[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 147 (Monday, October 20, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H9717-H9718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          GUARD AND RESERVISTS TREATED AS THIRD-CLASS CITIZENS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burgess). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, at the conclusion of my remarks, I will 
be entering into the Record an article entitled, ``Sick, wounded U.S. 
troops held in squalor.'' This is a story that comes out of UPI. The 
author is Mark Benjamin, who is a UPI investigator editor, and he 
reports that 1 month after President Bush greeted the soldiers at Fort 
Stewart, the home of the famed Third Infantry Division, as heroes on 
their return from Iraq, approximately 600 sick or injured members of 
the Army Reserve and National Guard are warehoused in rows of spare, 
steamy, and dark cement barracks in a sandy field, waiting for doctors 
to treat their wounds or illnesses.
  Now, these National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers' living 
conditions are so substandard and the medical care so poor that many of 
them believe the Army is trying to push them out with reduced benefits 
for their ailments. One document showed to this reporter stated that no 
more doctor appointments are available from October 14 through November 
11. These Reserve and National Guard people are on what are called 
medical hold. If you are wounded and you are badly injured, you are in 
the hospital. But after you get to a certain point, they can do it on 
an outpatient basis. So you are put into a medical hold status.
  As one member of the Guard said, there are two armies, one is the 
regular army and the other is the reserve army, and we are second class 
citizens. We are being ignored. Now, Mr. Speaker, 40 percent of the 
people now on medical hold are people who served in Iraq. Those who 
went described clusters of strange ailments, like heart and lung 
problems, among previously healthy troops. They said the Army has tried 
to refuse them benefits and claims the injuries and illnesses were due 
to preexisting conditions prior to military service.
  One particular case caught my eye. First Sergeant Gerry Mosley. He 
crossed into Iraq from Kuwait on March 19 with the 296th Transportation 
Company, hauling fuel while under fire from the Iraqis as they traveled 
north alongside combat vehicles. Mosley said he was healthy before the 
war. He could run 2 miles in 17 minutes. Pretty good. Those are 8\1/2\ 
minute miles, at 48 years of age. He also developed a series of 
symptoms: lung problems; shortness of breath; vertigo, that means he 
was dizzy; migraines; and tinnitus, that is ringing in his ears; and he 
thinks maybe the anthrax vaccine had something to do with it. He also 
has a torn shoulder from an injury there.
  Mosely said he has never been depressed before, but he found himself 
looking at shotguns recently and thinking about suicide. Sergeant 
Mosely is paying $300 a month to get better housing than the cinder 
block barracks. He has a notice from the base that appears to show that 
there are no more doctor appointments available for Reservists from 
October 14 to November 11. He said he had never been treated like this 
in 30 years in the Army Reserves and his quote was, ``Now I won't go 
back to war for the Army.''
  Mr. Speaker, it is shameful that this kind of article appears in the 
newspapers in the United States at a time when we are sending people 
over to a war for very unclear reasons. No one really knows why they 
are over there. We have called up Reservists for months on end. What 
started out as 6 months has now been extended to a year.
  I recently spoke at the retirement of one my Reservists in the State 
of Washington up at Everett at the naval base. Before I went up to 
speak about him, I asked him about their deployment. He told me all 
about it. And I asked if everybody came back to their job. He said 25 
percent of the people in his unit came back to no job. They lost their 
job while they were gone.
  This is an unacceptable situation. Those people who voted and said 
they care about the troops ought to be asking some very tough questions 
of the Army.
  Mr. Speaker, the article I referred to above is as follows:

            [From United Press International, Oct. 17, 2003]

               Sick, Wounded U.S. Troops Held in Squalor

                           (By Mark Benjamin)

