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An unexpected scalp.

By The Armorer on March 2, 2007 | | Comments (17)

Former Secretary of the Army Harvey.

WASHINGTON - Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The surprise move came one day after Harvey fired the two-star general in charge of the medical center in response to disclosures of problems at the hospital compound.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Harvey had resigned. But senior defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Gates had asked Harvey to leave. Gates was displeased that Harvey, after firing Maj. Gen. George Weightman as the head of Walter Reed, chose to name as Weightman's temporary replacement another general whose role in the controversy was still in question.

"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed," Gates said in the Pentagon briefing room. He took no questions from reporters.

Good. I've also learned elsewhere that a Captain has been reassigned.

The scalps mount. Even surprising ones like this. It's good to see that Secretary Gates, probably among other things, said, "WTF?" over the appointment of LTG Kiley to take temporary command at WRAMC. Based on what's come out regarding his tenure at WRAMC, I'm thinking the good LTG is a candidate for retirement as a Major General - he is my "amended OER" candidate.

I'm still thinking the troops are owed a field grade head in there somewhere.

Let's get this done, so all the people at WRAMC who are doing their best to do what's right for the soldiers can get some leadership that will let them do just that - and not have to look over their shoulder wondering if Dana Priest is lurking nearby, or some grumpy old retired guy is bitching about their place of work on his blog.

Don't get me wrong - the people who are doing the right thing by the soldier have nothing but my admiration and support. But they need leadership that facilitates that, not that worrys about image or managing the budget. That's what *managers* do. Commanders - LEAD.

The full text of Secretary Gate's announcement is here.

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17 Comments

By MaryAnn on March 2, 2007 4:07 PM
"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed," Gates said
Woof! Nice slapdown. I'm beginning to like this guy. Surprising about GEN Harvey nonetheless. Do you think Gates was "disappointed" with some other stuff about him and this was just a good opportunity to clean house?
 
By afsister on March 2, 2007 4:09 PM
it would appear that we were not the only ones displeased, or at the very least intrigued, by the "new-old" head of WR. interesting days, eh? Hey 1SG Keith- looks like some officer positions are opening up. How do you like DC? hehe.... (he'd NEVER join the officer ranks. I'm just waiting for the smack-down)
 
By MaryAnn on March 2, 2007 4:14 PM
Uh, meant SEC Harvey of course.
 
By 1sg keith on March 2, 2007 4:33 PM
Damn, AFKitty, an officer??? Haven't I taught you anything? Guess some more lessons are in store..........
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 2, 2007 5:05 PM
Guess some more lessons are in store.......... Cue Monty Python Grail Beacon scene...
 
By Skippy-san on March 2, 2007 5:51 PM
My .02, The CG probably had to go as he was responsible for all that happened under his command. However I doubt he got up every morning saying,"What can I do make my patients miserable today?" He had a budget and he had to make choices. His budget had probably been cut significantly in the past few years because the Army was using the funds elsewhere. Its clear he made the wrong choices. What I am getting at is that I believe this problem is more systemic-it won't really improve until DOD as a whole gets over this idea that proper healthcare is a "financial burden" that takes money away from the DOD "enterprise". People have to believe it is a sacred obligation and it has to be funded accordingly. To fix THAT-someone a lot higher up needs to go. Like Dr David Chu, who has shown ZERO compassion for veterans throughout his time in the Pentagon.
 
By Justthisguy on March 2, 2007 8:29 PM
What Skippy said, generally, with a comment: He said "...systemic..." and "...people have to believe..." Even if the system were perfect, and people just gamed it and didn't believe in it, things would prolly turn out badly. That's the problem we have with the Constitution. It ain't perfect, but I think it's pretty good. The gamesmen have been seeking ways around it, almost since it was written. (-and later; Roscoe Conkling interpretaion of the 14th Amendment) I think some of the Founders wrote something like, that the Constitution would work OK if we were reasonably virtuous, not so much if we weren't.
 
By BloodSpite on March 2, 2007 9:30 PM
You know....many many years ago...before World War...there was this other German guy who attempted to use what later became the famous Nuremburg excuse at his court martial. Except his court martial was about 50 years before anyone had even heard of Hitler. His name? Henry Wirz. The Military service? CSA. His duty station? A place in Andersonville, Georgia sometimes referred to as Ft Sumter. And in his prison the mortality rate was over 100 people a day. The point that I make is pretty simple, whether they are hanging an officer, or his career, in the end the soldiers (and in Wirz's case, prisoners) under his or her command are ultimately his or her responsibility. I'm certain that they didn't intentionally get up and say "Yeah I wanna ruin my troops day today" (this is questionable in Wirz's case for those more historically oriented I concede :) ) however they still have a responsibility, and to say "I was only following orders" or "I am a victim of my chain of command" only holds oh so much water. The same holds true for NCO's for the record just so no one accuses me of officer bashing, but like John I am seeing a lot more enlisted scalps than officers in the last 5 years, and it's a trend that bothers me greatly. NCO's break down, they mess up. Soldiers break down, they do wrong things. But in the end they follow the example of their leadership My personal belief is as we add more and more paperwork, put more and more political spin on how the military operates, with more and more officers who are Accountants and Business Managers versus Military History, and Tactical Strategy, we have slowly taken away the responsibility factor. The ever expanding bureaucracy's is expanding to meet the needs of the ever expanding bureaucracy so to speak. You take away leaders, and put manager's in their place, and situations like Gharib and Walter Reed are what your going to get. Thats my opinion anyway. We need leaders, not managers, and for those who've seen the elephant and heard the owl, the difference is obvious.
 
