Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Kafka himself could not have scripted it better

I have been following, with great interest, the Washington Post's articles about the abysmal conditions under which wounded soldiers languish in medical hold at Walter Reed. Dana Priest and Anne Hull described the physical neglect and bureacratic indifference experienced at Building 18, which is located across the street from Walter Reed. I have not seen the inside of that building, so I cannot speak to the stories about its infrastructure. However, the authors' depiction of the bureaucracy of Walter Reed - ie indifferent, callous, inefficient, and just plain mean - rings absolutely true.

Well, those articles certainly lit a fire under the collective posteriors of the powers that be. There will be no more languishing in rat-infested, moldy, crumbling Building 18. Those fine warriors will be moved to Building 14, which is conveniently located on the Walter Reed campus. They have been given strict orders not to speak to the media - not that those pesky reporters could gain access to the secure military installation, anyway. And these warriors will get to relive the glory days of basic training, by virtue of the edict that has them out of bed no later than 0600, ready for room inspections by 0700. The soldier sitting next to me confirms that this wouldn't happen in the toughest of infantry batallions with the healthiest of soldiers.

There's a special place in hell for the Perfumed Princes who made this happen. And it looks exactly like Building 18.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And heads have started to roll, beginning at the top.