Wounded Warrior Regiment launched

[CommunityEditor]

“Marines take care of their Marines from the point of injury throughout their recovery and as they transition back into duty or out of the Marine Corps,” Col. Gregory Boyle said.

The above sounds good, but will it work? Is it better, worse or the same as what's in place now? More from the article --

Injured Marines now have a new chain of command in place to help streamline medical care bureaucracy with this week’s launch of the Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment, the newly installed commander of the fledgling regiment said Wednesday.

Col. Gregory Boyle, commander of 3rd Marines at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, was tapped by Conway to lead the new regiment, and assumed command April 1. It will be headquartered at Quantico, Va., with two battalions — one each at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The Wounded Warrior Regiment will begin initial operating capability in May, and will be fully operational by the end of summer, Boyle told reporters Wednesday.

“It brings oversight to the whole process, to eliminate possible seams or cracks where Marines may fall through the system,” Boyle said.

Specifically, the regiment will help wounded leathernecks through medical and physical evaluation boards, assist them in making insurance claims, act as a clearing house for charitable donations and work to ensure accountability and non-medical case management during their recovery, Boyle said. The regiment will focus on ensuring the injured receive the same level of medical care, no matter where they live in the country, he added.

“One process, one set of standard operating procedures that supports active duty, reserve and separated personnel. One-stop shopping for resources, referral and education,” he said.

The regiment will also oversee transition from Defense Department care to Veterans Affairs Department care, he said. “We will aggressively follow-up with periodic contact to ensure the needs of those Marines and sailors are being met.”


More details: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/04/marine_woundedwarrior_regiment070405/


This thread is for the discussion of the new regiment and related issues.

[thedeuce11]

Call me cynical, but I see this nothing more as part of the political shake up which lead to the firing of the Secretary of the Army and the Director of Walker Reed hospital.

Now, to start this off, I have never been injured in combat. I have never had to deal with the bureaucracy of medical issues to this degree. However, I have had my dealings with the medical program, albeit in the routine "I have a broken leg, a blown out knee, or bronchitis", all of which puts serious doubt into the success of this program.

I see the above article uses a lot of fancy catch phrases..."leathernecks, wounded warriors, aggressive follow ups", but the article doesn't really tell me anything. So how is this going to be different from the other "wounded warrior" regiments that have been in place in Camp LeJeune and Camp Pendleton? Who exactly is going to take care of my medical board issues, should I ever become injured? If I were ignorant, I would be lead to believe that a crack unit of Majors, Lieutenant Colonels, and Generals are going to be aggressively fighting the big bad medical system, to ensure my needs are met. I'm going to be kept well informed, and answers to all my questions will either be answered, or this crack unit will fight for those answers tooth and nail, with the same tenacity that I was fighting the insurgents with before I was injured.

In reality...it will be the same caliber of Marines that I meet in the administrative section of every Marine Corps base I have been to. Operating hours are from 0800-1630 with a 2 hour lunch break. Oh yes, and they will be closed on Thursday afternoons, 1300-1630 for training. That unit of field grade officers...replaced with Privates, Lance Corporals and Corporals, who have never seen a day of combat and have no real knowledge of what I have been through. Should I complain loud enough, I might get to see a Sergeant or Staff Non-Commissioned Officer who really has no interest in helping me. He or she would rather complain about how they are stuck behind a desk, and can't be out in Iraq "getting some". Or the other extreme; I never get to see this SNCO because they are never there, ducking out of work because they are counting down the days until they get out our retire. I'm sure there will be a Lieutenant or Captain who will be the platoon or company commander respectively. But what will that do? I'll never see this officer, or will he take the time to know who I am, what my injuries are, or what the status is of my package. He too will be preoccupied with getting "back into the fight", as he is not an admin pogue...but a warrior!

Now, where this may sound overly cynical, nothing I have said has been dramatized. Sure, Marines...brothers...leathernecks...warriors, help each other out in time of need. However, there was an old adage I heard once, that Marines never lie, cheat or steal. Ten years later, I found out that most Marines lie, cheat and steal. The ones that don't, either do a real good job of covering it up, or are in the shrinking minority. And I find that the essence of Marine Corps leadership, helping out a fellow Marine...hell, even just helping out another person, is just words, with no real meaning behind them.

Navy medical...I send most of my time battling with enlisted Corpsman who fend me off at the pass so I don't bother their overtasked Doctor, who when I finally see him after months, doesn't really treat me, or fix me. So why would this be different in this new regiment? What would change? Are the better caliber of doctors and Corpsman going to be flown in to support this regiment?

I may have gotten off track here on the subject, but I don't see how this is going to have any sort of tangible benifits for injured Marines. They deserve the best, because they have given more than they ever should have. They have given more than the other 90,000 Marines who have yet to deploy for their first Operation Iraqi Freedom Deployment, while they are on their third, fourth, or fifth.

So if someone has a better answer, or if someone can set me straight, please do. Until that time, all I can do is laugh, shake my head, and hope that one day, I won't have to battle the medical system on my own. Perhaps those investments will come in handy, as I will opt to be seen by my private physician. At least I know he will have my best interests in mind. If he doesn't...he doesn't get paid.

R/S
TheDeuce11

"I do not dispute it, I merely state that it is wrong"

[The Universal Curmudgeon_guest]

Injured Marines now have a new chain of command in place to help streamline medical care bureaucracy with this week’s launch of the Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment, the newly installed commander of the fledgling regiment said Wednesday.What you are referring to is a purely "administrative" unit.

The tasks assigned to that unit can most easily be measured by "throughput" and "problems arising internally".

Therefore, to ensure that they receive good evaluations the main thrust of MOST of the permanent personnel of that unit will be to get people out of the unit as fast as possible.

The easiest way to get someone out of a "recuperation" unit is to certify that they no longer need the services of the unit - at that point they are no longer recuperating they have recuperated and the unit has another "successful case clearance".

There will, of course, be some of the permanent personnel who want to see that their "transient" population actually gets the care and support that they need. Unfortunately providing that care and support delays the day when the "transient" can be certified as recuperated and doing that lowers the overall performance of the unit - which means that those people who are trying to do what they are supposed to be doing "aren't team players". This, of course, has a somewhat adverse effect on the individual's performance reviews.