In a New York Times article this morning on hearings held by the Shalala-Dole panel looking into the treatment of wounded soldiers, the pushback of blame from the upper echelon to the front line was in evidence.
One of the veterans speaking in front of the panel was former Army captain Marc Giammatteo, who is quoted as having observed “lack of caring or compassion in some of the work force” at Walter Reed Medical Center, where he underwent numerous surgeries for injuries caused by an rocket-propelled grenade.
“On several occasions,” Mr. Giammatteo said, “I, and others I have spoken to, felt that we were being judged as if we chose our nations foreign policy and, as a result, received little if any assistance. Some individuals, most of whom are civilian workers and do not wear the uniform, judge the wounded unfairly and treat them similarly, adopting a ‘Cant help you, youre on your own’ attitude.”
That said, it’s entirely possible that some members of the staff of a large medical facility — even one dedicated to treating military personnel — might be the kinds of jerks who would callously ignore wounded veterans of Iraq. It’s possible that Mr. Giammatteo and “others” felt that they weren’t getting the attention they should have been getting and ascribed it to being blamed for foreign policy judgments by the civilian staff.
In a properly-run institution, however, complaints about those types of problems would have been investigated and addressed, if needed. If people in charge at Walter Reed had been paying attention to ensuring that the veterans at the medical center were satisfied that they were getting the best in care and treatment, not being ignored, forgotten, or left waiting in some rathole.
I don’t know whether Mr. Giammatteo made any complaints of the above nature prior to the breaking of the scandal. I don’t have any idea how he can ascribe motivations behind the lack of assistance he describes unless there are more specific points not covered in the article. But if he did complain and the complaints were of a valid nature — i.e. he wasn’t getting the types of assistance he deserved — that is not simply an act of a malign “civilian worker,” it is a failure of the Walter Reed administration in not overseeing the very services they’re supposed to provide. It’s a lack of supervisory authority.
In a way, I hope that Mr. Giammatteo’s story is true. I’d rather believe that the staff at Walter Reed contained individuals who were thoughtless, bitter, or just bad hospital workers (there are definitely people who fall into those categories who go in to the care professions — don’t ask me why) than that he is the opening edge of a concerted attempt to push the blame for the Walter Reed scandal onto the “civilians” who didn’t support the war in Iraq.