The Army Screwed Up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Yesterday Major General George Weightman was fired, and deservingly so for dereliction of duty. Today the Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey resigns over the substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Unfortunately the discovery of the issue was way too late.

My niece’s Grandfather is a huge liberal (I’ll call him Jerry from now on), I am sure he will want to see George W. Bush blamed for this. True he is overall accountable for the military, but do you blame the President when something goes wrong with your Social Security check too? I believe that a lot of the blame goes to the Army for not putting enough in the budget to maintain the facilities. I also believe that the blame has to go to our politicians for not making sure that our national defense comes first in the budget.

Jerry was upset that the soldier that complained to the press and the others that were staying in building 18 were punished in a minor manner. If he was ordered not to talk to the press, he should be punished. He violated an order and he broke the faith. By breaking the faith, he complained outside of the Army, he should have never have done that. The punishment was minor, just having to stand inspection daily. The only time you stand daily inspections after boot camp or training schools is under an informal or formal punishment. In this case it was an informal punishment.

Jerry has a hard time understanding that when you join the military you lose all of the rights that you defend for others. All of your rights and laws are covered under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). One that most people commonly misunderstand it the right to freedom of speech. If you are lawfully ordered to keep your mouth shut, you do not have the right to freedom of speech. The reason for this to belong in the UCMJ is that there is a need for military secrets. The biggest question would be was the authority appointed over Specialist Ruben Villalpando issuing a lawful order? That would be a good question.

In the end I believe that Specialist Ruben Villalpando, was fairly treated in his medical discharge. The Staff Sergeant over building 18 that was relieved was the one that got screwed. I have no doubt in my mind, that the Staff Sergeant repeatedly brought up the building was unsatisfactory. I see the root of the problem here is that the United States Congress has failed our military in not providing enough funds to maintain the top army hospital and its facilities.

Whether Nancy Pelosi of Dick Murtha likes it or not, we are at war. This war was authorized by congress twice. At this point in time they have two choices, provide all of the funds necessary for all of our troops or vote to withdraw funding for the war. The Democrats do not have enough votes to override a veto, nor do they have enough votes to get defunding the war through the senate. The only other option is to make sure that our troops get all of the tools they need to fight this war. By fully funding the war it also means that enough funds are budgeted for the hospitals and the VA.

One of my senators campaigned for re-election on that she got something done to help the veterans in the VA system. This goes back to the fact that they (congress) did not properly fund the VA and the military hospitals in the first place. One of the core promises is that if you get hurt, you will be taken care of, the Army has obliviously failed in that commitment. They have failed by not getting the money budgeted and maintained the assets required to carry out their duties.