Soldier Denied Health Care

[Donutboy 0]

Soldier Denied Health Care After Speaking with Journalist

Mark Benjamin

United Press International

http://www.upi.com

Posted 3/3/2004

Summary: Congress, veterans groups, and the press should immediately launch a full investigation into this Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran's allegation he suffered retaliation from the military for speaking with reporters about substandard military healthcare. A series of three UPI articles about this major scandal are posted here. They describe the "squalor" more than 1,000 wounded, ill, or injured service members were forced to endure while on "medical hold."

Article #1

GI Denied Health Care After Speaking Out

March 2, 2004, WASHINGTON -- An Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran says Army officials at Fort Knox, Ky., refused him medical treatment after he talked publicly about poor care at the base, which helped spark hearings in Congress.

Fort Knox officials charged that soldier, Lt. Jullian Goodrum, with being absent without leave and cut off his pay after he then went to a private doctor who hospitalized him for serious mental stress from Iraq, Goodrum said.

"They are coming after me pretty bad," said Goodrum, 33, a veteran who has served the military for more than 14 years, including the first Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He showed United Press International a form from Fort Knox that states that Fort Knox officials "do not want him in medical hold." Some soldiers are kept on medical hold during treatment while the Army determines their status.

Goodrum has now been hospitalized in a locked mental ward at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. after turning himself in there Feb. 9. Doctors there say he has post-traumatic stress disorder from Iraq and major depression, and they worry he could hurt himself. He is not allowed to go down the hall from the inpatient psychiatric clinic for a Coke without an escort.

Goodrum said stress from Iraq, and the way he has been treated by the military since he returned, has made him so depressed he is lucky to be alive. He also has injuries to both wrists, in part from loading 65-pound shells on the USS Missouri when he was in the Navy in the first Gulf War. The ship pounded Iraqi troops in Kuwait and took fire from Iraqi tanks. An Iraqi Silkworm missile missed her bow by 30 yards.

Goodrum appeared in an Oct. 29 UPI (see full article below) about more than 400 soldiers on medical hold at Fort Knox who were waiting weeks and sometimes months for medical treatment.

That article, and an article on a similar situation at Fort Stewart, Ga., sparked a series of hearings in Congress -- including a Jan. 21 appearance by Col. Keith Armstrong, garrison commander at Fort Knox, before a panel of the House Armed Services Committee.

Fort Knox spokeswoman Connie Shaffery said privacy rules prohibit her from commenting on Goodrum's case, unless he signed a waiver saying otherwise. He declined. Shaffery said a soldier who does not show up for duty is absent without leave.

"If a soldier is not at his or her duty station and is not in an authorized leave or pass status, he is absent without leave," Shaffery said. "When a soldier is listed as AWOL, it stops all pay and benefits. When instructed to return and they do not comply, that is a violation."

After appearing in the UPI article on Oct. 29, Goodrum asked for medical care on or about Nov. 7. He said he told Fort Knox officials that he was having a breakdown.

"I said I was having problems. I told them I felt like I was having a breakdown right there," Goodrum said. Goodrum said Fort Knox told him to go away. A handwritten note in Goodrum's records from Nov. 7 says, "Colonel Stevens do (sic) not want this patient to be in medical hold."

Goodrum said he then drove down an interstate highway at 5 miles an hour through rushing traffic. He said he was completely dysfunctional because of a combination of PTSD and what he says was retribution from his chain of command for speaking up about poor medical care at the base. He said he could have wound up dead.

"A truck could have run right over me," Goodrum said about that day. "It was a complete nervous breakdown."

Goodrum, a member of the Army Reserve, was named the 176th Maintenance Battalion's "Soldier of the Year" in 2001. He has received a host of awards, including the combat action ribbon, and positive reviews from superior officers.

"Lt. Goodrum is a truly outstanding junior officer," reads one performance evaluation from 2002. "In addition to his technical competence, he demonstrates great leadership potential. ... Promote to captain and select for advance military schooling."

