Army Official Who Revealed Deplorable Conditions At Veterans Treatment Facility Is Forced To Resign
Army Official Who Revealed Deplorable Conditions At Veterans Treatment Facility Is Forced To Resign
On Monday, USA Today reported that barracks for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at the Army’s Fort Sill were infested with mold. In addition, soldiers living in the units said that “their complaints about mold and other problems” have been ignored for months and that they were told to keep quiet about the problems:
Twenty soldiers, who spoke to USA Today early last week, said their complaints about mold and other problems went unheeded for months. They also said they had been ordered not speak about the conditions at Fort Sill.
The base commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel, said in response to inquiries about the ongoing problems, “We’re going in and we’re going to take care of this for these guys.” In a later Associated Press report, Vangjel acknowledged that soldiers who knew about the mold were ordered to “remain silent,” but added that suggestions that the complaints were ignored are “simply not true.”
But now the Army appears to have retaliated against the Army social services official, Chuck Roeder, who first reported the poor conditions at Fort Sill — and their neglect — to the media. USA Today reports that Roeder has been forced out of his job:
An Army social services coordinator…who told USA Today about poor conditions at Fort Sill’s unit for wounded soldiers has been forced out of his job, the employee and base officials said Tuesday.
Soldiers meeting with Army Secretary Pete Geren…on Tuesday said Chuck Roeder, 54, was a strong advocate for their problems and should not have been forced to leave. [...]
Roeder, a retired soldier, said he was told to resign or he would be fired.
An executive officer at Fort Sill said Roeder’s departure is “purely coincidental.”
The episode at Fort Sill is reminiscent of the handling of the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed uncovered by the Washington Post last year. In the aftermath of the Post’s report, CQ Today revealed that Walter Reed’s problems were long-known to officials in the Army and Congress, the Army accused the media of propagating “misinformation,” and the Pentagon tried to quiet criticisms by blocking the congressional testimony of the former Walter Reed Chief.
Noting that Fort Sill is the second Army installation in recent months to have such problems with barracks for returning soldiers, VetVoice writes, “this is pathetic.”
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That’s repug-style “support our troops” – steal from their budgets, overcharge, send them to war without proper equipment, protection, and rations, keep them their for many rotations, give them toilet water to drink, and let them die from inadequate health care should they be injured.
Then, fire the folks that tell the truth.
If the MSM can “catapult” this propaganda, they can sell any lie, including stolen elections.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:45 amAn executive officer at Fort Sill said Roeder’s departure is “purely coincidental.”
Yeah, and if you believe that I have a war in Iraq you can buy.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
August 20th, 2008 at 10:48 amWe now have a government run like a corporation, right down to the practice of the rank-and-file being struck by light lightning from the higher-ups – the good ole’ American corporate culture.
Neocons hate the government if it’s not a bad as their filthy existence.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:49 amThis falls within a broader theme of Republican rule that should remind us of a one party state, the Soviet Union in particular. Even in the Soviet Union there was an elite segment (senior party members) the received the benefit of the wealth, power and prestige of the state. Under Republican rule we see the same thing with wealthy families, corporate interests and extreme religious leaders reaping the benefit. Similar propaganda and information management techniques are used with resulting corruption and cover up of conditions. Indeed, the military conditions are beginning to sound like those of the Soviet Army.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:51 amOver and over, whistleblowers are made to pay by the Bush administration.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:52 amAn executive officer at Fort Sill said Roeder’s departure is “purely coincidental.”
What is wrong with these freaks? I mean seriously, what is the name of the condition that cause the criminal repugs to utter such complete nonsense?
Is it some kind of liars turrettes syndrome?
August 20th, 2008 at 10:54 amThere are two things that you don’t want to be in the Bush Administrations: the #2 man in al Qaeda, and a whistleblower. Both positions get wiped out with alarming regularity in the current regime.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:56 amSimply, the more we encourage disclosure — truth — the better for all.
Why do Republican Party leaders fail to understand this simple reality? Instead, their standard, four-part response is:
1. Cover up privately
2. Deny publicly
3. Shift blame consistently
4. Punish arrogantly
Bob Gates should be forced to address this issue publicly.
Just one more way our conservative, flag-waving folks support the troops.
On this issue alone, it’s way past time for change.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:57 amAn executive officer at Fort Sill said Roeder’s departure is “purely coincidental.”
And of course I believe this, this guy just wanted to leave. And where was McCain, the defencer of our troops and especially the veterans?
