Showing posts with label Fort Sill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fort Sill. Show all posts

Monday, August 18, 2008

Fort Sill Warrior Transition Unit, mold and morale morass

Army leaders defend supervision of soldier care unit
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
LAWTON, Okla. — Staff Sgt. Michael Riley plans to leave the Army later this month on a medical discharge. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder along with back and brain injuries from blasts in Iraq. And he's angry about the care he received at Fort Sill's program for wounded soldiers here.

Riley is among 20 soldiers who complained to USA TODAY last week about mold in the barracks, delays in processing medical cases and morale in the Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) for wounded and injured outpatients at Fort Sill, an artillery training installation. While leaders of the unit are addressing the mold issues, they defended the unit's supervision and morale.

After problems surfaced last year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the Army established a WTU at each of 35 installations. Soldiers assigned to these units receive specialized care. They are assigned a squad leader, nurse case manager and doctor to care for them, and usher them to return to duty or medical retirement. "Those three people are with this soldier from start to finish … (to ensure) that the soldier can get through the system without having to fight," Gen. Michael Tucker said in announcing the program last year. "The soldier's mission is to heal."

But as the number of soldiers in the program doubled from 6,000 to 12,000 by June, individual care slipped, congressional investigators found. In July, Army leaders told Congress they were struggling to improve the program. "It takes time to kill bureaucracies," Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle said.

The mold in the barracks is just one of the problems in the Fort Sill transition unit, soldiers there told USA TODAY. The soldiers described commanders who seem more concerned with enforcing discipline and punishing infractions than with creating an environment conducive to healing.
go here for more
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-08-17-Mold-Inside_N.htm


UPDATE
Wounded soldiers complain of mold at Fort Sill barracks
By GREGG ZOROYA • USA Today • August 18, 2008

LAWTON, Okla. — Barracks at a Fort Sill wounded-soldier unit — created in response to poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. — are infested by mold, soldiers said. They say their complaints went unheeded for months.


Col. Robert Bridgford, garrison commander, said he ordered workers to replace ventilation ducts apparently encrusted with mold in two 48-room wounded-soldier barracks at Fort Sill.
go here for more
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080818/NEWS01/808180320

Friday, June 6, 2008

Iowa National Guard Soldier Send Off


With tears all around, Staff Sergeant Boyd Brinker hugs his four-year-old son Braydon, after a send off ceremony at the Aviation Support facility at Waterloo Thursday. (BRANDON POLLOCK/Courier Staff Photographer)


Friday, June 6, 2008 12:13 PM CDT
Soldier send-off
By LAURA GREVAS, Courier Staff Writer
WATERLOO --- It was standing room only. So they stood, in the oppressive heat, to say goodbye.

More than 200 family members and friends attended a send-off ceremony Thursday for the Waterloo detachment of the Iowa National Guard's 248th Aviation Support Battalion.

The 18 guardsmen will leave from the Waterloo Army Aviation Support Facility and travel to Fort Sill, Okla., where they will spend several weeks in additional training before being deployed to the Central Command theater of operations in Iraq. Once there, they will provide aviation maintenance support to a combat aviation brigade. Lt. Col. Tim Eich, the facility commander, said the unit could work on repair, maintenance and testing of several hundred airplanes.

"They have people who specialize in all the airplanes the Army has," he said.

Their tour is scheduled to last a little more than a year, but members of the Iowa National Guard can serve as many as 24 consecutive months.

This will mark the battalion's third active-duty deployment since 9/11, and Eich said the majority of the men on this mission had been deployed before.

Several of them, like aviation maintenance technician Alan Kakac, have dedicated much of their lives to the National Guard. Kakac, 51, has been in the Guard for 32 years, serving in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
go here for more
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/06/06/news/metro/10391192.txt

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Fort Sill Soldier killed outside bar

Lawton Soldier Killed At Westside Bar
Video High
The shooting happened very late Monday night outside a west Lawton club called Alabis. Lawton police say 27 year old Ira Easterling, was shot after an apparent argument. He was rushed to the hospital in Lawton, but died as he arrived. Captain Will Hines says after an exhaustive investigation a suspect has been identified."Through the investigation we have come up with a suspect. At this time, we don't have the suspect in custody."
Hines says the investigation has revealed the suspect is connected to the army base. "He has some ties to a person in the military. Whether he is a military dependent or not is really unclear at this time."
go here for the rest
http://www.kauz.com/home/ticker/15045931.html