Almost Half of Warrior Transition Units Closing

Army Shutting Down More Wounded Warrior Transition Care Units
CBS Washington
April 17, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time in two years, the U.S. Army is shutting down a number of the specialized medical units that were set up at military bases around the country to help care for severely wounded warriors returning from battle.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have begun to wind down, the number of service members with complex physical, mental and emotional wounds and illnesses has dramatically declined, erasing much of the need for the specialized care.

Now, Toner said, commanders are better informed about what soldiers can go to the long-term care units. But the Army is also looking at refining its criteria for getting into the units, so that active duty and reserve troops would have the same requirements.

Currently, to be accepted into a unit, an active duty soldier must require more than 6 months of care for injuries, illness or other psychological conditions that require complex management and limit the troop’s ability to be on duty. National Guard and Reserve troops serving on active duty must require more than 30 days of care.

Toner said 48 percent of the soldiers in the units now are active duty troops and the rest are reserves. And, more than 1,700 of the approximately 3,650 soldiers are being treated for some type of post-traumatic stress or behavioral diagnosis. About 85 percent of those with stress or behavioral problems have deployed to the warzone at least once.
read more here

"Behavioral problems" seriously? That has been the way the results of improperly treated or ignored PTSD have been regarded. After all, on one side the Army says they understand PTSD and they are doing all they can to help soldier heal at the same time reality is a different story. We've seen the results of that as more and more OEF and OIF veterans commit suicide. We've seen the results over and over again as Generals slam them as being mentally weak at the same time other generals have the "intestinal fortitude" to admit their own struggles with PTSD.

Army cutting 10 wounded warrior units but keeping complex at JBLM
The News Tribune
BY ADAM ASHTON
April 18, 2015

The roughly 800 soldiers assigned to warrior transition battalions that are closing likely have enough time to return to normal duty or separate from the Army, Toner said. Some could be sent to different Army posts.

The Army plans to shut down nearly half of the special medical units it built during the Iraq War because the slowing pace of combat deployments and shrinking size of the infantry have been emptying these units of patients.

Ten of the Army’s remaining 25 Warrior Transition Units are scheduled to close by August 2016, Warrior Transition Command senior officer Col. Chris Toner told reporters on Friday.

The one at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will remain open and could grow because the Army is shutting three other West Coast sites in Alaska and California, a Madigan Army Medical Center spokesman said.

Closing the 10 sites likely will save the Army about $350 million a year, Toner said. Today, about 3,600 soldiers are assigned to the medical units, down from a peak of more than 12,500 during the Iraq War.

“We’ve seen a steady decline of our population over time. Thank God we do not have combat-generating casualties,” Toner said.

The roughly 800 soldiers assigned to warrior transition battalions that are closing likely have enough time to return to normal duty or separate from the Army, Toner said. Some could be sent to different Army posts.

Soldiers are assigned to the units if they need long-term medical care for wounds, injuries or illnesses. About 44 percent of the 66,000 soldiers who’ve been assigned to the units since 2008 have returned to military duty; the rest separated from the Armed Forces.
read more here

The Augusta Chronicle story on Fort Gordon closing their Warrior Transition Unit adds what most of us have been talking about because of the reporting done by The Dallas Morning News and NBC INJURED HEROES, BROKEN PROMISES.

Fort Gordon Warrior Transition Battalion closing
The Augusta Chronicle
By Wesley Brown
Staff Writer
April 17, 2015

Not all have left satisfied.
In the past five years, soldiers have filed 76 complaints against Fort Gordon’s Warrior Transition Battalion through its ombudsmen program – a total that ranks fifth-most among the 33 units in the Army that received at least one complaint.

The posts ahead of Gordon included Bragg (North Carolina), Hood (Texas), Riley (Kansas) and Lewis (Wash­ington state), according to a 389-page report obtained by The Augusta Chronicle from the Army Medical Command under the Freedom of Infor­mation Act.

About half of Fort Gor­don’s dealt with leadership harassing, belittling, intimidating or threatening soldiers, according to the report.

The remainder concerned the unit denying or being insensitive to soldiers’ medical needs, restricting family visits or not signing or extending passes, providing substandard housing or not granting lodging requests, and issuing unnecessary discipline or unsupported allegations of alcohol and drug use.
read more here

They are more than just numbers and the numbers you see are only part of the story. The rest of the story is what families go through trying to get them the help they need.