Team Infidel
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Fayetteville (NC) Observer
March 17, 2009
By John Ramsey, Staff writer
The Army’s top civilian leader visited Fort Bragg’s wounded soldiers Monday, days after a news report that they are being punished three times as often as healthy soldiers on post.
Army Secretary Pete Geren flew to Fort Bragg to speak at a ceremony for the Golden Knights parachute team, then headed to meet with injured soldiers in the Warrior Transition Unit.
The Army is reviewing all disciplinary action taken against the soldiers in the Fort Bragg unit following an Associated Press report on the high discipline rate.
“I’m here to hear first-hand from them what their experiences have been,” Geren said. “These are men and women who’ve carried the burden of battle for our country, and we’re doing everything we can to make the warrior transition units work for them, to help them to get rehabilitated.”
The Army set up 35 such units two years ago after news reports of poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Geren said he has been to nearly every transition unit across the Army to hear from injured soldiers about what works and what doesn’t. He said they are still works in progress.
One area the Army is emphasizing with the units is continuing education so soldiers can try to keep from falling behind in professional development while recuperating.
Speaking to reporters before heading to meet with the unit, Geren said he had not personally heard from soldiers complaining about discipline for minor infractions.
Christina Steele got out of the military last month after more than a year in the wounded warrior unit. Steele said she was admitted to the program because of multiple suicide attempts following an improvised explosive device blast on her Humvee in Iraq.
Steele said she was written up several times for sleeping through morning formation because the sleeping pills she was prescribed kept her groggy. She said she saw other soldiers treated unfairly and held to the same standards as healthy ones.
“The morale is terrible,” she said. “You’ve got a bunch of already busted and broken soldiers as it is.”
Spc. Karrie M. Holderness shattered her pelvic bone and broke her hip when she blacked out while driving a 5-ton vehicle in Iraq. Her job in the Warrior Transition Unit is to drive other injured soldiers to their appointments. She said she got doctor’s orders not to drive for more than an hour at a time.
She said her squad leader won’t allow her to travel outside an hour radius of Fort Bragg, even if she’s off-duty and isn’t driving.
“I’m so stressed out dealing with this unit,” she said. “I feel like I’m going into a hostile environment. I would rather be deployed.”
Holderness said she’s trying to make it through her time in the unit so she can keep providing for her two young children.
Maj. Angela Funaro, a Fort Bragg spokeswoman, said it’s too soon to know if any changes should be made in the unit.
“The Department of Army is looking into it,” she said. “As it stands right now, there’s no reason to believe we need to change our current policies.”
Geren said Fort Bragg’s soldiers and families have shouldered a heavy load for the country in the past six years with repeated deployments to war zones, and that’s not likely to change soon.
“They’ll continue to carry a heavy burden for our nation,” Geren said. “We can’t expect anything but an era of persistent conflict.”
March 17, 2009
By John Ramsey, Staff writer
The Army’s top civilian leader visited Fort Bragg’s wounded soldiers Monday, days after a news report that they are being punished three times as often as healthy soldiers on post.
Army Secretary Pete Geren flew to Fort Bragg to speak at a ceremony for the Golden Knights parachute team, then headed to meet with injured soldiers in the Warrior Transition Unit.
The Army is reviewing all disciplinary action taken against the soldiers in the Fort Bragg unit following an Associated Press report on the high discipline rate.
“I’m here to hear first-hand from them what their experiences have been,” Geren said. “These are men and women who’ve carried the burden of battle for our country, and we’re doing everything we can to make the warrior transition units work for them, to help them to get rehabilitated.”
The Army set up 35 such units two years ago after news reports of poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Geren said he has been to nearly every transition unit across the Army to hear from injured soldiers about what works and what doesn’t. He said they are still works in progress.
One area the Army is emphasizing with the units is continuing education so soldiers can try to keep from falling behind in professional development while recuperating.
Speaking to reporters before heading to meet with the unit, Geren said he had not personally heard from soldiers complaining about discipline for minor infractions.
Christina Steele got out of the military last month after more than a year in the wounded warrior unit. Steele said she was admitted to the program because of multiple suicide attempts following an improvised explosive device blast on her Humvee in Iraq.
Steele said she was written up several times for sleeping through morning formation because the sleeping pills she was prescribed kept her groggy. She said she saw other soldiers treated unfairly and held to the same standards as healthy ones.
“The morale is terrible,” she said. “You’ve got a bunch of already busted and broken soldiers as it is.”
Spc. Karrie M. Holderness shattered her pelvic bone and broke her hip when she blacked out while driving a 5-ton vehicle in Iraq. Her job in the Warrior Transition Unit is to drive other injured soldiers to their appointments. She said she got doctor’s orders not to drive for more than an hour at a time.
She said her squad leader won’t allow her to travel outside an hour radius of Fort Bragg, even if she’s off-duty and isn’t driving.
“I’m so stressed out dealing with this unit,” she said. “I feel like I’m going into a hostile environment. I would rather be deployed.”
Holderness said she’s trying to make it through her time in the unit so she can keep providing for her two young children.
Maj. Angela Funaro, a Fort Bragg spokeswoman, said it’s too soon to know if any changes should be made in the unit.
“The Department of Army is looking into it,” she said. “As it stands right now, there’s no reason to believe we need to change our current policies.”
Geren said Fort Bragg’s soldiers and families have shouldered a heavy load for the country in the past six years with repeated deployments to war zones, and that’s not likely to change soon.
“They’ll continue to carry a heavy burden for our nation,” Geren said. “We can’t expect anything but an era of persistent conflict.”