiers off to fight for us and be blown apart
for us, then we owe them the best medical care we can afford for the
rest of their lives, period. We’re spending $2 billion a week in Iraq —
in Iraq, not at Walter Reed Medical Center — that ought to upset you.
The Army just upgraded one of its burn centers in Texas. You know how?
With donations from private citizens, that's how. But we’re spending $2
billion in Iraq — are you getting my point here?
I remember not too long ago we impeached a President for lying about
SEX. Gee whiz, that was serious! Now we have soldiers with their bodies
torn apart, limbs blown off, gallons of blood spilled in the sand, and
they wind up in room with mice, rats, and mildew. And, when they leave
those hellish accommodations, they enter the ether zone of a military
and veterans care system that lets them down every day. That seems to me
to be a bit more serious than lying about sex, but that’s just me.
Sure, the rooms will be painted, committees will be formed, speeches
will be made, and not a damn thing will change. Soldiers will still have
to fight massive bureaucratic battles to get the medical treatment their
brave hearts and missing limbs have already paid for.
In this new war, this World War III, this War on Terror, we can no
longer sit still and allow this to happen. We have great private
citizens spending their money to help soldiers with medical issues that
our government is totally responsible for providing, but still is not.
So private citizens are not only giving soldiers the gear they need to
fight this war — everything from body armor to parts for helicopters —
they are now helping mend and care for those same soldiers, because the
government cannot or will not. Come on; get angry! Rant and throw
things; this really is worth turning away from blondes and lawyers on
TV.
On February 21, when asked at a press conference if anyone was being
fired for this mess, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army said, “No.”
Well, “no” means that this travesty is guaranteed to happen again and
again. We cannot win wars by treating our soldiers like this, and we
might deserve to lose if you — yeah, you reading this — do not care
enough to do something.
We are a great nation, but we are diminished by this. We are no better
than how we treat our nation’s bravest. Right now, we suck!
---------------
Larry Scott --
