Walter Reed: Of Problems and Patriots

For generations men and women have given their lives, their limbs and their souls to the defense of not just a nation but an idea. They give these sacrifices to the idea that humanity by the grace of God deserves to be free; free of fear, free of oppression and full of hope. It is hope that drives the character of our nation and our children to live in freedom and peace. Our soldiers willingly give up that peace to go to war when called. They heed that call knowing the weight such a duty of killing brings to their spirit. They heed that call knowing that changed they will ever be upon entering conflict in service to our nation. They heed that call knowing full well that they may well never return except into the earth in which they came; their shroud the flag of the country which they loved deeply. It is in the spirit of this love we owe them so much.

Our love for our soldiers does not start and end at their Ultimate Sacrifice. There are many who give not their lives but leave something just as valuable on the battlefield. Arlington may be a standing tribute to those who have fallen, but where is the monument to those who are broken in body and mind? That tribute in part lay with taking care of those who come back to us in the name of freedom but are not the same as when they left.

The problems at Walter Reed are just that, problems. They are a great challenge to the covenant our government enacts with our wounded. However while the buck stopped at Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman with his removal, the men and women of our Armed Services deserve more. They deserve solutions. A surgeon can place tourniquets and sutures to a wound, or even be replaced but if his technique is wrong the healing cannot truly begin. The healing our troops deserve lay not in proper care but in the proper approach to care.

Walter Reed while not part of the VA system, in part suffers the same problems of the VA system. It is a bloated government bureaucracy. Bureaucracy fails when there is lack of competition. Our wounded have no choice but to be sent to Walter Reed in which their care is provided. However one facility and the few others like it cannot possibly handle our wounded in the current state of war in which we live.

The failures of Walter Reed like that of Hurricane Katrina are from institutional failures as well as individual ones. Individual failure is the effect; institutional failure the cause. To prevent future failure we must change the institution not to more bureaucracy but from it. There is one man who can enact this change. He can enact this change because he knows deeply the importance of proper care. That man is Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich wishes to further the investment of Health Savings Accounts and create systems of competition for health care. He wishes to bring competitive markets to all Americans including our troops. These markets would stimulate competition in providing the best health care at the appropriate price.

The call we make to our soldiers should be echoed by the call we make to our politicians to take proper care of them. It is through the spirit of the free market in which our men and women fight for, that they should be rewarded by it.

- Matthew Brian Keller

Written in loving tribute and Memory to Matthew A. Webber who died serving his nation April 27th 2006.

Posted by Matt Keller at 4:21 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)