       Fort Stewart, Ga., Oct. 17 (UPI).--Hundreds of sick and 
     wounded U.S. soldiers including many who served in the Iraq 
     war are languishing in hot cement barracks here while they 
     wait--sometimes for months--to see doctors.
       The National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers' living 
     conditions are so substandard, and the medical care so poor, 
     that many of them believe the Army is trying push them out 
     with reduced benefits for their ailments. One document shown 
     to UPI states that no more doctor appointments are available 
     from Oct. 14 through Nov. 11--Veterans Day.
       ``I have loved the Army. I have served the Army faithfully 
     and I have done everything the Army has asked me to do,'' 
     said Sgt. 1st Class Willie Buckels, a truck master with the 
     296th Transportation Company. Buckels served in the Army 
     Reserves for 27 years, including Operation Iraqi Freedom and 
     the first Gulf War. ``Now my whole idea about the U.S. Army 
     has changed. I am treated like a third-class citizen.''
       Since getting back from Iraq in May, Buckels, 52, has been 
     trying to get doctors to find out why he has intense pain in 
     the side of his abdomen since doubling over in pain there.
       After waiting since May for a diagnosis, Buckels has 
     accepted 20 percent of his benefits for bad knees and is 
     going home to his family in Mississippi. ``They have not 
     found out what my side is doing yet, but they are still 
     trying,'' Buckels said.
       One month after President Bush greeted soldiers at Fort 
     Stewart--home of the famed Third Infantry Division--as heroes 
     on their return from Iraq, approximately 600 sick or injured 
     members of the Army Reserves and National Guard are 
     warehoused in rows of spare, steamy and dark cement barracks 
     in a sandy field, waiting for doctors to treat their wounds 
     or illnesses.
       The Reserve and National Guard soldiers are on what the 
     Army calls ``medical hold,'' while the Army decides how sick 
     or disabled they are and what benefits--if any--they should 
     get as a result.
       Some of the soldiers said they have waited six hours a day 
     for an appointment without seeing a doctor. Others described 
     waiting weeks or months without getting a diagnosis or proper 
     treatment.
       The soldiers said professional active duty personnel are 
     getting better treatment while troops who serve in the 
     National Guard or Army reserve are left to wallow in medical 
     hold.
       ``It is not an Army of One. It is the Army of two--Army and 
     Reserves,'' said one soldier who served in Operation Iraqi 
     Freedom, during which she developed a serious heart condition 
     and strange skin ailment.
       A half-dozen calls by UPI seeking comment from Fort Stewart 
     public affairs officials and U.S. Forces Command in Atlanta 
     were not returned.
       Soldiers here estimate that nearly 40 percent of the 
     personnel now in medical hold were deployed to Iraq. Of those 
     who went, many described clusters of strange ailments, like 
     heart and lung problems, among previously healthy troops. 
     They said the Army has tried to refuse them benefits, 
     claiming the injuries and illnesses were due to a ``pre-
     existing condition,'' prior to military service.
       Most soldiers in medical hold at Fort Stewart stay in rows 
     of rectangular, gray, single-story cinder block barracks 
     without bathrooms or air conditioning. They are dark and 
     sweltering in the southern Georgia heat and humidity. Around 
     60 soldiers cram in the bunk beds in each barrack.
       Soldiers make their way by walking or using crutches 
     through the sandy dirt to a communal bathroom, where they 
     have propped office partitions between otherwise open toilets 
     for privacy. A row of leaky sinks sits on an opposite wall. 
     The latrine smells of urine and is full of bugs, because many 
     windows have no screens. Showering is in a communal, cinder 
     block room. Soldiers say they have to buy their own toilet 
     paper.
       They said the conditions are fine for training, but not for 
     sick people.
       ``I think it is disgusting,'' said one Army Reserve member 
     who went to Iraq and asked that his name not be used.
       That soldier said that after being deployed in March he 
     suffered onset of neurological symptoms in Baghdad that has 
     gotten steadily worse. He shakes uncontrollably.
       He said the Army has told him he has Parkinson's Disease 
     and it was a pre-existing condition, but he thinks it was 
     something in the anthrax shots the Army gave him.
       ``They say I have Parkinson's but it is developing too 
     rapidly,'' he said. ``I did not have a problem until I got 
     those shots.''
       First Sgt. Gerry Mosley crossed into Iraq from Kuwait on 
     March 19 with the 296th

[[Page H9718]]

     Transportation Company, hauling fuel while under fire from 
     the Iraqis as they traveled north alongside combat vehicles. 
     Mosley said he was healthy before the war; he could run two 
     miles in 17 minutes at 48 years old.
       But he developed a series of symptoms: lung problems and 
     shortness of breath; vertigo; migraines; and tinnitus. He 
     also thinks the anthrax vaccine may have hurt him. Mosley 
     also has a torn shoulder from an injury there.
       Mosley says he has never been depressed before, but found 
     himself looking at shotguns recently and thought about 
     suicide.
       Mosley is paying $300 a month to get better housing than 
     the cinder block barracks. He has a notice from the base that 
     appears to show that no more doctor appointments are 
     available for reservists from Oct. 14 until Nov. 11. He said 
     he has never been treated like this in his 30 years in the 
     Army Reserves.
       ``Now, I would not go back to war for the Army,'' Mosley 
     said.
       Many soldiers in the hot barracks said regular Army 
     soldiers get to see doctors, while National Guard and Army 
     Reserve troops wait.
       ``The active duty guys that are coming in, they get treated 
     first and they put us on hold,'' said another soldier who 
     returned from Iraq six weeks ago with a serious back injury. 
     He has gotten to see a doctor only two times since he got 
     back, he said.
       Another Army Reservist with the 149th Infantry Battalion 
     said he has had real trouble seeing doctors about his crushed 
     foot he suffered in Iraq. ``There are not enough doctors. 
     They are overcrowded and they can't perform the surgeries 
     that have to be done,'' that soldier said. ``Look at these 
     mattresses. It hurts just to sit on them,'' he said, 
     gesturing to the bunks. ``There are people here who got back 
     in April but did not get their surgeries until July. It is 
     putting a lot on these families.''
       The Pentagon is reportedly drawing up plans to call up more 
     reserves.
       In an Oct. 9 speech to National Guard and reserve troops in 
     Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Bush said the soldiers had become 
     part of the backbone of the military.
       ``Citizen-soldiers are serving in every front on the war on 
     terror,'' Bush said. ``And you're making your state and your 
     country proud.''

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