Wednesday, July 16, 2008

• Don Quixote day...

  I'm going to Ft. Leavenworth today to tilt at some windmills... wish me luck!

  EDIT:

  thanks ladies for the positive vibes... probably what kept me from completely losing my cool.  But not by much.  I do not like the new Commander for the WTU- she's actually the new Hospital administrator.  She informed me today that the sole purpose for the WTU and the reason the Walter Reed scandal caused the formation of WTU's is because the Army needs better "command and control" over the soldiers who are in recovery from injuries sustained in battle.

  OMFG!

  Not because the Army needs to take better care of the soldiers who are injured, but because they need to be accountable for these soldier's whereabouts!  I almost lost it then... especially since I was of the delusion that the sole purpose for the WTU was to heal the soldier... its what's on the posters for Gods sake!!  She further went forward to basically tell me in front of the whole unit, that the criteria for gaining entry into the WTU has not changed for National Guard and Reserve soldiers.  But when I questioned her on the finer points and details of how the "not changed" policy would be enforced it became very obvious that it is not the same criteria and many of our National Guard and Reserve soldiers are going to ineligble, which means they are going to be denied care because of geographical restrictions.  I'm pretty livid about that... but whatever, I'll call a Congressman.

  The next issue that arose was transportation.  I offered months ago to spearhead a solution to get these soldiers who can't drive because of their injuries to and from their doctors appointments... many appointments are scheduled off post because Ft. Leavenworth Hospital is not equipped to do much more than outpatient surgeries and pharmacy.  I was told months ago that the Hospital would provide the transportation and it shouldn't be an issue.  Then I'm told today that they don't have drivers available for all the soldiers in the unit who need someone to drive them.  The main problem is that no one... I mean no one can tell me two things-

  1. what vehicles are available for transporting these soldiers?

  2. who can pay for the gas?

  Because I have drivers.  I can think of several retired military members who would be honored to serve our wounded warriors by driving them to their doctor's appointments.  And I can also see how this could be expanded to include not just WTU soldiers but veterans needing to get through the VA system as well.  What's more perfect than a retired or disabled veteran assisting another disabled veteran? Or even spouses of veterans who are out of work volunteering their time to help a fellow soldier... I know there are tons of people who would help with this need.   I've got people who will drive for them... I just need vehicles they can use and gas to get them there.  This is where the Army can't tell me anything other than- No, we can't do that.

  So of course you all can see what I'd be thinking... no, ah, come on you know me better than this!

  I'm going to look into getting a non-profit organization together to service Veterans, Wounded Warriors and active duty service members who need transportation to doctor's appointments, surgeries and maybe even expand it to include transportation to airports for leave and such.  Maybe not that much stuff... but at least something along the lines of a free taxi service for medical appointments.  I used to work for an ambulance service that the VA contracted to transport veterans from remote locations to the VA... don't see why that couldn't work either.

  But if my non-profit gets up and going I've even picked out the perfect name... Patriot Drivers!  So call me crazy... but they've pissed me off with the no- we can't do that answer for everything I ask about... so I'm going to tell them YES AND-

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