The leaders of my organization are held accountable.

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 1, 2007) - Two weeks after Walter Reed Army Medical Center made national headlines for poor outpatient care, the center’s top leader has been relieved of command.

Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and WRAMC, was relieved of command this morning by Secretary of the Army Dr. Francis J. Harvey.

This entire episode is tragic and never should have happened but for whatever reasons it did. SecDef Gates hit the nail on the head…

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates approved the action. “A bedrock principle of our military system is that we empower commanders with the responsibility, authority and resources necessary to carry out their mission. With that responsibility comes accountability,” Gates said last week.

I remain extremely proud to be a member of my organization. Sgt Hook out.

UPDATE: Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey has also resigned.

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Posted by Hook @ 0146 zulu | | Permalink
This post is filed under: Army Times

This is how it is supposed to work and rarely does anymore… I applaud Sec Gates for upholding the ‘bedrock principle.’

Comment by Flag Gazer — 2 March 2007 @ 0726

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Hook,

You are very right, this is the way it is supposed work. The one thing I ask of all of us, myself included, I would ask of all us is one thing, to remember this, let’s not box up all of the responsibility and put that box in this one General’s lap. This is not impression I got while listening to SECDEF Gates, it appears he is talking more in the terms of an ongoing process. In my humble opinion, Hook, your pride is well placed. We all need to look at this war and ask, where do we ALL need to sacrifice. Let’s just take a short walk down the same path as some of these men. First, I want you to take your worst possible nightmare, multiply it by infinity and go there. You will find a gate, open it, don’t close it. From that point, DON”T ENTER! I want you to just look down that path, as you do, you’ll see troops camping along that path. It is the worst thing, just this side of Hell itself. The one thing in common among those troops that path is this, they are the toughest survivors you’ll ever meet. These troops don’t need this kind of nonsense! One of the troops will say, “We’ve paid our dues and contiue to pay our dues until the day we die. Now, when do you pay your dues? God help you, if we find you are making money from this war. One last thing, you’re just at the gateway. Turn around, walk out and close the gate. You can leave, do it. We are permanently deployed here and can not leave.” Now as you look as this, you’ll see people who appear to live in both worlds. In reality, they only live in one. Hook, you have been a neat character. You have given a place for some of us to try to communicate to the outside world. I’m one of those campers along the path. I’ll never out live it. Thank you.

Respectfully,
Grumpy

Comment by Grumpy — 2 March 2007 @ 1812

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Grumpy it sounds like you have a lot of pain still in you and for that I’m truly sorry. Thank you for your service. As far as the post, I hope that Gates will follow through and change the system. This is not a place to let things go because “thats the way its always been”. Sweeping changes need to be made. And I think with anything, the past is past, we cannot change it. But we can recognize the mistakes we have made, take steps to correct them and hope that our tomorrows will be a much better place. I think that instead of squabbling over petty garbage, our Congress and Senate should be debating how we are going to pay for fixing this. That is my idea of them doing THEIR job. Our Military does their job each and every day. They don’t get to pick and choose. They don’t get to take a day off because they want to watch a football game, or fly home at tax payers expense when ever they want to. They live the day to day, they pay their dues and they deserve better.

Comment by sue — 3 March 2007 @ 0952

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Sue, I really respect you for stepping into the gateway. You are right there is still a great deal of pain, but that is my duty, not yours. You did as I asked and stayed at the gate and were nice enough to close it when you left. Thank you.

You have a good day!
Grumpy

Comment by Grumpy — 3 March 2007 @ 1717

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