Associated Press, Oct 20, 2003

Sick, Injured Reservists Rip Army Healthcare

By RUSS BYNUM,

FORT STEWART, Ga. - Spc. Joseph Eason came to Fort Stewart for medical
treatment in August after leaving Iraq (news - web sites) with five
metal shards lodged in his lower body from a mortar round.

Eason, a citizen-soldier in the Florida National Guard, says he would
prefer to go home and let a civilian physician treat his wounds. But
that's not an option as long as he remains on active duty.

Instead, he's spent the past two months living in spartan concrete
barracks at Fort Stewart, where he says his treatment has amounted to
one doctor appointment, a visit to a physician's assistant and one
physical therapy session.

"The medical care here, in my personal opinion, I feel is substandard
if any," said Eason, 35, from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Reports that sick or injured reservists complained of long waits for
health care and uncomfortable housing put the Army on the defensive
Monday, with post officials saying they're doing the best they can
with what they have.

"We're constantly working on improvements," said Col. Joe Barthel,
commander of Winn Army Hospital at Fort Stewart.

He acknowledged that the wait for orthopedic procedures is six weeks
and "we like to keep that below four weeks. ... Our other surgical
services are two to three weeks."

There are 633 National Guard and Army Reserve troops on what the Army
calls "medical hold" for treatment of injuries or illnesses at Fort
Stewart, with problems ranging from sprained ankles to war wounds.

The citizen-soldiers aren't considered sick enough for
hospitalization, so they stay in the same minimal barracks, some
without air conditioning or private bathrooms, used by healthy
reservists.

If the soldiers get well, they go home when their unit is released
from active duty. If they're still waiting for treatment when their
units are deactivated, the Army may hold them until they're healed or
discharged.

"We want to take care of soldiers and we're not going to send soldiers
home broken," Barthel said.

Eason said he's been told it could take another nine months for his
discharge to go through.

Spc. Chris Rinchich, an Army Reservist from Myrtle Beach, S.C., says
he's waiting for knee surgery after tearing a ligament in his left
knee in Kuwait in May. He said he doesn't expect to leave Fort Stewart
until next summer.

"It's pending. I'm on a waiting list, I heard," said the 21-year-old
Rinchich, who spent last summer in a cement-block barracks without air
conditioning.

Col. John Kidd, garrison commander at Fort Stewart, said improvements
are being made to the barracks. Window air conditioning units have
been added to some and others have gotten new mattresses in the past
month.

"They're designed for annual training for the National Guard, so
they're fairly bare bones. They're habitable, but there's certainly no
frills," he said. "They're not the best that we would like them to
have. We would like to do better."