Goodrum said his problems began in Iraq, working under combat conditions in a transportation company. There, he said, safety violations -- including the use of "deadlined" or broken vehicles -- resulted in the death of a 22-year old soldier. Goodrum appealed to the Army's Inspector General and Congress when he returned home. 

After Goodrum sought medical help at Fort Knox on Nov. 7 and was denied, Goodrum's civilian doctor hospitalized him for PTSD and alerted Fort Knox.

Dr. Vijay Jethanandani wrote Fort Knox Nov. 15 that Goodrum needed medical leave until Dec. 7. The doctor kept officials there up to date on Goodrum's condition in a series of five letters.

"Unfortunately, recent intimidation, threats of being arrested for staying on medical leave from his superiors has resulted in recurrent psychiatric symptoms," Jethanandani wrote Dec. 3. "Until 11/26/03, Mr. Jullian Goodrum was progressing fairly well."

"It does not help that Mr. Goodrum was in combat with a unit in Iraq, where a superior officer ignored safety protocol jeopardizing the safety of soldiers and resulting in the death of one man," Jethanandani wrote. "Instead of following up on his complaints, it appears that some of his superiors on stateside may be penalizing him for reporting his superior officer in Iraq."

In the wake of the Fort Stewart and Fort Knox stories, last fall Undersecretary of Defense David S.C. Chu ordered that if medical care is not available on base, "medical commanders shall promptly refer patients to other military, Veteran Affairs, or civilian sources of care."

Goodrum said he showed Chu's memo to Fort Knox officials, but it did not help. "I told them they were ignoring an order from the undersecretary of Defense," Goodrum said.

Goodrum's medical files shows that Walter Reed medical staff also have been unable to get Fort Knox medical officials to discuss his case. "Patient is currently assigned to the medical hold company in Fort Knox, Ky., and to a Capt. Savage. Capt. Savage has NOT returned any phone calls from this office," his record states.

Soldiers at Fort Knox contacted UPI about another situation they consider a sign of poor care.

On Feb. 11, a soldier on medical hold at Fort Knox who served in Iraq apparently attempted suicide in the barracks. He was attached to a Special Forces unit in Iraq.

Soldiers there said he deeply slashed both of his wrists, spraying blood in the barracks hallway and around his room before being rushed to the hospital.

"If it was not for about three guys, if they had not applied direct pressure and immediate pressure, he would have died," said a soldier at Fort Knox who knows him.

Soldiers said they worry that Army officials did not act aggressively to address his problems, including heavy drinking, that appear to have surfaced since Iraq.

Shaffery said she could not comment on that case, either. "We are sensitive to psychiatric or suicide issues with all of our population," she said.

Article #2

Sick Soldiers Wait for Treatment

October 29, 2003, FORT KNOX, Ky. -- More than 400 sick and injured soldiers, including some who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, are stuck at Fort Knox, waiting weeks and sometimes months for medical treatment, a score of soldiers said in interviews.

The delays appear to have demolished morale -- many said they had lost faith in the Army and would not serve again -- and could jeopardize some soldiers' health, the soldiers said.

The Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers are in what the Army calls "medical hold," like roughly 600 soldiers under similar circumstances (see full article below) waiting for doctors at Fort Stewart, Ga.

The apparent lack of care at both locations raises the specter that Reserve and Guard soldiers, including many who returned from Iraq, could be languishing at locations across the country, according to Senate investigators.

Representatives from the office of Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., were at Fort Knox Wednesday looking into conditions at the post.

Following reports from Fort Stewart, Senate investigators said that the medical system at that post was overwhelmed and they were looking into whether the situation was Army-wide.

Army officials at the Pentagon said they are investigating that possibility. "We are absolutely taking a look at this across the Army and not just at Fort Stewart," Army spokesman Joe Burlas said Wednesday.

"I joined to serve my country," said Cpl. Waymond Boyd, 34. He served in Iraq with the National Guard's 1175 Transportation Company. He has been in medical hold since the end of July.

