Military Improving Housing And Care
Lexington Herald
January 4, 2005
FORT KNOX - Just two hours away from Lexington, at the Fort Knox Army base, nearly 150 sick and injured soldiers linger in a medical limbo created when the military found itself unprepared for fallout from the war with Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Goodin, 52, of Hodgenville, hurt his back unloading a truck at Fort Campbell in June 2003 even before he could be deployed to Iraq. Eighteen months later, he is still assigned to medical holdover status at Fort Knox.
Sgt. Terry Underwood was a corrections officer in Muhlenberg County when he was deployed to Bosnia by the National Guard in 2001. Underwood wants to join his unit in Iraq, but first he needed surgery at the University of Louisville to repair an Achilles' tendon he ruptured in Bosnia in 2003. "It takes forever," he said.
Specialist William Carter, 48, was on a mission in Iraq when he injured his leg on a piece of concrete in July 2004. He's anxious for a discharge so he can retire back home in Missouri and play with his grandchildren.
"What do people outside the military need to realize?" he said. "We are here. And there's more of us coming."
Since the war with Iraq began, Fort Knox has been publicly criticized for the alleged maltreatment of hundreds of sick and injured soldiers, both from Kentucky and from across the United States. Similar facilities at other U.S. bases have also faced criticism.
Pentagon officials visited Fort Knox last month to monitor the conditions on the base for the soldiers who report to light duty while receiving medical treatment. A spokesman for Fort Knox says the situation as of mid-December was improving.
Problems at the medical holding facility first came to light in 2003 when, after returning from Iraq, some soldiers spent about eight weeks in dilapidated World War II-era barracks with leaking roofs, animal infestations and no air conditioning in the heat. The barracks were condemned and soldiers were moved.
In the most recent controversy, Army officials have suggested a court-martial for a soldier because he checked himself into a civilian mental hospital after being denied treatment at Fort Knox.
Members of Congress are investigating whether the soldier, 1st Lt. Jullian P. Goodrum, of Knoxville, Tenn., was placed in isolation at Walter Reed Army hospital because he complained to reporters about his treatment at Fort Knox. Army officials said that a "misunderstanding" caused Goodrum, suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, to be denied mental health treatment at Fort Knox.
Several ailing soldiers at Fort Knox, including Kentucky natives, talked to a Herald-Leader reporter last month. They agreed that conditions have improved but expressed frustrations over delays in their course of treatment
Though Christopher Goodin is now allowed to stay with his family each night in Hodgen-ville, he faces an uncertain future once he gets a medical discharge and returns to civilian life.
"Who's going to hire me at my age?" said Goodin. "I'm trying to get 30 percent of my salary for severance pay. It took me 179 days to get the right treatment. I guess somebody had to pave the way."
Sgt. Robert Dodge, a commander in a newly formed unit designed to improve conditions for the Fort Knox soldiers in medical hold, said an overhaul in accommodations and philosophy was badly needed. There are about 146 soldiers in the medical hold program, down from 400 in October 2003.
At first, he said, "The Army wasn't prepared to take care of hurt soldiers. These soldiers have blazed the trail. They've gone through bad stuff. Living conditions weren't that good."
After the World War II barracks were condemned, an entire floor at Ireland Army Hospital was set aside for soldiers on medical holdover. But most soldiers have since been moved to separate barracks resembling a college dorm. In mid-December, the repairs continued.
"We've done the best we could," said Master Sgt. Jerry Meredith of Fort Knox. "The conditions had to evolve. What we had was what we had. It's a tough time for the soldiers undergoing treatment," said Meredith.
The toughest part is being in limbo, several soldiers said.
Sgt. Todd Clites, 31, sustained two fractures in his back in Baghdad on Easter Sunday 2004 when a roadside bomb detonated. A Pennsylvania native, he's been at Fort Knox in medical holdover for six months waiting for a temporary medical retirement to be approved. He is eager to return to his unit in Iraq.
"At Fort Knox, I've had to pay somebody to buy me a special board for my bed because of my back. The paint was peeling, there were broken tiles in the ceiling. But I've slept in a lot worse. A lot of people who come here lose sight of the fact that it's better than sleeping in a humvee," said Clites.
Nevertheless, Clites has concerns.
"Send me back to Iraq or send me home," he said. "The military needs a better system. The time span between appointments is too long."
Staff Sgt. William Roe of Louisville suffered shrapnel wounds to his arms, leg, shoulder and neck on Aug. 8 in Iraq and ended up, he says, "looking like a bloody Swiss cheese."
He was transferred to Fort Knox Dec. 13, 2004, from a medical holding facility at Fort Stewart, Ga., that has received even more criticism than Fort Knox. Some of that criticism was justified, Roe said.
"The quality of care was fine," he said. "But trying to get medical appointments was slow."
The upside for Roe is that he's only 30 minutes from home now and can stay with his family each night while he recovers. As soon as he negotiates the frustrating medical system, the 33-year-old adviser to the Iraqi Army has volunteered to go back to Iraq.
"I like my job," he said.
The Pentagon is offering improvements for the holding facilities at Fort Knox and other bases.
Solutions include moving ill soldiers into nearby hotels, adding more doctors, and setting aside $77 million to improve conditions.
"We recognize that last fall, we temporarily lost sight of the situation," Daniel Denning, an assistant secretary of the Army, told the U.S. House Total Force Subcommittee in January 2004.
Quality of life for soldiers in medical hold status is becoming a priority at Fort Knox, Meredith said. In addition to living together in a renovated building within walking distance of recreational facilities, soldiers are offered a menu that includes eggs cooked to order, he said.
On weekends, many soldiers from the region drive home to see their families and some stay at home each night. Their work assignments are designed so as not to compromise medical conditions. A shuttle service is available to take medical hold soldiers to work, appointments and shopping.
Another improvement, Meredith said, is a new program that offers soldiers medical care in their hometowns so they don't have to stay at bases like Fort Knox. The Community Based Health Care Organization is an integral part of the medical holdover program and originally was begun to relieve pressure on medical facilities and installations, said Col. Mike Deaton from the Army Surgeon General Office.
"It is also a means for us to provide care to soldiers while they live at home and work at nearby military facilities," Deaton said.
Meanwhile, Army Reserve Major Teresa Long, a caseworker, says it's unfair to portray the Army as a group of unfeeling bureaucrats who neglect wounded soldiers. Long's job is to help wounded soldiers navigate the medical hold process at Fort Knox. She said the Army is going to great lengths to address both physical ailments and mental wounds, which aren't always evident right away.
Long says she finds herself telling soldiers over and over, "You are not a looney tune because you have depression and anxiety."
Soldiers come back from Iraq needing treatment for a shoulder injury and then later show signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome. It's affecting 20 to 25 percent of the Iraqi veterans.
"We are seeing a new generation of Vietnam-type vets coming from Iraq," Long said. "They've seen death and destruction and body parts all over the place."
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