Ore. soldiers treated poorly at military hospital

Oregon National Guard soldiers who have returned from Iraq, have received poor treatment as they were processed through Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. A recent investigation found failures, errors and deficiencies last May when the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team came home, Defense Undersecretary Clifford Stanley said in a letter Wednesday regarding the probe sought by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.

It was even reported that national guardmen were treated as second rate citizens. The complaints triggered five separate investigations.

“The training failures, benefits counseling errors, and systemic deficiencies that arose during the demobilization of the 41st IBCT were unacceptable,” Stanley wrote. “We have learned many lessons as a result of these incidents, and the department is doing everything it can to ensure they do not happen again.” My Northwest

Wyden welcomed the letter, and is looking for more clear answers on whether reserve and National Guard soldiers are subjected to systemic discrimination in the military. In October, the Army finished its investigation, and has declined to disclose all of its findings. It has said the reports led to some improvements in how soldiers are processed through hospitals as they come home from deployments.

But in memos obtained by the News Tribune through the Freedom of Information Act, shows the Army views the mistakes as part of a broader problem in how soldiers move through soldier readiness processing, or SRP, sites at hospitals when they return from combat.

“I am convinced many of the … issues are systemic issues affecting SRP sites generally, which suffer from a lack of effective leadership, definitive training and guidance” involving the availability of treatment and benefits and other issues, wrote Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, commander of the Western Regional Army Medical Command in an Oct. 5 memo. My Northwest