August 20th, 2008 at 11:02 amAny mention of a “desire to spend more time with family”? I love that one…
August 20th, 2008 at 11:07 amThe intent is to break the military beyond repair
August 20th, 2008 at 11:07 amso it can be Privatized and the Oligarchy can make even more money on it.
its really hard to respect the military when they are screwing their own….
anyone that has a lick of sense would never enlist.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:09 amDoes anyone know – are any of the services at the Fort Sill facility being run by private contractors?
August 20th, 2008 at 11:11 amA quick search of the internets tubes reveals:
Yes, private contractors are involved at Fort Sill.
http://sill-www.army.mil/ima/sites/services/afc.asp
August 20th, 2008 at 11:15 amAn executive officer at Fort Sill said Roeder’s departure is “purely coincidental.”
Roeder, a retired soldier, said he was told to resign or he would be fired.
I guess I’m reading and comprehension impaired ; where’s the “coincidence” in the above ?
Seems as if there’s only choice “A” or a choice “B” ; is choice “C” written in invisible ink ?
August 20th, 2008 at 11:15 amIf the MSM can sell the lie that repugs are strong on defense and terror, they can sell any lie.
Including that wild conspiracy theory that a man on dialysis living in caves half-way around the world somehow defeated the most powerful defense system in the world on 9/11.
IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB
All the rest of the criminality stems from the exploitation of this false-flag event.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:16 amAnd this false-flag event is what allowed them to gloss over the stolen election of 2000.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:17 amOfficials in the army are and have always been mostly republicans.
republicans do not really support the troops, just ask a vet.
who really supports the troops
August 20th, 2008 at 11:19 amThis is just freekin disgusting. Rather than fix the issues, they fire the people that bring the issues to light. This is to insure everyone keeps their mouths shut about blatant abuse of our wounded veterans.
Bush has systematically tried to destroy the military, by over extending them and treating the troops as nothing more than cannon fodder, then trying to abandon them after they are wounded and no longer useful for the Republican agenda.
The idiot trolls should be proud of their F-ckup in Chief they blindly support.
Are you proud of the way Veterans have been treated goon_golly?
August 20th, 2008 at 11:21 amNice. Shoot the messenger.
Way to “support our troops,” fellas!
NOT.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:22 amWhy hasn’t a real ex-warrior, like Hagel or Webb stood up and addressed this issue? I would think it would make a great case for uncovering the shitpile that BushCo has created with the military over the past 7 1/2 years.
Doesn’t anyone in office care about our troops any more?
August 20th, 2008 at 11:23 amWayne says:
Are you proud of the way Veterans have been treated goon_golly?
Wayne,
Don’t ask Gi-Gi such a tough question, OK? Any answer it gives, will be a telling one; if it says “Yes, I do” then it will have to blame BushCo, if it says “No”, well then we will have a true response.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:27 amI can’t help but wonder if maintenance at these facilities has been privatized, as has so much else of the military support and logistical services. Is that why we are now seeing so many failures in maintenance and logistics? The Army can no longer take care of itself – it depends on private contractors to do routine jobs and they get paid whether they perform or not. Why is it lately so difficult to perform basic maintenance on military facilities? Or has it always been this way and we’re just learning of it now?
August 20th, 2008 at 11:34 amThe BIG question is, why are members of the GOP, the Bush Administration, the neocons and the supporters of these groups not outraged by these conditions and the firing of the person who publicized them.
If these people were true patriots they would hold this administration accountable and not let them sweep this and hundreds of other nefarious issues under the rug.
Democrats/liberals are better people than republicans/conservatives.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:35 amSkepticRising Says:
Skeptic, it appears that there is money to be made by privatizing the military. How much has halliburton and blackwater made doing the job that the military did for itself in wwII?
See frosy’s post @ 14 for evidence that this specific issue is a result of contractors.
The republicans, if allowed will privatize your schools, police, highways, ect. They say it works better that way. Sadly, they have no proof that that is true but people buy into it anyway.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:39 amLooks like the Army is about as effective with it’s “scene control” as TP is with dealing with repeatedly banned troll shit.
HECKUVA JOB.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:40 amupside99 Says:
Wayne,
Don’t ask Gi-Gi such a tough question, OK? Any answer it gives, will be a telling one; if it says “Yes, I do” then it will have to blame BushCo, if it says “No”, well then we will have a true response.
actually I suspect the trolls will avoid this thread as they always do on threads covering the abuses of veterans. The cowards.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:43 amMcCain, Newt. Gingrich might blame this on ‘air inflated tires’,since McCain is really confused between tire inflation and economic inflation.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:45 amApparently the policy has been changed to “Don’t tell, DON’T TELL!”
