Why are our wounded troops being asked not to talk to the media?

Question

New developments in the Walter Reed hospital scandal. The Army Times is reporting soldiers stationed at the U.S. Army’s top medical facility have been told they are no longer allowed to speak to the media. One soldier in the Medical Hold Unit said many troops believe the media ban is a form of punishment for the whistle-blowing that led to last month’s disclosure the hospital is in major decay.

Answer 1

Because the Administration does not want us to know just how bad conditions are in the military hospitals. I have been there to visit a freind of my sons, and it is deplorable. Our VA Comm, has to be one of the worst we have ever had. He is a Bush Yes Man and refuses to buck Bush about the conditions of our military hospitals. He even has went so far as to refuse to hear the american legions suggestions. They send them to fight, but, they won't spend the money to heal them. Shame on this administration. I might add, members of the Military are told not to talk to the press. Seems the truth got out somehow.

Answer 2

?

Seems if one reads all the articles in "Army Times" the picture is much clearer: yes, one has to ask for approval talk with a reporter on Government propery but as the Army spokesman said "they can go down the road to that coffee shop and talk".

Pentagon has a dozen "hotlines", soldiers can call, email their congressional reps. If some Cmd Sgt Major at "Hospital Brigade" CO wants to say "you cannot do" such and such, who cares? Most soldiers know when a superior is just wasting words

So, Army Times relates that some officals at Walter did say "don't talk" but basically those officals, the ones who still have a desk or a job, have no authority.


The 'real story" is still the insane process of gettings ones disability situation corrected. But to have some "remph" medical NCO bang on doors at 0600? I hope that he/she doesn't bang on Ranger Joe's door.


At a Senate defense appropriations subcommittee hearing, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, asked for an explanation about the order not to speak to the media after reading reports on the problems at Walter Reed in the Military Times newspapers.
(above a decorated, MOH, disabled WWII veteran)

“That’s not our standard, to tell people to keep quiet,” said Adm. Edmund Giambastiani Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “If they’ve got problems, we want to hear about them.”

Answer 3

Sure will not help recruitment will it?
What contractor civilian represents the GI in medical questions, if it is that way at Reed because it is here in Washington state at all active and vets hospitals.
If any blame can come it should not rest just on Bush's office for it is Congress responsability to oversee the conditions of hospitals, all of them!
Last but not least your military high command is so wound up in a&& kissing to get a promotion they do not give a damn about ordinary grunts.
I am against this war, and against the brutality with which our troops are slaughtering people innocent of any crimes against US. If the US had not gone there today there would be over 650,000 more Iraquis living.
I am veteran Viet Era, and from my grandfathers time I have heard the horror stories of how military men have been screwed by their country when in need of medical treatment. Ever since I remember after WWI, my grandfather lost a lung to gas in that war and his horror talesI remeber well, Korean Conflict, and up to today the Vets Admin has been the most corrupt, inept and most abused systems in country.
I watched as my parents recieved lax medical care at one of the highest rated case loses in washington State from deaths due to multi factors Madigan Hospital, because they being in military did not believe anything else was as good as military.
Dumb and dumber but how would they know different the military told them it was best.
Since so many of my compadres came back from Nam with agent orange, Delayed Stress,it is not new my grandfather and friends used to talk about it but not when ladies present to those from gulf War I where over 200,000 are today fighting the system.
I believe those who volunteered to go into military had available all these figures at their hands but were so gullible or stupi have no knowlege of the real politic of nation and do not have the right to whine today.
They signed up on a contract and they get what they got paid for.
Never the less they have to get what they signed up believing was in contract and what they were told was in contract
Just because the system they signed up in became more corrupt since they joined is no excuse to treat them wthout the respect they served and were harmed by.
Even a dumb animal should not be mistreated, never mind the deluded by self or by country, our men and women deserve the binding contract provisions.
Maybe by them gettign some relief maybe the other hundreds of thousands and actually over a million who use VA services today can be treated other than just cannon fodder.