"It doesn't make any sense to go over there and risk your life and come back to this," Boyd said. "It ain't fair and it ain't right. I used to be patriotic." He has served the military for 15 years.

Boyd's knee and wrist injuries were severe enough that he was evacuated to Germany at the end of July and then sent to Fort Knox. His medical records show doctor appointments around four weeks apart. He said it took him almost two months to get a cast for his wrist, which is so weak he can't lift 5 pounds or play with his two children. He is taking painkilling drugs and walks with a cane with some difficulty.

Many soldiers at Fort Knox said their injuries and illnesses occurred in Iraq. Some said the rigors of war exacerbated health problems that probably should have prevented them from going in the first place.

Boyd's X-rays appear to show the damage to his wrist but also bone spurs in his feet that are noted in his medical record before being deployed, but the records say "no health problems noted" before he left.

"I don't think I was medically fit to go. But they said 'go.' That is my job," Boyd said.

Fort Knox Public Affairs Officer Connie Shaffery said, "Taking care of patients is our priority." Soldiers see specialists within 28 days, Shaffery said and Fort Knox officials hope to cut that time lag.

"I think that we would like for all the soldiers to get care as soon as possible," Shaffery said.

Shaffery said of the 422 soldiers on medical hold at Fort Knox, 369 did not deploy to Operation Iraqi Freedom because of their illnesses. Around two-thirds of the soldiers at Fort Stewart did serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Soldiers at Fort Knox describe strange clusters of heart problems and breathing problems, as did soldiers at Fort Stewart and other locations.

Command Sgt. Major Glen Talley, 57, is in the hospital at Fort Knox for heart problems, clotting blood and Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder. All of the problems became apparent after he went to war in April, he says. He is a reservist.

Talley said he was moved to Fort Knox on Oct. 16 and had not seen a doctor yet, only a physician's assistant. His next appointment with an endocrinologist was scheduled for Dec. 30.

"I don't mind serving my country," Talley said. "I just hate what they are doing to me now." Talley has served for 30 years. He was awarded two Purple Hearts in Vietnam.

Sgt. Buena Montgomery has breathing problems since serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. She said she has been able to get to doctors but worries about many others who have not.

"The Army did not prepare for the proper medical care for the soldiers that they knew were going to come back from this war," Montgomery said. "Now the Army needs to step up to the plate and fix this problem."

In nearly two dozen interviews conducted over three days, soldiers also described substandard living conditions -- though they said conditions had improved recently.

A UPI photographer working on this story without first having cleared his presence with base public affairs officials was detained for several hours for questioning Tuesday and then released. He was told he would need an Army escort for any further visits to the base. He returned to the base accompanied by an Army escort on Wednesday.

This reporter also was admonished that he had to be accompanied by an Army public affairs escort when on base. The interviews had been conducted without the presence of an escort.

After returning from Iraq, some soldiers spent about eight weeks in Spartan, dilapidated World War II-era barracks with leaking roofs, animal infestations and no air conditioning in the Kentucky heat.

"I arrived here and was placed in the World War II barracks," one soldier wrote in an internal Fort Knox survey of the conditions. "On the 28th of August we moved out. On 30 Aug. the roof collapsed. Had we not moved, someone would be dead," that soldier wrote.

Shaffery said all of the soldiers have moved out of those barracks. "As soon as we were able to, we moved them out," Shaffery said. The barracks now stand empty and have been condemned.

Also like Fort Stewart, soldiers at Fort Knox claimed they are getting substandard treatment because they are in the National Guard or Army Reserve as opposed to regular Army. The Army has denied any discrepancies in treatment or housing.

"We have provided, are providing, and will continue to provide our soldiers -- active and Reserve component -- the best health care available," Army spokesman Maj. Steve Stover said Oct. 20. He said Army policy provides health care priority based on a "most critically ill" basis, without differentiation between active and our Reserve soldiers.

"Medical hold issues are not new and the Army has been working diligently to address them across the Army," Stover said.