By BloodSpite on March 2, 2007 9:36 PM
Fast correction because I'm tired. Wirz was Swiss. Not German. He just spoke fluent German, Dutch and some other language that I can't remember. My apologies.
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 2, 2007 10:09 PM
Skippy's point is better taken when aimed at the commission, now two commissions, that are to take a look at WRAMC and now the whole VA/DoD health system. The fact that there are many involved in how it got to this place is indisputable. At least, unlike Abu Ghraib, there are some serious career consequences at high levels. The two cases are not parallel, but they are nonetheless instructive. I frankly hope LTG Kiley takes it, too. But - the real point - is will it go beyond the commissions, or will the report splash the news and then recede. The Dems want to show some spine, and the President some leadership... you'd think (though I doubt it will go that way) they have at least one area in which they could score some bi-partisan points. But I suspect soldiers in wheelchairs will just be photo-ops. Bonus Army, anyone? And it doesn't matter which party holds the reins.
 
By Mullah Cimoc on March 2, 2007 10:15 PM
Mullah Cimoc say israeli spy in pentagon and white house not caring for aermiki soldier. this man kill for the israeli. but israeli not care to help. ameriki society so sick now. just want sex pill and new refrigerator. geo. wshington so sicken when see how ameriki act this day.
 
By Barb on March 3, 2007 12:51 AM
Well, I expressed concern over the replacement named, so this is a reasonable turn of events. I understand about hard choices, etc. Just need better ones.
 
By TheNewGuy on March 3, 2007 1:07 AM
Didn't think I'd find myself agreeing with Skippy-San (what temperature is it in hell, anyway?), but he makes a valid point; this is a system problem. A simple change in leadership isn't going to be enough. The military has over-administrated and under-funded medical care. Too many forms, too much attention to "metrics" instead of patients, too few providers, and too little retention of qualified people. This isn't new... it's been a decade or more in the making, but here we are. To be fair, fixing this will cost money... that's just a fact. Good medical care is expensive, and doubly so when you're maintaining a fully duplicate system in a country as gifted with medical infrastructure as the United States. The military can maintain those separate facilities, but they can't half-ass it. If they can't provide care as well as the civilian hospitals (for the amount of money they're willing to spend), then they should close those redundant facilities and shift the care to the civilian side (at least in CONUS). They can get their providers, ancillary staff, tech, etc credentialed at the appropriate civilian hospitals, assist the civilian facilities in augmenting their bed capacity to handle the load, and share resources in whatever way provides the best care to the Active force. Regardless of whether your docs work in an MTF or candy-stripe in a joint military-civilian hospital, you need to maintain sufficient numbers of docs, either AD or Reserve, to serve the force in the field. Upping bonus pays and indexing for inflation would help decrease the pay disparity that lures some docs away from the service. For example, I don't think the basic 15K ASP "doc bonus" has been adjusted since 1990. Most all dependent care should be done by civilian docs. Right now, a lot of civilian docs aren't thrilled with Tricare rates, the slow payment, or the paperwork burden. If the DoD upped the reimbursement and eliminated the delay in payment that's unfortunately so typical of Tricare, you'd have civilian docs clamoring to see those patients. They'd agree to be providers, and military patients wouldn't get charged up-front. Retention of existing military docs would also help. The military medical system is a unique and often frustrating environment, and it probably takes the average doc at least a year or so to learn the ins and outs, the paperwork, the players, etc. CMRT, deployments, and other military-specific duties only add to it, and right about the time you're getting facile with the system, you separate, and a fresh/green captain steps in, and you start all over. It would cost money and require a culture/attitude change to keep docs (for the love of God, get rid of the crazymakers!), but it's arguably better to keep experienced docs than to go with an endless churn of neophytes. The latter is cheaper, but saves money at the cost of institutional memory and experience. That's not a good trade.
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 3, 2007 1:39 AM
Heh. Castle Argghhh!, your rather surprising stop for discussion of military health care...
 
By TheNewGuy on March 3, 2007 3:27 AM
Heh. Castle Argghhh!, your rather surprising stop for discussion of military health care...
Heh... you know how it is, John... I'm a giver. All kidding aside, I normally don't have much to add to the insightful commentary this site generates (and your "Whatzis?" posts are incredible... I thought I knew something about guns... you guys are monsters). In this case, healthcare is what I do... it's one of those rare discussions where I actually have something to add. When it comes to combat experience, leading men in the field, flying stuff, ordnance, etc, I can't hold a candle to most of your posters, so I'll probably go back to being a reader/lurker once the current medical maelstrom has passed.
 
By VleeptronDude on March 3, 2007 3:53 AM
The New York Times Friday 2 March 2007 General Is Fired Over Conditions at Walter Reed by David S. Cloud [excerpt:] A Pentagon official said that, in addition to General Weightman, a captain, two noncommissioned officers, and an enlisted soldier involved in outpatient treatment were being reassigned. He said he could not provide further information because of Defense Department confidentiality rules.
 
By Skippy-san on March 3, 2007 7:21 AM
The New Guy, I hear the devil is liking the snowballs he is throwing............. Your point about dependent care is really excellent. If DOD and Tricare would actually pay the bills on time and at competitive rates, just about all of it could be out sourced. (Except for the "practice" breast implant surgery that is sometimes given away for free to make sure military doctors keep their skills up. :-) ) I'd take it one step further. Outsource active duty care in CONUS too. Pay TRICARE rates. The military will never agree to that of course, since civilian doctors would actually respect patient confidentiality. The military seems not to respect that fundamental right. Because what you are talking about is reducing workload and that in turn improves care, if I am reading you right. That is a great point.