So.
You feel the need to serve your country by joining the military, generally considered an honorable thing to do. You go out, you fight, and you're injured -- generally pretty severely, if you wind up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for any length of time. You would think that your country would be willing not only to house you, to help you get well again, but also to simply feed you, in honor of the fact that you have sacrificed your time, your effort, and your bodily integrity for your country.
You'd be wrong.
Most patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington have a lot on their minds: the war they just fought, the injuries they came home with, the future that lies ahead. The last thing a wounded soldier needs to worry about is where the next meal is coming from. But for hundreds of Walter Reed patients, that's a real concern. Starting this month, the Army has started making some wounded soldiers pay for the food they eat at the hospital.
Paying out of pocket for hospital meals can impose a serious financial burden, costing hundreds of dollars every month. That can be a lot of money to a military family. But perhaps worse, the meal charge feels like an ungrateful slap in the face to some soldiers. "I think it sucks," said a soldier from West Virginia who broke his neck in Iraq after falling off a roof. "I think that people should be able to eat. They get us over there, get us wounded and shot up and then tell us: Fend for yourself. You are all heroes, but here you go." [...] A veterans' advocate who lost the use of his legs fighting in Vietnam said the meal charges constitute a personal affront to soldiers. "I don't care what bureaucratic bullshit they come up with, this is an insult," said Bobby Muller, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and director of the foundation's Alliance for Security. "I cannot believe that people are being charged for their meals. This is a showstopper."
For its part, the Army explains -- and defends -- the food charges at Walter Reed by saying they apply only to some outpatients, not inpatients confined to hospital beds. "I have been absolutely assured ... that no inpatient has been charged for meals," Walter Reed spokesman Don Vandrey told Salon. But until Jan. 3, outpatient soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan ate for free in the chow hall. Now outpatient soldiers there longer than 90 days pay for meals in cash. Although Walter Reed did not disclose the exact number of soldiers affected, the policy is most likely to affect at least the estimated 600 soldiers getting long-term outpatient care at the hospital in what the Army calls "medical hold."
Soldiers in medical hold are considered outpatients, but they usually live on hospital grounds -- some are put up in nearby hotels if housing on the grounds is full -- and have little choice but to buy food at the Walter Reed chow hall. Even as outpatients, soldiers in medical hold often have serious injuries. Some have been blown up by roadside bombs or crumpled in Humvee wrecks. They have serious head wounds and amputations. Others are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after being flown out of Iraq with shellshock. Some soldiers in medical hold are waiting to get processed out of the Army because their wounds are so serious that they will never return to duty. But processing at Walter Reed can take over a year, much to the frustration of the soldiers who would prefer to get outpatient treatment near their homes and families. Soldiers in medical hold also complain they are still expected to line up for daily formations and buy new uniforms even as they struggle with debilitating physical and mental trauma from their service in Iraq. They say being charged for food while they're recovering is one more indignity.
You can't leave, the amount you're paying for food exceeds the food allowance, for soldiers with families -- especially the former reservists -- the entire situation already imposes all sorts of financial hardship, so this is just one more indignity heaped on top of all the rest.
Perhaps, if feeding soldiers is such a financial strain, Walter Reed could break out some of those Girl Scout cookies from storage to defray costs. It wouldn't be precisely nutritious, but at least it would be something.
And no, I'm not being -- entirely -- sarcastic.
Less is more is the message from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The hospital has received so many gifts for wounded soldiers and their families that it has run out of space.
The hospital announced yesterday that it would not begin accepting new donations until February, at the earliest. "I bet we have at least 10 tons of goods," said Michael Wagner, director of the Medical Family Assistance Center. "It's kind of a pleasant problem." A 40-by-60-foot storage room is nearly stacked up to its 12-foot ceiling with stuffed animals, clothes, shaving kits, books, videos, CDs and DVDs. Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops have sent photographs of themselves along with boxes with goodies. Schoolchildren have sent stacks of handmade cards.
The goods are desperately needed and appreciated by the soldiers and their families, who sometimes arrive at the hospital in Northwest Washington late at night without more than a few pieces of clothing. They could end up staying at the hospital for months while the soldier recovers, Wagner said.
Walter Reed receives patients daily who have been injured in Iraq or Afghanistan. Since the Iraq invasion, the hospital has treated 3,735 patients, 955 of whom have been battle casualties. The length of stay can range from several days to a year. [...] Until space becomes available at Walter Reed, officials encouraged those still wanting to help to donate money to organizations that help soldiers' families with living expenses, transportation, meals and other needs during their stays in the Washington region.
