A Marine Defends The Army
THIS Marine, to be specific
As we all know by now, the US Army is taking an absolute thrashing from every RepubliCrat within bribing distance. Oh, the beating of breasts and the wringing of hands from our esteemed lawmakers when they wail about how bad things are at the now infamous Building 18 at Walter Reed Army Hospital. To listen to these idiots, you'd think they were talking about Abu Ghraib.
One thing I haven't heard from those crying "scandal", is that Walter Reed Army Medical Center is on the chopping block. That's right, it's slated to be shut down in 2011. That's just 4 short years from now. And what's that mean, dollars wise? Simple.... no more folding green for renovations. Says who? Congress, that's who. The same guys who are beating their breasts and wringing their hands. After all, the place is going to be shut down, right? It wouldn't be "fiscally sound" to allocate money for major renovations.
But I'll be fair. I found out that $250,000 was spent in 2005 to renovate the building. So yes... someone absolutely dropped the ball. Building 18 should still be in decent shape. And someone is in dire need of getting their ass handed to them. But CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS??!!
Again, we have to be fair. A few things to consider ---
1. Money's tight. Especially in the military. Doubly at a military facility that's about to be shut-down.
2. With what money they have, what should they spend it on, exterminators or x-ray machines?
3. Bldg 18 is an Outpatient/Transient facility. No one stays there long term.
4. It wasn't the entire hospital that was fouled-up, just one small building. The other 99% of what makes up Walter Reed Army Medical Center is state of the art.
Now I don't want anyone misunderstanding me. No one, and I mean NO ONE should have to spend one hour living in a dung heap. But here's what really burns me up about this entire episode; these phony-baloney congressmen made sure that no more money for renovations went to Walter Reed, that is until s*** hit the fan.
Their false indignation towards the Army might fall on more receptive ears if they weren't sending millions and millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to their home districts for really important things like;
$500,000 to renovate the public pool in Banning, California
$400,000 for signal/intersection improvement in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
$300,000 for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, California
$150,000 to study shellfish genetics at Oregon State University
$150,000 for 12th &14th Avenue Road reconstruction in Madawaska, Maine
$200,000 to build a downtown parking structure in Provo, Utah
There are literally hundreds of Navy, Army and Air Force hospitals world-wide that the overwhelming number of nations on this planet could only dream of having.
How come there're no headlines or congressional hearings about that?
THIS Marine, to be specific
As we all know by now, the US Army is taking an absolute thrashing from every RepubliCrat within bribing distance. Oh, the beating of breasts and the wringing of hands from our esteemed lawmakers when they wail about how bad things are at the now infamous Building 18 at Walter Reed Army Hospital. To listen to these idiots, you'd think they were talking about Abu Ghraib.
One thing I haven't heard from those crying "scandal", is that Walter Reed Army Medical Center is on the chopping block. That's right, it's slated to be shut down in 2011. That's just 4 short years from now. And what's that mean, dollars wise? Simple.... no more folding green for renovations. Says who? Congress, that's who. The same guys who are beating their breasts and wringing their hands. After all, the place is going to be shut down, right? It wouldn't be "fiscally sound" to allocate money for major renovations.
But I'll be fair. I found out that $250,000 was spent in 2005 to renovate the building. So yes... someone absolutely dropped the ball. Building 18 should still be in decent shape. And someone is in dire need of getting their ass handed to them. But CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS??!!
Again, we have to be fair. A few things to consider ---
1. Money's tight. Especially in the military. Doubly at a military facility that's about to be shut-down.
2. With what money they have, what should they spend it on, exterminators or x-ray machines?
3. Bldg 18 is an Outpatient/Transient facility. No one stays there long term.
4. It wasn't the entire hospital that was fouled-up, just one small building. The other 99% of what makes up Walter Reed Army Medical Center is state of the art.
Now I don't want anyone misunderstanding me. No one, and I mean NO ONE should have to spend one hour living in a dung heap. But here's what really burns me up about this entire episode; these phony-baloney congressmen made sure that no more money for renovations went to Walter Reed, that is until s*** hit the fan.
Their false indignation towards the Army might fall on more receptive ears if they weren't sending millions and millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to their home districts for really important things like;
$500,000 to renovate the public pool in Banning, California
$400,000 for signal/intersection improvement in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
$300,000 for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, California
$150,000 to study shellfish genetics at Oregon State University
$150,000 for 12th &14th Avenue Road reconstruction in Madawaska, Maine
$200,000 to build a downtown parking structure in Provo, Utah
There are literally hundreds of Navy, Army and Air Force hospitals world-wide that the overwhelming number of nations on this planet could only dream of having.
How come there're no headlines or congressional hearings about that?
posted by Kevin Whiteman at
10:58 PM
6 Comments:
Just another attack on our military by liberals in Congress during wartime. This is one of the reasons why I very much fear we will be hit again.
As always, trust a Marine to do the job right.
Thanks for showing the truth.
Speaking as an Army vet, thanks for the kind words from a Marine. Semper Fi.
Having said that, I am not so quick to let the Army off the hook on this one. Everything you say about Congress and its spending priorities is true. Nonetheless, when it became clear that Walter Reed needed help the Army hierarchy apparently did nothing.
As a company commander I put my career on the line several times to help my troops with bureaucratic snarls. It didn't win me any favors, but we usually got action. There is no need to just sit there and accept it.
Somebody, at some level, knew the conditions at bldg 18 and made a choice not to do anything or ask for help from above. That's who needs to be axed.
No Prob IR!!
Patrick,
I couldn't agree more. But like I had on the post; So yes... someone absolutely dropped the ball. Building 18 should still be in decent shape. And someone is in dire need of getting their ass handed to them. But CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS??!!
(As the Caveman asks rhetorically) Ya think this is just another case of puke politicians wanting to get their faces in the paper?
Of course the pols wanted publicity. I don't mind it that's what it takes to get the soldiers what they need.
The sad part is that it had to reach this point. Like you say, someone should have been whipped over this long before it escalated so high.
HillaryCare in microcosm.
God bless our troops for having lived through that Hell--just to show us what National Health Care REALLY means!
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