More From Walter Reed
This poster is from World War I, and it shows a wounded veteran who needs help. Back then our government made a pledge to care for our wounded men and women in uniform. Now the military is pledging to punish anyone who talks to the press.It looks like my friend that I talked about in this post got out of Walter Reed just in time. She never would have survived in this environment. According to an article published in the Army Times , the patients at the Walter Reed Army Hospital are paying the consequences for talking to the Washington Post about living conditions in the infamous building 18. They are being watched very closely by the government, and have been ordered not to talk to the media. As a nurse, and as an American, I think this policy is despicable. How can we as a nation address problems if we don’t know about them. The doctors and nurses at Walter Reed are doing a phenomenal job in caring for our troops. It’s too bad that our government can’t do the same for those who have given so much for our country.
So much for keeping my blog a political free zone. Silence is bad medicine.
posted by Mother Jones RN at 1:56 AM
14 Comments:
Who is EVER happy with their own Government??? I don't know one person...
Mother Jones, have you noticed that the Army Times article is no longer there?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hi Pat:
I think I may have had a broken link. The story is still there. I fixed the link. Thanks for letting me know.
Donsie: Don't get me wrong, I love my country. If I didn't care, I wouldn't say anything. Democracy isn’t the problem. It’s the leadership that needs to be overhauled.
MJ
Those old posters always were true in what they said.
I am sure the government is watching us and I do not care! i still want to know why they do not count the soldiers who die in hospital as caualites of war!
I suspect there are degrees of unhappiness with government. In this case I suspect Third Degree Unhappiness, with First Degree being just a minor nuisance. I am going to link this post to my blog MJ, as a follow up to my original story of how BushCo is ignoring its wounded.
Sounds like a very sad state of affairs. It's a shame as to where we've gone isn't it?
find it so sad, insane, and slightly Orwellian that so much of the "Support the Troops" attitude expressed by the rightwing nuts specially and the rest of the country in general is nothing but hollow words.
"How can we as a nation address problems if we don't know about them"?
Simply, there is no reason for these defeatist thoughts or thoughts in general if you live in the make belief world of Dick and George. That's the world where questions are redundancies and the victory is in the bag. And if in doubt, you can always go and do some shopping.
Mother Jones, I found this BBC article today. I don't know how behind I am.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6414183.stm
On the BBC, we've got a public broadcast short animation with two blokes in a pub. One tells the other that he "doesn't do politics." Then he goes on to complain about other things, and each time his friend says, "But you don't do politics." Soon he's left with nothing to talk about.
Like it or not, politics intrudes into everything, including your blog. But it is appropriate here, because the issue is a nursing one i.e. the care of your country's wounded veterans. Your government has a duty of care to these guys and if they are failing at it, it needs to be addressed. If the Mainstream Media won't do it, bloggers have to take up the slack.
Unfortunately, none of this is new. The US Government (and other governments) have betrayed veterans as soon as the cameras went off many times.
Some blame the medical advances of the Civil War. It was the first time we had massive non-fatal casualties who needed support.
Pax,
MLO
I know all to well the treatment that is being received in certain parts of Walter Reid. A very good friend of mine was front line in Iraq during the door to door raids, killing people either intentionally as ordered or by an accidental trigger finger because they were worked under such high amounts of stress. Not something that he wanted to do but was forced to do in order to spare his own life. He saw women and children killed (not by his own hands that he knows of).
When he was finally sent home from Iraq because he was having nightmares and attacking people who awoke him from sleep while grabbing for his firearm (PTSD anyone??) he was sent to Walter Reid for over a year where he received all of two counseling sessions and enough drugs as he put it "to make you not give a damn if you were there". When his mother came to visit he let her sleep on his twin bed because he was concerned what she might encounter on the floor while there.
He was finally sent home, dismissed from the military with honors and no pension, no degree of disability..nada. He is now trying to function in the same environment that he used to funtion in just fine. Though now he has to live with his parents because he never knows what his outbursts might be like or who he might try to kill if they so happen to attempt awaken him (those not aware of the degree to which he suffers from PTSD)....but the Army says he's fine....right..
I could go on but for obvious reasons...I won't.
Dawn
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