PEACE
August 20th, 2008 at 11:47 amThey are the ones that made it happen. They want to operate in the dark and un-regulated and this guy shined a light on their nefarious actions so he has to go. They are not true patriats.
check this link for gop support for veterans….see what vets think of them. A few republicans got a c grade, the rest were d’s and f’s for republicans. Check out how they rate democrats.
of course the vets do not really represent the military, it is represented by a majority republican managment, you know the lifers, etc.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:51 amFred Says:
The republicans, if allowed will privatize your schools . . .
————————————————————-
This is already happening in Florida.
So if anyone here lives in Florida, be sure to vote “no” on amendments 7 and 9 in November.
7 makes it even easier to give tax dollars to religious groups (who are free to discriminate in hiring, service, etc.), specifically religious schools.
9 makes it easier to starve public, and accountable, schools and fund private, and unaccountable, schools with tax dollars.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:00 pmThis is what the Pentagon prefers to spend its money on: portable H-bombs (a $10 billion collar value!)
http://at5thestate.blogspot.com/2006/02/geeks-gone-wild.html
August 20th, 2008 at 12:02 pmCongress better ride this nag hard until those “covering up” the Army’s deplorable treatment of our troops are the ones ousted and that the whistleblower be reinstated and compensated (made whole). Write or call your Congressman!
August 20th, 2008 at 12:03 pmSomeday, mcdonalds will own all the schools – call it VERTICAL INTEGRATION. They will own the channels of production from top to bottom, including the future of your kids.
And the MSM will tell us it is good…
August 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pmFrosty Cupcake Says:
Hi Frosty, privatization of the public school system has been under way for some years now also. It isn’t obvious but why does each school have such enormous admin bldgs now and as many administratiors as they have teachers, doing what?
Also why is funding for each school now dependant on a “sucessful” football team. I think we all know about the problems this has caused.
We must have expensive stadium and equipment for sports even if we can’t afford teachers, computers, humanities such as art and music. It has become nothing more than a training organization for corporations where students who are not atheletes are indoctrinated for the corporations.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pmWell nobody has been electrocuted in the showers at this facility so what are they complaining about. /sarc
August 20th, 2008 at 12:08 pmDoc Rock Says:
That’s why they have to steal the election – they are putting all the memes in place now. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VOTERS are being purged in OH alone – that is just one state.
The democrats have given the repugs a free-pass on voter caging. Greg Palast reported months ago on how the fall election has ALREADY been stolen (.pdf).
August 20th, 2008 at 12:10 pmRemember how one of the first things Shrub wanted was to remove whistleblower protection ???
August 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pmI take it a Burson-Marsteller employee assigned to the TP message boards took offense to my post, as it disappeared. Either that, or one of Mark Penn’s friends was back watching.
There’s a huge spin industry around Washington, D.C. and they’re hired to deal with problems like this. Karen Hughes is the brand spanking new Global Vice Chair for Burson-Marsteller. The company hired her given her outstanding job of winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim world.
The corporate-crats can’t have any dirty laundry getting out.
August 20th, 2008 at 4:42 pmThe Bushies had spent some $400 million on PR firms in 2006, up from $39 million in 2001.
http://pameladrew.newsvine.com/_news/2006/08/30/345603-government-pr-spending-tops-400-million
What has it ballooned to by now, given all the failures of this administration?
August 20th, 2008 at 5:07 pmMcCain does not FLIP FLOP when voting for the American Military – He always votes against them:
John McCain claims that his military service is one of his qualifications to be commander in chief. I seriously doubt his dedication to the American military. His voting record shows his lack of concern for our bravest men and women.
John McCain missed 10 of the past 14 votes on Iraq.
John McCain in September 2007: voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments.
John McCain in July 2007: voted against a plan to drawdown troop levels in Iraq.
John McCain in March 2007 was too busy to vote on a bill that would require the start of a drawdown in troop levels within 120 days with a goal of withdrawing nearly all-combat troops within one year.
John McCain in February 2007 didn’t even bother to show up to vote against a resolution condemning it. For such a strong supporter of the escalation, McCain didn’t even bother to show up and vote for it.
John McCain in June 2006, voted against a resolution that Bush start withdrawing troops but with no timeline to do so.
John McCain in May 2006, voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.
John McCain in April 2006, was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.
John McCain in March 2006, voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.
John McCain in March 2004, once again voted for abusive tax loopholes over veterans when he voted against creating a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans’ medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes. Jeez, McCain really loves those tax loopholes for corporations, since he voted for them over our veterans’ needs.
John McCain in October 2003, voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq and to reduce the amount provided for reconstruction in Iraq by $322,000,000.
John McCain in April 2003, urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.
If he believes that we should stay the course for as long as possible he should be willing to support the people he puts in harms way.
John McCain is not a friend of the American Military.
August 26th, 2008 at 3:54 pm