"They are treating us like second-class citizens," said Spc. Brian Smith, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom until Aug. 16 and said he is having trouble seeing doctors at Fort Knox. The Army evacuated him through Germany for stomach problems, among other things. "My brother wants to get in (the military). I am now discouraging him from doing it," Smith said.

"I have never been so disrespected in my military career," said Lt. Jullian Goodrum, who has been in the Army Reserve for 16 years. His health problems do not appear to be severe -- injured wrists -- but he said the medical situation at Fort Knox is bad. He said he waited a month for therapy. "I have never been so treated like dirt."

Article #3

Sick, Wounded U.S. Troops Held in Squalor

October 17, 2003, FORT STEWART, Ga. -- Hundreds of sick and wounded U.S. soldiers including many who served in the Iraq war are languishing in hot cement barracks here while they wait -- sometimes for months -- to see doctors.

The National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers' living conditions are so substandard, and the medical care so poor, that many of them believe the Army is trying push them out with reduced benefits for their ailments. One document shown to UPI states that no more doctor appointments are available from Oct. 14 through Nov. 11 -- Veterans Day.

"I have loved the Army. I have served the Army faithfully and I have done everything the Army has asked me to do," said Sgt. 1st Class Willie Buckels, a truck master with the 296th Transportation Company. Buckels served in the Army Reserves for 27 years, including Operation Iraqi Freedom and the first Gulf War. "Now my whole idea about the U.S. Army has changed. I am treated like a third-class citizen."

Since getting back from Iraq in May, Buckels, 52, has been trying to get doctors to find out why he has intense pain in the side of his abdomen since doubling over in pain there.

After waiting since May for a diagnosis, Buckels has accepted 20 percent of his benefits for bad knees and is going home to his family in Mississippi. "They have not found out what my side is doing yet, but they are still trying," Buckels said.

One month after President Bush greeted soldiers at Fort Stewart -- home of the famed Third Infantry Division -- as heroes on their return from Iraq, approximately 600 sick or injured members of the Army Reserves and National Guard are warehoused in rows of spare, steamy and dark cement barracks in a sandy field, waiting for doctors to treat their wounds or illnesses.

The Reserve and National Guard soldiers are on what the Army calls "medical hold," while the Army decides how sick or disabled they are and what benefits -- if any -- they should get as a result.

Some of the soldiers said they have waited six hours a day for an appointment without seeing a doctor. Others described waiting weeks or months without getting a diagnosis or proper treatment.

The soldiers said professional active duty personnel are getting better treatment while troops who serve in the National Guard or Army Reserve are left to wallow in medical hold.

"It is not an Army of One. It is the Army of two -- Army and Reserves," said one soldier who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, during which she developed a serious heart condition and strange skin ailment.

A half-dozen calls by UPI seeking comment from Fort Stewart public affairs officials and U.S. Forces Command in Atlanta were not returned.

Soldiers here estimate that nearly 40 percent of the personnel now in medical hold were deployed to Iraq. Of those who went, many described clusters of strange ailments, like heart and lung problems, among previously healthy troops. They said the Army has tried to refuse them benefits, claiming the injuries and illnesses were due to a "pre-existing condition," prior to military service.

Most soldiers in medical hold at Fort Stewart stay in rows of rectangular, gray, single-story cinder block barracks without bathrooms or air conditioning. They are dark and sweltering in the southern Georgia heat and humidity. Around 60 soldiers cram in the bunk beds in each barrack.

Soldiers make their way by walking or using crutches through the sandy dirt to a communal bathroom, where they have propped office partitions between otherwise open toilets for privacy. A row of leaky sinks sits on an opposite wall. The latrine smells of urine and is full of bugs, because many windows have no screens. Showering is in a communal, cinder block room. Soldiers say they have to buy their own toilet paper. 

They said the conditions are fine for training, but not for sick people.

"I think it is disgusting," said one Army Reserve member who went to Iraq and asked that his name not be used.

