The Pentagon announced today that the Major General in charge of Walter Reed has been removed from command due to conditions at the hospital. From the news reports, it is a well-deserved decision. But the wording surprised me. According to the report the general was removed because the senior leadership had “lost trust and confidence in the commander’s leadership abilities”. I don’t ever remember hearing that before. In other cases that make the news, usually the captain of a ship that suffers a preventable accident, the captain is relieved and the wording is approximately" “lost confidence in the commander’s leadership abilities”.
Is that additional loss of trust as big a deal as it seems to me? Loss of confidence I can understand but losing trust in a flag officer seems like a very unusual thing to me.
Anyone in military (or retired would probably be better) care to comment?
Something’s not right here. Weightman has only been in command for six months. These problems obviously go back much further. Now Lt. Gen. Kiley has been appointed to replace Weightman, yet Kiley is Weightman’s predecessor in the job. Plus Kiley was the one trying to play down the circumstances just a few days ago. He was on the news saying that this wasn’t a major problem.
I ran across this blog, which begins w/ a condemnation of Weightman, but immediately takes a 180. http://www.intoxination.net/node/5510
The guy who appointed Kiley has just been fired, and Gates will name a permanent replacement for Weightman later today: Army secretary resigns in scandal’s wake.
AP’s calling this the scandal’s ‘wake’ indicates extreme optimism on the part of the press as to how quickly this’ll all get sorted out.
I heard Gates commenting earlier. He was describing what he wouldn’t tolerate and it sounded like he was describing Kiley to a T. Kiley came across as an arrogant SOB on TV a few days ago, trying to blame the Wa. Post for sensationalizing the bldg. 18 story and saying it wasn’t as big a problem as people thought. I think Weightman was scapegoated and Kiley is the major culprit here. I hope they sort this out, but I know the military and when there’s congressional heat it often makes things worse. Everybody is out to cover their own asses and the real problem get lost in the shuffle.
the army, navy, marines, air force, DoD, the VA, congress, the executive, the public and the whole damed crew have always pretty much forgotten about service members once the shooting stops.
"It’s Tommy This and Tommy That
and throw him out the brute,
But it’s Thank You Mr. Atkins
when the guns begin to shoot.
Tommy
Rudyard Kipling"
After the first Gulf war my prediction was that when appropriations for the VA came up, members of congress and the public’s attitude would be: “Jesus Christ, they were only there for a month. Are we expected to take care of them for the rest of their lives.”
And, when this current flap is over and some improvement is made, 10 years down the road that will be the attitude again.
The condition of the hospital at Great Lakes Naval Training Center never fails to amaze me. At first glance, the hospital just appears neglected. I first noted it about ten years ago. Now that I’ve returned to the area, it seems the hospital hasn’t changed a bit. The same goes for the dental clinic. Those building just seem run down. Holes in the walls, graffiti in the heads, etc. Hopefully this incident will square away all the medical facilities out there that have not received the level of attention and care that they deserve.
