By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
Q. Can you talk about streamlining the board process and where the Army is with its pilot program?
A. This is a process that's been around for probably 50 years. It's a very deliberate process that makes sure we do it right and that the best interests of the soldier are protected. So that process has got a lot of checks along the way to make sure we don't misstep.
We have looked hard at eliminating some of the duplicative paperwork. We're also going to automate this system. By January, we will be able to do this in an automated fashion which should help us considerably. The pilot brings the VA and the Army together to do a single physical. We used to do two.
What we would really like to see is the Army not to be in the disability business. The Army's decision really ought to be about fitness to serve or not. You can either stay in the Army or not, based upon your physical condition. The disability decision, we would rather have that be in the Veterans Affairs. Let them make the decision of the disability and work that.
For the soldier, he or she wants to make sure that they retain medical benefits for the family, to not have any degradation of pay...and be as physically capable as they can. The MEB and our process really doesn't necessarily look after those interests. There will be some disappointed...soldiers.
So until we can resolve that, we are left with this system which unfortunately puts us in a bit of an adversarial relationship with the solder.
Q. So are you saying that you would like to see that fall entirely to the VA? The soldier transitions to the VA, and the VA assigns the benefits and the compensation?
A. Right, and of course that's a sticky point because that gives the VA to some degree the keys to the kingdom to get into the … Department of Defense's money. But … it is the way the law is structured right now, so this is not a policy we can change. But it is one we often discuss with Congress and we say we would like this law changed.
But as long as we cooperate on the physical, it seems to me we can make some progress here, but within limits.
Q. The Army has begun leaning forward in allowing [seriously wounded] soldiers to stay on active duty if they choose. Why?
A. For any soldier who has been wounded in combat who wants to continue on active duty, we have yet to say 'no.' That's not a policy. I just know that to be a fact. Every one of those is done on a case-by-case basis.
We have a tremendous positive track record for great servants who have been grievously wounded in combat [and continued on active duty]. When we look at the history of the service that has been done by some of those who have made those kinds of sacrifices, I think keeping them in the Army has a lot of merit. They have a lot to offer.
I was sitting at lunch with a group of soldiers and one soldier told me how deeply appreciative he was of the transition assistance he was getting. He was being medically separated from the Army, but in the time he was in the WTU, he was able to take college courses and he was able to get coordinated to attend college [after he separated]. And he really was very complimentary of how he had been treated and helped and counseled through that process.
Across the table, another soldier said, "You know I am returning to duty and I really didn't get much at all."
From his perspective, we were putting more effort to get soldiers out of the Army than we were to keep soldiers in the Army. Boy, that was like a smack right on the forehead.
This gave me new energy to work that. We want to place a retention NCO in each of our WTU battalions and build a retention program to encourage our soldiers to stay in the Army. In particular, we may have a soldier who is medically unqualified for his current specialty, but we may be able to find another way to use his or her talents in another specialty.
We went to the AW2 symposium … I spoke to those soldiers there and asked how many would like to be a cadre member. And a number of them were very interested in doing that. So I think we have a resource right there alone just for our own warrior transition units where these soldiers can serve. They can teach in schools. In many cases, they do continue to serve in their MOS and deploy to combat.
Q. What feedback are you getting from the troops and the families?
A. The feedback I get from families … is really spectacular. I think especially for those families when they first arrive … There's a lot of reticence and uneasiness about the condition of their loved one. But they are embraced immediately. So they are put at ease very quickly and taken great care of. For many of them, their challenges lie ahead, but at least we get them through that very difficult period where there's a lot of unfamiliarity with the military and the situation they're stepping into. We're doing a great job there.
From the soldiers, it's not all milk and honey. Soldiers are going to tell you the things they like and don't like. For many of them, they are greatly appreciative of this concept. Many of them are very, very complimentary of their cadre. Others are perhaps less so. But you will find that anywhere in the Army. But, by and large, they recognize the investment, the attention and the focus of the Army.
We also ask them about their level of care. Generally speaking, from the surveys we do, we range just under 80 percent satisfaction. Our goal is to get everybody over 80 percent and we have made incremental progress towards that.
Q. You talk about building an enduring program. Can you define that and tell me why you are designing the program this way?
A. We need an enduring program for the Army that is adaptable, expandable, collapsible and responsive to the needs of the soldiers.
We have a program that is fairly adaptable. And we've proven we can expand it, though it was uneven for sure. I think we're in a much better position now to handle future growth. We really haven't done much to figure out how to collapse this down. When Iraq and Afghanistan go away, we should return to the steady state of illnesses and injuries that soldiers typically get... .
Right now we have 35 warrior transition units and nine communities based healthcare organizations. We are fairly confident that about 26 of those 35 are what I would call permanent warrior transition units. The other nine we're not so sure about. I want to look harder at the community based health care organizations approach. That's one that is very easily expandable provided those civilian capabilities are there.
We've asked for funding to build 21 warrior transition complexes at various posts, camps and stations in the United States. Right now, the office of the Secretary of Defense supports us for about half of those. Ultimately, Congress will decide how they would fund that.
Nothing says it's enduring like a complex that's built to be dedicated for this mission. And the first one will be started at the end of this fiscal year at Fort Riley, Kan., where we will build the barracks, the administrative headquarters and the soldier and family assistance center in close proximity to the hospital. We will have an excellent facility that takes care of wounded, ill and injured soldiers at that installation. We will get another major start on at least another eight in fiscal year 2009.
Q. Is there anything else you would like to add?
A. I'm just very concerned that America is getting a false impression. They think we have hundreds of thousands of wounded soldiers. They think we have 12,000 amputees or worse in our warrior transition units. There are only 1,500 Purple Heart recipients. The number of amputees for the Army is less than 800.
Yeah, we have challenges out there. But the progress we've made is just spectacular. And the care we're providing the soldiers, the organization, the cadre, is all superb.
I think there's basically a misunderstanding of Army culture. We open ourselves up. We candidly ask for criticism. We work to improve it because that's what we want to do. No one seems to want to believe that we could love soldiers as much as we do. We are soldiers. This is a spectacular program and it's going to get better and better all the time.