Answer 4

The vast majority of military members are under orders not to talk to the media. If they are approached, they are supposed to refer them to their CO or another designated person.

Since they can't order family members not to talk to the media, we are "strongly advised" against it. We are given the same reasons that Jacksmom stated above. We are always told this at pre-deployment briefings and may be told this at other times.

And it's been that way since at least the Carter administration.

**Edit: Joe Doc, I'm sure Admiral Giambastiani does want to hear about the problems. But I also have no doubt that the way he wants to hear about problems is by military personnel going up the chain of command (which is allowed) and not through the media.

Answer 5

Hospital Scandal ?? Christ !! It was a less than wonderful BARRACKS, not a scandal... a deteriorating building not rebuilt or upgraded due to the budget.

NEXT, military members are NOT to discuss ANYTHING official with the media as they are NOT Public Affairs personnel and not qualified to speak for the service... it has been policy for DECADES !!

In the Navy, I've lived and worked in NUMEROUS buildings that were less than impressive... work has to be done by government contract and takes forever !!

At one command, the peeling and chipped floor tiles were over 40 years old (WWII building) and the paint was Vietnam era... Civilian workers wouldn't do the work for a YEAR and a half. We liberated the supplies from DMRS and did the work ourself with our students.

Answer 6

Military is not to talk to the press. It's been this way for years. No one is being punished for saying our barracks, not our hospital is unfit. Walter Reed is closing but we have to make sure the soldiers have safe living conditions.

Answer 7

hi Lioness, i attempted to discover "objectified" and "objectification" interior the dictionary and no excitement. nicely, i'm not precisely confident I comprehend your queston, yet think of i might have an theory. besides, have you ever heard of the "bell curve"? that's a curve it fairly is formed like a bell and does an outstanding interest of representing information. As for elegance, at one end of the curve we've the least beautiful and on the different end the main. the comparable may well be genuine for earnings ... poorest on one component and richest on the different. interior the direction of the bell we've all the traditional human beings. i think of what you're asserting is genuine, yet in basic terms in basic terms a actuality of existence. we've the completed spectrum for the two genders. As for why adult men do not protest ... i assume they comprehend that it fairly is in basic terms the way issues are and protests at the instant are not liable to alter something. wish this facilitates!

Answer 8

they are hoping to cover up the extent of the scandal, which means that it is probably systemic and widespread.

walter reed is probably just one of many facilities where our wounded hero troops are literally being tortured rather than being healed.

they are probably also worried about what this kind of story might do to recruitment - and rightly so.

our govt is sick and it's time to draw the line on these guys.

first the decision to go to war in iraq, then the katrina scandal and now this.

we went to war, but never got on a war footing and still aren't.

and now our govt wants to send troops into iraq that have not had desert training...

Answer 9

As a journalist myself, I have no problem disclosing this. It's because the media will take whatever the troops say and twist it, butcher it, and tangle the words until they lose the meaning that the soldier originally said, and it will spoil military morale and further sour the nation's attitude toward the war in Iraq. That's what we're trained to do in school--manipulate people to say what we want, and if we can't get them to, manipulate their words when we write them so we can make it sound like they did.

I'm serious, by the way.

Answer 10

Talking to the media as a representative of the military is strictly monitored, as it was when I was in the military. I remember one time having to answer to my commander about an encounter I had with a media member.

I was in uniform, and happened by a crew who were seeking opinions about protection against people putting poison or other substances in food and medicines in the store. They asked me about my thoughts, and I told them. Nothing to do with the military, but it was still a touchy situation.

FYI, while in uniform or on military property, the military does not generally like anybody but their PR personnel to interact with the media. That's how it is.

Not some nefarious thing, as crackpots are wont to suggest.

Answer 11

That restriction is not new. Most military members are asked not to speak to the media for two reasons....#1. The media takes any statement by ANY military member to be the voice of the military which of course is not the case and #2. The media will take any statement and project, out of context, any part of the statement to fit their own agenda.