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Chief of Chaplains @Walter Reed AMC
Topic Started: Mar 14 2007, 11:04 PM (178 Views)
Sunshine
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Ruler of the Mountain
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From: John Kallerson [mailto:jkallerson@msn.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2007 9:03 PM

Subject: Can't be quiet any longer



I have had enough and am going to give my perspective on the news
about Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Please understand that I am
speaking for myself and I am responsible for my thoughts alone. The
news media and politicians are making it sound like Walter Reed is a
terrible place and the staff here has been abusing our brave wounded
soldiers; what a bunch of bull!

I am completing my 24th year of service in the Army next month so you
decide for yourself if I have the experience to write about this
topic. I have been the senior clinical chaplain at Walter Reed for
four years and will leave to go back to the infantry this summer. I
supervise the chaplain staff inside Walter Reed that cares for the 200
inpatients, the 650+ daily outpatients from the war who come to us for
medical care, the 4000+ staff, and over 3000 soldiers and their
families that come for clinical appointments daily. Walter Reed has
cared for over 5500 wounded from the war. I cannot count the number of
sick and non-battle injured that have come through over that
timeframe. The staff at this facility has done an incredible job at
the largest US military medical center with the worst injured of the
war. We have cared for over 400 amputees and their families. I am
privileged to serve the wounded, their families, and our staff.

When the news about building 18 broke I was on leave. I was in shock
when the news broke. We in the chaplains office in Walter Reed, as
well as the majority of people at Walter Reed, did not know anyone was
in building 18. I didn't even know we had a building 18. How can that
happen? Walter Reed is over 100 acres of 66 buildings on two
installations. Building 18 is not on the installation of Walter Reed
and was believed to be closed years ago by our department. The fact
that some leaders in the medical brigade that is in charge of the
outpatients put soldiers in there is terrible. That is why the company
commander, first sergeant, and a group of platoon leaders and platoon
sergeants were relieved immediately. They failed their soldiers and
the Army. The commanding general was later relieved (more about this)
and his sergeant major has been told to move on--if he gets to. The
brigade sergeant major was relieved and more relief's are sure to come
and need to. As any leader knows, if you do not take care of soldiers,
lie, and then try to cover it up, you are not worthy of the commission
you hold and should be sent packing. I have no issue, and am actually
proud, that they did relieve the leaders they found who knew of the
terrible conditions some of our outpatients were enduring. The media
is making it sound like these conditions are rampant at Walter Reed
and nothing could be further from the truth. We need improvements and
will now get them. I hate it that it took this to make it happen.

The Army and the media made MG Weightman, our CG, out to be the
problem and fired him. This was a great injustice. He was only here
for six months, is responsible for military medical care in the 20
Northeast states, wears four "hats" of responsibilities, and relies on
his subordinate leaders to know what is happening in their areas of
responsibilities. He has a colonel that runs the hospital (my hospital
commander), a colonel that runs the medical brigade (where the
outpatient wounded are assigned and supposedly cared for), and a
colonel that is responsible to run the garrison and installation. What
people don't know is that he was making many changes as he became
aware of them and had requested money to fix other places on the
installation. The Army did not come through until four months after he
asked for the money, remember that he was here only six months, which
was only days before they relieved him. His leaders responsible for
outpatient care did not tell him about conditions in building 18. He
has been an incredible leader who really cares about the wounded,
their families, and our staff. I cannot say the same about a former
commander, who was my first commander here at Walter Reed, and
definitely knew about many problems and is in the position to fix them
and he did not. MG Weightman also should not be held responsible for
the military's unjust and inefficient medical board system and the
problems in the VA system. We lost a great leader and passionate man
who showed he had the guts to make changes and was doing so when he
was made the scapegoat for others.

