Apologies, Anger at Walter Reed Hearing

Appearing yesterday morning before the national legislative conference of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vice President Cheney said that President Bush "has made our administration's priority very clear to the Congress and to the country: There will be no excuses, only action. And the federal bureaucracy will not slow that action down. We're going to fix the problems at Walter Reed, period."

Yesterday's hearing, in the main building at Walter Reed, offered more grist for the developing political storm. The emotional impact was provided by three witnesses speaking on behalf of patients at Walter Reed: Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, who lives by the battlefield ethos of not leaving the wounded behind; Annette McLeod, an Army wife who would not stand silent as her injured husband was pushed aside, and Spec. Jeremy Duncan, who spoke out when he could not get the mold in his room removed.

Shannon was shot in the head during a firefight near Ramadi, Iraq, in November 2004 and has languished at Walter Reed ever since, awaiting plastic surgery so he can be fitted with a prosthetic eye. Paperwork for his retirement from the Army has been on hold.

But his ire yesterday was less about his own treatment than about the sense of betrayal he feels for younger soldiers he has tried to shepherd through the bureaucracy at Walter Reed.

"I will not see young men and women who have had their lives shattered in service to their country receive anything less than dignity and respect," said Shannon, who at times said he is having difficulty controlling his anger.

He said some injured troops encounter so much bureaucracy that they give up and forgo benefits to which they are entitled. "I have seen so many soldiers get so frustrated with the process that they will sign anything presented to them, just so they can get on with their lives," he said.

Shannon, who wore a patch over his missing left eye, also said the cost of treating thousands of service members wounded in Iraq should be dealt with honestly. "The system can't be trusted," he said. "And soldiers get less than they deserve from a system seemingly designed and run to cut the costs associated with fighting this war."

McLeod, whose husband suffered a brain injury near the Iraqi border, described her frustration at getting help from the chain of command at Walter Reed. She scoffed at suggestions that higher-ups did not know about the problems. "I have one question: Were they deaf?" she said. "Because I worked the chain. I went anywhere they would listen. So if you don't want to hear it, you don't want to hear it."

During her testimony, McLeod often appeared on the verge of tears, and at one point she wiped her eyes.

In the wake of such testimony, the official witnesses offered little pushback. Instead, Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, offered a withering analysis of the problems faced by wounded soldiers in negotiating the process for ongoing care and disability benefits after they receive initial life-saving treatment at military facilities.

"Our counselors and case managers are overworked, and they do not receive enough training," Cody said. "We do not adequately communicate necessary information. Our administrative processes are needlessly cumbersome and, quite frankly, take too long. Our medical holding units are not manned to the proper level, and we do not assign leaders who can ensure a proper accountability, proper discipline and well-being of our wounded soldiers and their health, welfare and morale, and our facilities are not maintained to the standards that we know is right."

Cody also noted that the 2005 decision by the federal base-closing commission to close Walter Reed in the midst of a war has caused problems getting "the best people" to work at the hospital, and he suggested that the decision be reexamined "during this long war."

Staff writer Josh White contributed to this report.