More of the same from the new acting- Army Surgeon General, Gale Pollock, who is replacing Kevin "Urine Man" Kiley (why Urine Man? read this). Just last week, she blamed the media for the Walter Reed scandal - you see, it really isn't that bad at all. The Washington Post has Pollock's e-mail, written just FOUR DAYS ago, that blasts the Washington Post for covering the story of the poor treatment received by wounded soldiers. Now, she's in charge of caring for those same troops.
Here's a snippet from today's Washington Post:
Army officials quickly named a temporary replacement for Kiley -- his current deputy, Maj. Gen. Gale S. Pollock. She will serve until an advisory board recommends a new surgeon general.
Pollock, in an e-mail sent to colleagues and staff in the Army Medical Command on Friday, had also sought to minimize reports about conditions at Walter Reed and attacked the media's handling of the issue.
"I know everyone is extremely pained and angry about the media assaults on Walter Reed and our senior leaders," Pollock wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Washington Post. She added that she "articulated our displeasure at the misinformation about the quality of care" to a Post reporter after a congressional hearing last week but also acknowledged that she believes the stories could create momentum for changes that would better serve the Army.
She also wrote: "I know that your families and loved ones are affected by this event as well -- please reassure them that the media makes money on negative stories not by articulating the positive in life -- though that is something I will never understand."
Something we will never understand is how no one in the leadership of the Army, the Pentagon, or their commander in chief takes any responsibility for the care of our wounded and maimed soldiers. They still don't get it. Perhaps if the chairman of the Joint Chiefs spent less time worrying about how "immoral" gays are, and more time worrying about the war in Iraq and the well-being of his own troops, we wouldn't be in the grand mess we're in.
Urine (wo)Man II needs to be fired, not just from her new job as acting Army Surgeon General, but from the Army. There should be zero tolerance in the US military for anyone who would belittle the suffering of our injured and maimed troops.