That soldier said that after being deployed in March he suffered a sudden onset of neurological symptoms in Baghdad that has gotten steadily worse. He shakes uncontrollably.

He said the Army has told him he has Parkinson's Disease and it was a pre-existing condition, but he thinks it was something in the anthrax shots the Army gave him.

"They say I have Parkinson's, but it is developing too rapidly," he said. "I did not have a problem until I got those shots."

First Sgt. Gerry Mosley crossed into Iraq from Kuwait on March 19 with the 296th Transportation Company, hauling fuel while under fire from the Iraqis as they traveled north alongside combat vehicles. Mosley said he was healthy before the war; he could run two miles in 17 minutes at 48 years old.

But he developed a series of symptoms: lung problems and shortness of breath; vertigo; migraines; and tinnitus. He also thinks the anthrax vaccine may have hurt him. Mosley also has a torn shoulder from an injury there.

Mosley says he has never been depressed before, but found himself looking at shotguns recently and thought about suicide.

Mosley is paying $300 a month to get better housing than the cinder block barracks. He has a notice from the base that appears to show that no more doctor appointments are available for reservists from Oct. 14 until Nov. 11. He said he has never been treated like this in his 30 years in the Army Reserves.

"Now, I would not go back to war for the Army," Mosley said.

Many soldiers in the hot barracks said regular Army soldiers get to see doctors, while National Guard and Army Reserve troops wait.

"The active duty guys that are coming in, they get treated first and they put us on hold," said another soldier who returned from Iraq six weeks ago with a serious back injury. He has gotten to see a doctor only two times since he got back, he said.

Another Army Reservist with the 149th Infantry Battalion said he has had real trouble seeing doctors about his crushed foot he suffered in Iraq. "There are not enough doctors. They are overcrowded and they can't perform the surgeries that have to be done," that soldier said. "Look at these mattresses. It hurts just to sit on them," he said, gesturing to the bunks. "There are people here who got back in April but did not get their surgeries until July. It is putting a lot on these families."

The Pentagon is reportedly drawing up plans to call up more reserves.

In an Oct. 9 speech to National Guard and reserve troops in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Bush said the soldiers had become part of the backbone of the military.

"Citizen-soldiers are serving in every front on the war on terror," Bush said. "And you're making your state and your country proud."

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Dude, this news is old and your source is misleading. An investigation was conducted and it was found that the condition in which these guys were living were not up to standards. This was quickly rectified. It was found also that this one person was not being singled out for punishment for talking to a reporter, as your misinforming source would lead you to believe, because there was a bunch of men and women living there waiting for treatment.

Nice try, but once again, WRONG.

BTW, welcome back.

[Donutboy 0]

Dude, this news is old and your source is misleading. An investigation was conducted and it was found that the condition in which these guys were living were not up to standards. This was quickly rectified. It was found also that this one person was not being singled out for punishment for talking to a reporter, as your misinforming source would lead you to believe, because there was a bunch of men and women living there waiting for treatment.

Nice try, but once again, WRONG.

BTW, welcome back.

Thanks TIS. It's good to be back. I had a little free time this morning (woke early and couldn't get back to sleep) after getting homefrom work at 3 AM. As you've noticed, I don't spend near as much time on here as before. As I've already told TA, Donutboy is working hard to be Pretzelboy. I've gone on a rigorous health kick. I joined a health club, have changed my diet and am seriously starting to try and revamp this 50 year-old body. Unfortunately, it doesn't leave me much time for other things that I am used to doing recreationally, such as being a "couch potato" or a "computer potato". It IS good to be with you this morning though and I'm glad to see that you're doing well.

[TitanTiger 20,543]

I'm not understanding why this is in the political forum. Are you insinuating something?

[Donutboy 0]

I'm not understanding why this is in the political forum. Are you insinuating something?

Well, I'm sure the thought police will hide it over there in due time. I'm surprised you haven't already.

[TitanTiger 20,543]

Huh? Put down the crack pipe and speak English.