The continuing mistreatment of US veterans and soldiers who served (and many of whom continue to serve) in Iraq never ceases to disturb me.
This morning, the Post has broken a new story that defies the imagination. The Army is housing wounded soldiers in a "warrior transition" barracks at Ft. Benning in Georgia. These barracks, designed to help soldiers recoup from the damages of war, are literally steps away from one of the Army's busiest firing ranges. The results are predictable:
Across the street from their assigned housing, about 200 yards away, are some of the Army infantry's main firing ranges, and day and night, several days each week, barrages from rifles and machine guns echo around Strickland's building. The noise makes the wounded cringe, startle in their formations, and stay awake and on edge, according to several soldiers interviewed at the barracks last month. The gunfire recently sent one soldier to the emergency room with an anxiety attack, they said.
More below the fold.
How we honor those who served:
"You hear a lot of shots, it puts you in a defensive mode," said Strickland, who spent a year with an infantry platoon in Baghdad and has since received a diagnosis of PTSD from the military. He now takes medicine for anxiety and insomnia. "My heart starts racing and I get all excited and irritable," he said, adding that the adrenaline surge "puts me back in that mind frame that I am actually there."
Is there an excuse for this?
Fort Benning, which covers more than 180,000 acres, is one of the Army's main training bases, with 67 live-fire ranges. The base has thousands of housing and barracks units. "There is no excuse" for the housing situation, said Paul Ragan, an associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, who treats veterans with PTSD. "Charitably put, it's very untherapeutic."
This, just months after the President of the United States promised to do more to help those men and women who serve our nation:
The Administration Is Taking Steps To Keep America's Promise To Those Who Have Defended Our Freedom...Our military doctors and nurses are among the best in the world. Unfortunately, some of our wounded warriors encountered unacceptable bureaucratic delays and administrative failures. The Administration took immediate action to fix those problems and ensure that America's injured service members are receiving the care and attention they deserve.
Housing soldiers in mold-infested hospitals is not a bureaucratic delay, Mr. President. The Walter Reed scandal wasn't a problem of bureaucracy. It was a problem of the government not serving those who served it.
And now we have this. Let me say, clearly, that housing the wounded and scarred from battle next to a firing range is not a bureaucratic delay. It is this administration's SNAFU. Let me spell that out for you, because I don't think you understand Acronyms, Mr. Bush. Situation Normal - All Fucked Up.
When you say things like this:
President Bush paid tribute Monday to America's fighting men and women who died in battle, saying national leaders must have "the courage and character to follow their lead" in preserving peace and freedom.
"On this Memorial Day, I stand before you as the commander in chief and try to tell you how proud I am," Bush told an audience of military figures, veterans and their families at Arlington National Cemetery. Of the men and women buried in the hallowed cemetery, he said, "They're an awesome bunch of people and the United States is blessed to have such citizens."
We are blessed to have the soldiers - particularly when this administration continues to treat those who served so terribly. If you're proud of them, Mr. President, I'd hate to see how you treated someone who you weren't proud of.
Remember, America. John McCain promises four more years of George Bush's treatment of soldiers and veterans.
Our men and women in uniform cannot afford this sort of continued injustice.