What I am furious about is that the media is making it sound like all
of Walter Reed is like building 18. Nothing could be further from the
truth. No system is perfect but the medical staff provides great care
in this hospital. What needs to be addressed, and finally will, is the
bureaucratic garbage that all soldiers are put through going into
medical boards and medical retirements. Congress is finally giving the
money that people have asked for at Walter Reed for years to fix
places on the installations and address shortcomings. What they don't
want you to know is Congress caused many problems by the BRAC process
saying they were closing Walter Reed. We cannot keep nor attract all
the quality people we need at Walter Reed when they know this place
will close in several years and they are not promised a job at the new
hospital. Then they did this thing call A76 where they fired many of
the workers here for a company of contractors, IAP, to get a contract
to provide care outside the hospital proper. The company, which is
responsible for maintenance, only hired half the number of people as
there were originally assigned to maintenance areas to save money.
Walter Reed leadership fought the A76 and BRAC process for years but
lost. Congress instituted the BRAC and A76 process; not the leadership
of Walter Reed.

What I wish everyone would also hear is that for every horror story we
are now hearing about in the media that truly needs to be addressed,
you are not hearing about the hundreds of other wounded and injured
soldiers who tell a story of great care they received. You are not
hearing about the incredibly high morale of our troops and the fact
that most of them want to go back, be with their teammates, and finish
the job properly. You should be very proud of the wounded troopers we
have at Walter Reed. They make me so proud to be in the Army and I
will fight to get their story out.

I want you to hear the whole story because our wounded, their
families, our Army, and the nation need to know that many in the media
and select politicians have an agenda. Forget agendas and make the
changes that have been needed for years to fix problems in every
military hospital and the VA system. The poor leaders will be
identified and sent packing and good riddance to them. I wish the same
could be said for the politicians and media personalities who are also
responsible but now want it to look like they are very concerned.
Where have they been for the last four years? I am ashamed of what
they all did and the pain it has caused many to think that everyone is
like that. Please know that you are not hearing the whole story.
Please know that there are thousands of dedicated soldiers and
civilian medical staff caring for your soldiers and their families.
When I leave here I will end up deploying. When soldiers in my
division have to go to Walter Reed from the battlefield, I know they
will get great medical care. I pray that you know the same thing. God
bless all our troops and their families wherever they may be. God
bless you all,

+Chaplain John L. Kallerson
Senior Chaplain Clinician
Walter Reed Army Medical Center



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Sunshine
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IN WASHINGTON, IT'S ALWAYS THE YEAR OF THE RAT
by Ann Coulter
March 14, 2007

Democrats have leapt on reports of mold, rats and bureaucratic hurdles at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as further proof of President George Bush's failed war policies.

To the contrary, the problems at Walter Reed are further proof of the Democrats' failed domestic policies — to wit, the civil service rules that prevent government employees from ever being fired. (A policy that also may account for Robert Byrd's longevity as a U.S. senator.)

Thanks to the Democrats, government employees have the world's most complicated set of job protection rules outside of the old East Germany. Oddly enough, this has not led to a dynamic workforce in the nation's capital.

Noticeably, the problems at Walter Reed are not with the doctors or medical care. The problems are with basic maintenance at the facility.

Unless U.S. Army generals are supposed to be spraying fungicide on the walls and crawling under beds to set rattraps, the slovenly conditions at Walter Reed are not their fault. The military is nominally in charge of Walter Reed, but — because of civil service rules put into place by Democrats — the maintenance crew can't be fired.

If the general "in charge" can't fire the people not doing their jobs, I don't know why he is being held responsible for them not doing their jobs.

You will find the exact same problems anyplace market forces have been artificially removed by the government and there is a total absence of incentives, competition, effective oversight, cost controls and so on. It's almost like a cause-and-effect thing.

The Washington Post could have done the same report on any government facility in the Washington, D.C., area.

In a typical story from the nation's capital, last year, a 38-year-old woman died at the hospital after her blood pressure dropped and a D.C. ambulance took 90 minutes to pick her up and take her to a hospital that was five minutes away. For 90 minutes, the 911 operator repeatedly assured the woman's sister that the ambulance was on its way.

You read these stories every few months in Washington.

New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum also died in Washington last year after being treated to the famed work ethic of the average government employee. Rosenbaum was mugged near his house and hit on the head with a pipe. A neighbor found him lying on the sidewalk and immediately called 911.

