This is more than just adding insult to injury. This
is a deliberate attempt to undermine the morale of these wounded men.
Hmmmmmmm....I wonder where this tactic is found in Alinsky's rules for
radicals!
Insult
to Injury: Wounded warriors snubbed at Walter Reed dining hall
Published August 15, 2013
FoxNews.com
In a disturbing revelation about the
treatment of America's most severely wounded troops, Fox News has learned the
military earlier this month decided to invalidate meal tickets and reduce hours
for the sole dining facility in the Walter Reed building where they are
recovering.
The decision affects the Warrior Cafe located
inside building 62, home to all multiple amputees and long-term, recovering
patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
The decision would mean wounded warriors who
would normally have a government-funded meal just down the hall would have to
walk, wheel or limp nearly a half-mile across the Walter Reed campus to the
temporary "food trailer" for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
"I mean it's called the Warrior Cafe,
you would think it is for us," said Sgt. Josh Wetzel, who lost both his
legs when he stepped on a pressure plate IED outside Kandahar, Afghanistan in
May 2013. He's been recovering at Walter Reed since and has been a daily
customer at the cafe.
The status of the military's decision may be
in flux.
After Fox News submitted multiple inquiries with
senior military officials earlier this week, the Pentagon responded late
Wednesday. Lt. Col. Catherine Wilkinson, a Pentagon spokesman, told Fox News
that Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs,
has decided to reverse the changes.
Yet so far, no patients at Walter Reed have
been notified of that decision and there has been no formal announcement.
"It makes a lot of people mad that they
can't get into their wheelchair and wheel down to the Warrior Cafe,"
Wetzel said. "Now they have to wheel all the way across base to use their
meal cards."
'It's called the Warrior Cafe, you would
think it is for us."
- Sgt. Josh Wetzel, who lost both legs in
Afghanistan
Wetzel's wife Paige is nine months pregnant
with their first child and is due this coming Monday. She says she's worried
about how much time and effort her husband will have to spend seeking food
between appointments, while she is in the maternity ward.
"In my opinion it's a total independence
thing," Paige said. "If I were to leave for a day or two I would know
Josh could go right down the hall, feed himself and he'd be fine. Now the only
alternative is to leave our building."
Walter Reed has already closed the cafe on
weekends. Paige says the Army offered to have Josh order his meals in advance.
"They explained that we could use our squad leaders to order meals for the
weekend, but it has to go through the squad leader (and then) through the first
sergeant," Paige said. "So how do you plan for that to make sure you
get what you need for the weekend?"
In addition to the weekend closure, the base
also decided to reduce the cafe's hours from 60 to 50 a week. Instead of
closing at 8 p.m. it now closes at 6 p.m., making it difficult for those getting
occupational therapy to get there in time.
The patients of building 62, many of whom
have endured 50 surgeries or more and are expected to spend up to two years
recovering at Walter Reed, were told of the decision to end meal tickets at the
Cafe in an Aug. 7 text message from their squad leader. The message explained
that the changes to the meal tickets will take place on Sept. 3. That message
was followed by a heated town hall meeting last week.
"I was very upset," said Carolee
Ryan. She is the mother of Marine Staff Sgt. Thomas McRae, a triple amputee,
partially blinded, single father whose wife left him after he sustained his
injuries in January of 2012 in Sangin, Afghanistan.
She was one of the mothers who made her voice
heard during that town hall meeting.
"I felt it was a slap in my son's face
as a service member. As many times as he has been deployed -- what they were
doing to him was a disservice," she said.
Paige Wetzel said the families felt the
decision was made without their input and for reasons that are hard to
understand. "It felt like the money had been deemed appropriate
somewhere else and I don't see how that could happen," Wetzel said.
Officials in the Pentagon and at Walter Reed
did not respond to questions about why the changes were made, but congressional
sources with knowledge of the decision say it was based on concerns that
government funds for the warrior meals were being misappropriated. They said
that because the cafe is listed as a "self sustaining" business, it
is not allowed to receive government subsidies, such as the meal tickets and
appropriated funds. So the military decided the cafe could no longer accept the
government meal cards.
The families and patients have a slightly
different take. Many of them who spoke to Fox News are under the impression
that the government doesn't like paying for the higher prices that come with
the better food.
"The food quality is not nearly as good
(at the trailer) as it is at the Warrior Cafe," Josh Wetzel said.
"The Warrior Cafe has something for everyone like a grill, hot food, salad
bars, sandwiches and drinks."
Carolee Ryan says the trailers specialize in
"processed food."
Walter Reed plans to eventually replace the
trailers with a new cafeteria, though it's not expected to be completed for
months. But even the new cafeteria will be a haul for the wounded occupants of
building 62. For now, Josh's best options are to pay for a meal using his
modest Army paycheck or to walk on his prosthetics to the trailer.
"I would say it's close to half a mile
... for guys who are on their wheelchair or using prosthetic legs -- you know
that is a long way to go," he said.
Adding insult to injury, there are only two
handicap-accessible tables in the trailer, and neither the bathroom nor the exit
doors has push-button access.
"It's quote unquote handicap accessible,
but for guys who have serious mobility injuries -- like they can't use their
hands that well -- you know it is tough for them," Josh Wetzel said.
Thomas McRae's mother says the whole
situation breaks her heart. She said her son told her he would consider going
hungry before wheeling himself to the trailers.
"Now I get it," Ryan said.
"Back in the Vietnam War when all the men and women were coming home (I
understand) how they felt ... and I didn't think it would come to this."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/15/insult-to-injury-wounded-warriors-snubbed-at-walter-reed-dining-hall/#ixzz2c4VtjJHP
