There's no doubt in my mind this is retribution. Crack downs and snap inspections where there once were none were punishments in my unit, especially on weekends.

Keith . . . I am encouraged that you are on this "veteran's beat story." I know you will keep the heat on until the uncaring sob's in charge of veterans care and disability payments are brought in line. How about doing regular (weekly?) short features on individuals who are being screwed over by the VA? . . . I have NO personal interest in VA medical care or wartime injury disability payments.

All V A hospitals are not in the class of Walter Reed At the "Bay Pines" hospital where I have spent much time during the last 30 years,is a facility should be seen. An example: In all public and private rest rooms signs are quite visible,"If you see anything in this restroom that is not 100% call this number----- When early appointments bring one to hospital @ 6AM the floors are so clean one would think it was covered with glass.I could write volums on the great care,staff,and unbelievable kindness given to all. also the cheif of staff can be seen regularly in the

Here we have young men and women who have served their country, incurred an injury requiring hospitalization while fighting for the freedom of others, and then being told that their right to free speech (one of basic principles of a free society and that they had fought for) had been removed. I realize the military must maintain a chain of command, but something just does not seem right here. If the conditions at Walter Reed or any adjoining facility were what they should be, the top brass would not have to worry how many reporters their soildiers spoke too. It is amazing to me that it takes someone from the press to discover mold, mice and other poor conditions at these facilities. I wonder what would happen if local health department authorities discovered the same conditions at hospitals across the country. First, they would shut them down, and second, some administrator's head would roll. Where are these soldier's parents? If one of my children were to require services at Walter Reed or one of their nearby rehab facilities, and I visited to find such conditions, I can guarantee you the sh-- would hit the fan.

How about instead of spending our money on Missions to Mars we spend it on Helping our Hospitals? Woodruff's work on Traumatic Brain Injuries demonstrates our need to rethink our national priorities.

Have to keep pushing back against the continuing oppression of our soldiers by the bush/cheney regime who are deliberately trying to destoy our military and a generation of our young people. Please people, keep writing the media and representatives to fully fund veterans programs and to stop this retribution against those in the military who speak out about the shameful way they are being abused by this regime.

How does this criminal, chickenhawk, administration "Support the Troops?" They support them dying for oil, and war profiteers, they support their suffering and dying in despicable conditions, they support them shutting up and disappearing, they support them living destitute on the streets. They DO NOT support treating them as loyal Americans, as human beings, or anyone of value unless they can suck some PR out of it. These are real American, Christian, noble values? I don't think so! Tarring and feathering is too good for the scum of this administration. Nothing is too good for those who honorably serve America.

How about instead of spending our money on a war in Iraq, we spend it on our people's well-being, which also includes extra-terrestrial exploration. And up hold the government whistle-blower law. Knowledge is power...is that so terrifying to our officials? Hmmm.

It's not just at Walter Reed - this problem of mistreating our soldiers, is at every Army hospital. 1 out of every 9 soldiers return disabled, and the Army does nothing, but give these poor disabled soldiers a paperwork nightmare. The hope is that the disabled soldier will get tired and leave on his/her own accord. The problem is that the administrative overhead in managing the disability program is too high, and therefore, the money that should be spent in treating the soldier is spent on redundant processes and internal Army systems. How does an individual who has seen the "inside" of this problem bring this to the attention of Gates without getting into trouble? The $100 million spent annually in Army waste needs to be streamlined, thereby, allowing dollars to flow into treating the soldiers that served our Nation.

Tranfer Mision to Mars money to veteran care. Trnasfer Iraqi war funds to care for people. Beat swords into plowshares. Why not? Follow the money. Who profits? Who makes the campaign contribution? Who gets put into the cabinet and federal agencies? Follow the money.

I'm in the military and we often spend our own money to purchase office supplies to take care of our Soldiers because of budget cuts and cost savings programs that make it virtually impossible to resource our staffs yet billions is wasted on the Halliburton and KBR contractors and no one bats an eye. Now this! How low can this administration sink. Despicable.