First, the ambulance got lost on the way to Rosenbaum. Then, instead of taking him to the closest emergency room, the ambulance took him to Howard University Hospital, nearly 30 minutes away, because one of the "emergency medical technicians" had personal business in the area.

Once he finally arrived at the hospital, Rosenbaum was left unattended on a gurney for 90 minutes because the "emergency medical technicians" had completely missed his head injury and listed him as "drunk" and "low priority."

Months later, the deputy mayor for public safety told The Washington Post that "to the best of his knowledge, no one involved in the incident had been fired."

No one has any authority over civil service employees in the nation's capital. Bush probably lives in terror of White House janitors. The White House bathroom could be flooding and he'd be told: "I'll get to you when I get to you. Listen, fella, you're fifth on my list. I'm not making any promises, just don't flush for the next week."

It's especially adorable how Democrats and the media are acting like these are the first rats ever sighted in the Washington, D.C., area. There are rats in the Capitol building. There are rats in The Washington Post building. Bush has seen rats. But let's leave Chuck Hagel out of this for now.

On "ABC News" last year, a CBS radio reporter described a rat jumping off the camera in the White House press briefing room in the middle of a press conference. (And a shrew sits right in the front!) The Washington Post called the White House press room — located between the residence and the Oval Office — "a broken-down, rat-infested fire trap." During David Gregory's stand-up report on MSNBC about the damage done to Republicans by conditions at Walter Reed, rats appeared to be scurrying on the ground behind him.

Instead of an investigative report on the problems at Walter Reed, how about an investigative report on what happens when the head of janitorial services at Walter Reed is told about the dirt, mold and rats at the facility? If it's before 2:30 in the afternoon and he's still at work and he hasn't taken a "sick day," a "vacation day," a "personal day" or a "mental health day," I predict the answer will be: "I'm on my break."

The Democrats' response is: We must pass even more stringent rules to ensure that all government employees get every single break so that public-sector unions will continue giving massive campaign donations to the Democrats.

This was, you will recall, the precise issue that led to a partisan battle over the Homeland Security bill a few years ago: Whether employees at an emergency terrorist response agency could be fired — as Republicans wanted — or if they would be subject to civil service rules and unfireable — as the Democrats wanted.

HELLO? HOMELAND SECURITY? THERE'S A BOMB IN THE WELL OF THE SENATE!

Sorry, not my job. Try the Department of Public Works.

When Republican Saxby Chambliss challenged Democrat Max Cleland in the 2002 Georgia Senate race, he ran an ad attacking Cleland for demanding civil service protections for workers at the Homeland Security Department. Naturally, Republicans were accused of hating veterans for mentioning Cleland's vote on the Homeland Security bill.

Now that the Democrats are once again pretending to give a damn about the troops by wailing about conditions at Walter Reed, how about some Republican — maybe Chambliss! — introduce a bill to remove civil service protections from employees at Walter Reed and all veterans' hospitals? You know, a bill that would actually address the problem.

And don't worry about the useless, slothful government employees who can only hold jobs from which they cannot be fired. We'll get them jobs at the EPA and Department of Education.

COPYRIGHT 2007 ANN COULTER

DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE

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Culture Warrior
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Thanks for posting this Sunshine.

Over on Charlie's Soapbox, we had a pretty good arguement about this going with the usual libs that show up and tried to point the fingers at the administration about this problem.

I had posted some links as to WHY the conditions at building 18 were bad, and mainly it was due to the the increased burden of the War on Terror and the fact that the facility itself is due to close / be relocated.

Unfortunatly the comments on the thread are now gone, so I'll see if I can re-research and post some of the links back on here............

Maybe Hick, bsb or someone else saved the discussion and can send a copy of the page to me.
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bsb006
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I missed that soapbox, CW - sorry!!!!
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Hick
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I got to it far too late to convert it over to a .pdf document... :(
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Culture Warrior
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Hick,Mar 15 2007
08:52 PM
I got to it far too late to convert it over to a .pdf document... :(


Do you have an html copy? anything?

Please email it to me if you do!

Thanks
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Hick
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Unfortunately, I have a program that does a security wipe of Temporary Internet Files, History, Cookies, and the like everytime I fire up the machine.
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