Military fails to deliver for wounded veterans

The cliche "adding insult to injury" has taken on new meaning at Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the Army's premier medical center on the U.S. East Coast.

Earlier this year, Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull uncovered serious problems in the long-term care of wounded war veterans at the facility, especially substandard living conditions and excessive red tape. The disclosures resulted in congressional hearings and a shake-up of top brass.

Now, the Army acknowledges that hospital staff had discovered about 4, 500 pieces of mail intended for troops that had been lost for as long as a year. Some of the lost mail, including letters, postcards, magazines and packages, was postmarked as far back as May 2006. Embarrassed by this disclosure, Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the medical center's commanding general, ordered the mail be hand-delivered immediately to soldiers still at Walter Reed, while other items would be sent by Priority Mail to troops who had been released. Still other items would be returned to sender.

Schoomaker also ordered a full investigation into the foul-up, and he fired the mail room's contract operator.

While these are welcome moves, military officers, enlisted staff and civilian contractors should never again discount the significance of "mail call" for the welfare of the troops, especially for those at Walter Reed, many of whom have lost limbs or sustained brain damage. For most of the war wounded, simple letters, postcards and packages are their only contact with their relatives, sweethearts, friends and the civilian lifestyles they gave up to serve their country.

[Last modified July 5, 2007, 21:56:13]