The Most Unkind Cut of All

I've ranted and raved about the ridiculous Iraq War for the five or so years since this entered (or was forced upon?) entered our consciousness. And I certainly admit that there are some who honestly think the war was truly worth it.

But there is something that we will all agree on regardless of our political stripe. And this is it: those who serve in our armed forces should be treated well when they return from their tour of duty overseas, especially if they are wounded. Over the weekend The Washington Post ran a feature story about the deplorable conditions at the famous Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington.

From the story:

"Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

And I suppose it's one thing to have a crumby, rundown building. It's quite another to hear how the administrative arm of the hospital is failing these soldiers:

"On the worst days, soldiers say they feel like they are living a chapter of "Catch-22." The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide.

Disengaged clerks, unqualified platoon sergeants and overworked case managers fumble with simple needs: feeding soldiers' families who are close to poverty, replacing a uniform ripped off by medics in the desert sand or helping a brain-damaged soldier remember his next appointment.

"We've done our duty. We fought the war. We came home wounded. Fine. But whoever the people are back here who are supposed to give us the easy transition should be doing it," said Marine Sgt. Ryan Groves, 26, an amputee who lived at Walter Reed for 16 months. "We don't know what to do. The people who are supposed to know don't have the answers. It's a nonstop process of stalling."

What are the long-term implications for the soldiers and their families? Suicide. Overdoses. Anger. At the very least, frustration. Apparently, soldiers get the best possible care to keep them alive while they're in the war zone - in fact, more wounded soldiers are making it through alive by the expert - and even miraculous - care they receive when they are evacuated to a medical hospital. But afterwards? The soldiers are left to question why the military bothers to save them so heroically, when they are treated so poorly when they come home.

We are a better country than this. I clearly don't have an answer to how to solve this problem. The neglect of our veterans is a bi-partison issue with ALL the politicians in Washington DC responsible. Let's hope this journalistic breakthrough brings hope to these kids who didn't ask for anything except to be treated well by their government.