IAVA and VFW Call for Action After Warrior Transition Unit Reports

Veterans organizations call for action on wounded soldiers’ complaints
Dallas Morning News
By DAVID TARRANT, SCOTT FRIEDMAN and EVA PARKS
Published: 10 December 2014

Two of the nation’s largest veterans organizations are calling for Congress and the Pentagon to address the mistreatment of wounded soldiers in the Army’s Warrior Transition Units — a problem that came to light in a joint investigation by The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV (NBC5).

Congress and the Pentagon need to do more to protect those assigned to special units to treat injured service members, said spokesmen for both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

“These are guys and gals who put their lives on the line to defend their country, so they need to be treated with respect, and they need to be treated with a certain amount of compassion,” said Brendon Gehrke, senior legislative associate with the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, D.C.

Hundreds of current or former soldiers have complained of harassment and intimidation by leadership at three Texas-based Warrior Transition Units, or WTUs, according to hundreds of documents and interviews with soldiers and medical experts.

The complaints were reported in “Injured Heroes, Broken Promises,” a two-part series published and broadcast last month by NBC5 and The News.
read more here

Related
Part 1: Wounded soldiers allege mistreatment in the units
Part 2: Transition leaders disrespectful, say soldiers; unit defends selection, training
Complaints about wounded warriors’ treatment pile up
He sought to help, but PTSD hindered him

From NBC