We used to have a joke in the Air Force that kinda went like this: “A Federal Prisoner has a better deal than you or I. If we suffer inhumane depravity or any other common occurrence, we can shut up or become a Federal Prisoner.” In those circumstances, you are totally at the whim of the system. It is oppressive. The entire Military Medical system is fraught with issues. Yes there is brilliant care at Key Centers. Once you get to most little base hospitals or clinics in the middle of nowhere it is the Grace of God that you get a decent deal. A buddy of mines Wife got Motrin for Breast Cancer until it was stage IV and She died. That was in 1993ish. (Bob) As far as psychological stress, legislation that gave wives ½ a guys retirement on divorce caused enough divorces and subsequent suicides, that I can visit buddies in two cemeteries personally from my old flying squadron. Why stick with a dupe who is gone for months on end when you can cash them out and move on. One hanged himself, the other shot himself in the head. (Toby, Ed.) Suicide is common. So now the poor suffering bastards who were unable to get around in the Dachau-Wing at WRAMC are being forced to Muster-up outside in formation and this is whole issue just a breakdown in local Military discipline. They fired the NCO’s. The very same people who were told, shut up and take what you are getting or go to prison. That can be why some Sgt gets the boot and loses his 20 and everyone above that poor fuck gets Medals for fixing the problem. This usually means punishment for the innocent and more backslapping for some career sucking leech. Those commonly have Academy rings. It is what happens when the Military is politicized to the extent it is. Every officer Regular and Reserve Appointments are made by the President, and Confirmed by the Senate. For 6 years, Rumsfield has ruthlessly eliminated foes from the institutions. His office within the Pentagon exists today not as a working space for his office document review at all, but a close co-ordination and continuity center. I suspect Gates to continue that march. As far as someone at my pay-grade, it means the new Czar is the same as the Old Czar. The Neo-Cons may play 3 card monty with the duty titles currently held, but the ones who have always influenced still do. Remember this always: A military is built to consume in order to destroy. I will personally Skin a recruiter if I see them addressing my child. If an Adult wants to ask me about joining I will tell them what to expect and take them to the Recruiter. If they come to my Child, without my foreknowledge and assent, I promise it will not be nice. The 3rd Amendment of our Constitution provides that the military can not be quarted amongst civilians. I believe that should extend to elements of my home where my rights are subordinated to the state such as Education, where those administrators assume my parental role.

If anything deserves a "Special Comment" a la Olbermann, it has to be the deplorable treatment of the Military. From sending them grossly ill-equipped to war zones abroad (despite billions of dollars going toward private contractors) to the horrid conditions in which they are subjected to recuperate. And now 7:00 AM inspections? I'm sure some of these war veterans are heavily medicated and these inspections impose an undue burden on the servicemen and women whose energies need to be focused on getting themselves better, not public relations.

The moniker is of course "The Best and the Brightest". So why are these people treated like crap. Well, the reason is simply that the lazy, ignorant and stupefied American public (the Canadian public, at least in Alberta, is pretty much the same) won't get off it's ass to make things different. If several million citizens sent e-mails and letters, or phoned their representative and threatened them with castration I suspect this would be fixed rather quickly.

I am appalled at the deplorable conditions our soldiers must endure because they are no longer any use to the country. They served their time defending us and now that they need help we are turning our backs on them. We are shutting down VA hospitals across the country because the government says there is no money to keep running them.I say find the money! I bet if we told our politicians that we couldn't pay them anymore because there is no money, they'd have no problem finding the funds for that.I wouldn't care if we had to have a special tax that went strictly to support veterans, I would wholeheartedly endorse it. These men and women fought to keep America safe and they should be treated with the utmost respect. I thank all our veterans who have made this possible and to them I say you deserve whatever it takes for you to have decent medical care.

Ms. Paul, I feel the need to address your comment - "because they [the soldiers] are no longer any use to the country", implies that they have been rendered useless, which I feel does them a disservice. I'm sure they could still be of great use to the country they have defended. Most, after their rehabilitation, will once again become functioning members of society at which point they can continue to contribute to The United States. Personally, I believe that lack of funds argument to be a crock! As Barney Frank (D) put it, on Sept 10 2001, Congress claimed they were unable to put certain education and health benefits in to action due to a lack funds. However, they still managed to launch invasions on two fronts, (a flawed martial strategy to begin with), while giving away billions of dollars to war profiteering private contractors. Not to mention the billions of dollars earmarked to kick start Iraq's economy that mysteriously disappeared.

Shay, my point exactly. We have the funds for everything else but the veterans. I also did not mean to imply that veterans are no longer of use to the country. I feel that it is how are government perceives them now. I believe they are all invaluable to this country whether they are able to work or not. Our legislators are taken care of until the day they die, so why aren't the veterans treated the same way? Why didn't Cheney go to Walter Reed for his leg? Was he afraid of a few mice droppings? I am outraged at the conditions of Walter Reed and to punish soldiers because they are speaking out about the conditions is reprehensible to say the least. Why don't we rename Walter Reed to The Hanoi Hilton. I am fortunate that my father(Korean War) is going to Hines VA in Chicago. The staff there is unbelievable. You are greeted with a smile and a hello as you walk down the halls. They are overbooked with patients because of all the recent VA closings and do they take it out on the veterans, NO! My hat goes off to them. I see the halls lined with veterans who shouldn't have to sit for hours to get care because of budget cuts. It is pathetic to see this happening. Did Cheney have to wait for care? I for one think they should remove the soldiers from Walter Reed and make that the hospital for our wonderful politicians with absolutely no changes made to it. If it's good enough for our soldiers then it's good enough for the politicians!

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