Commander: Sill mold was not ignored

[CommunityEditor]

LAWTON, Okla. — Mold infests the barracks that were set up here a year ago for wounded soldiers after poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center triggered a systemwide overhaul, soldiers say.

Twenty soldiers, who spoke to USA TODAY early last week, say their complaints about mold and other problems went unheeded for months. They also said they had been ordered not speak about the conditions at Fort Sill.

Officers at the Army base last week ordered that ventilation ducts in two barracks be replaced and soldiers be surveyed, anonymously if they wished, about any concerns. Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel, the commanding officer, said it was “inappropriate” for soldiers to be ordered not to talk about the mold.

”We’re going in and we’re going to take care of this for these guys,” he said over the weekend.

Images of mold growing on walls of wounded-soldier bedrooms at Walter Reed last year, along with issues of bureaucratic delays in health care, led to an overhaul of the Army’s wounded-care system. Warrior Transition Units (WTU) were created to expedite the care and treatment of wounded and ailing soldiers.

Army commanders testified before Congress on July 22 that the population of wounded and ailing soldiers in the units had doubled from 6,000 to 12,000 since the program’s inception in June 2007, straining resources at several installations.

Col. Robert Bridgford, garrison commander at Fort Sill, said he ordered workers last week to replace ventilation ducts encrusted with mold in two 48-room wounded-soldier barracks at the base.

About 70 of the 142 patients who are part of the unit for wounded and ailing troops at Fort Sill live in the barracks, says Col. Ellen Forster, who oversees the WTU program. The soldiers are temporarily relocated during the repair work.

Early last week, soldiers told USA TODAY that in April they first noticed what looked like layers of mold in flexible air ducts above their rooms when ventilation covers were removed to be cleaned. “[The duct work] was just caked black,” says Sgt. Willard Barnett, 51, an Iraq war veteran.

Some soldiers say they have been affected by air in their rooms.

”When I wake up in the morning, I have crud in my eyes, and I have like this slimy phlegm in the back of my throat,” says Spc. James Dodson, 26.

Vangjel and Forster said they were unaware of any complaints in April.

Bridgford says that Aug. 8 lab tests, taken in response to a July 25 inspector general’s review, show the barracks have “common mold” that is not hazardous. He also says some vents were cleaned earlier this year.

Forster, a nurse who commands the Fort Sill hospital, told WTU soldiers Friday that the barracks are safe.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...l_mold_081808/

[SLUMLORD]

I Know This Will Not Go Over Real Well, But What Is Wrong With Issuing Cleaning Supplies To Those Who Are Able To Clean Their Own Room?

A Little Bleach Or Lysol And Some Elbow Grease Would Most Likely Go A Long Way In Solving This Problem.

[CommunityEditor]

LAWTON, Okla. — The commander general of Fort Sill has denied published reports that said complaints about mold in the barracks of wounded soldiers went “unheeded for months.”

Allegations by Sgt. William Barnett, Spc. James Dodson, Staff Sgt. Michael Riley and 17 others were included in two articles released Monday by USA Today.

Soldiers told the newspaper they first noticed layers of mold in flexible air ducts above the ceiling when ventilation covers were removed for cleaning. They also alleged that when complaints were made, they were not only ignored but ordered “not to speak about the conditions at Fort Sill.”

“The thing that bothers me the most is the insinuation that there was a complaint and that complaint went unheeded for months,” Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel said. “That is simply not true.”

Col. Robert Bridgford, garrison commander, presented a timeline regarding the mold.

The mold was first reported April 25; a work order was submitted three days later; the mold was tested May 2 and test results came back a week later, concluding that the substance was “common mold.”

In an April 28 service order, Staff Sgt. Micah Ross reported on Room 153 in Building 3705, “Please check for water level in the building ... They did not see water, but there is a large spot on the ceiling.”

Ross contends the service order contradicts the allegations made in the news articles.

“My first reaction after reading the articles was disbelief and anger — not at the soldiers but at the fact it’s just not true,” Ross said. “I know. I called in the work order. I’m the one who had to let the workers into the room.”

Inspectors found “common mold” in four of the 48 rooms at the Warrior Transition Units, which were created in January for soldiers after poor conditions forced their removal from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Seventy-four soldiers currently live in the units.

“When I wake up in the morning, I have crud in my eyes, and I have, like, this slimy phlegm in the back of my throat,” Dodson told the newspaper.

Vangjel said Dodson neither reported his condition nor visited a doctor.

A $335,000 renovation of walls and the air duct system is underway but not as a result of soldier complaints, Vangjel said.

He did acknowledge that a captain on the post inspector general’s staff ordered soldiers who overheard discussions about the mold to remain silent.

Vangjel said disciplinary actions against the captain are being considered.

Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...rracks_081908/

Originally Posted by SLUMLORD

I Know This Will Not Go Over Real Well, But What Is Wrong With Issuing Cleaning Supplies To Those Who Are Able To Clean Their Own Room?

A Little Bleach Or Lysol And Some Elbow Grease Would Most Likely Go A Long Way In Solving This Problem.

No, putting in a work order to fix this is a problem solver!! Tiles like this can be replaced. Ceiling tiles are made of fiberglass and you cannot use elbow grease!! They will cut your hands and arms!! I know.

Again, another glaring example of how gullible some people are! Basing facts and making determinations of guilt/innocence based off of one reporters story. Ever consider that news organizations like USA Today, NBC, etc… are in the business for making money! That’s right, making money. One reporter reports based on little factual evidence, serves it up to a hungry audience looking only for the worst in our society, and WAMO- you have a story that makes the news organization money. I recommend holding your opinions until you do a little more research into the subject. You would be amazed at how off this USA Today reporter actually is. I will admit, the story by this report is some of the best fiction I have read in a long time.

please. anybody who has ever stayed in any Army transient billeting knows the conditions are pretty poor. I'm sure for these soldiers to speak out like this the conditions at Fort Sill must have been very very bad. The Army should be ashamed of itself for allowing our wounded veterans to live like this.

The time to address these issues is before the servicemen move in. These soldiers have given too much already to be asked to live in these conditions or to clean them up. It is simply unacceptable.

The forced resignation of the civilian Chuck Roeder, stinks of punishing a whistle blower. From what I have seen so far he is the only one in the Chain of Command that was looking out for these soldiers. I think that maybe he should be reinstated and the officers in charge at Fort Sill should be forced to resign.

Again, the last two comments are glaring examples of persons who make statements in an uninformed manner. You would almost think by their comments that the Army and all the people in it are gutter sucking leeches focused on causing misery at every opportunity. Just like a home or apartment, it takes a lot of work to keep a dwelling clean, plus money.

No,

Just the senior officers that have been pushing paper so long that they have no clue what is going on with the troops.

I am retired military, I know the types of conditions that exist in transient barracks. And as far as I am concerned if the senior officers at fort Sill would not live in these barracks, they sould not be asking these servicemen under their command to do so.