‘‘As a consequence of all these failures, the trust that is the foundation of all we do — the trust of the veterans we serve and the trust of the American people and their elected representatives — has eroded.’’
It has done more than that, it is now gone -- for all sectors and anything government touches, as well as its ma$$ media mouthpiece collaborators and enablers. It is the consequence of decades of lying that continues to this very day. Sorry.
"VA chief: Agency has lost trust of vets, public" by Matthew Daly | Associated Press July 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs has lost the trust of veterans and the American people as a result of widespread treatment delays for people seeking health care and falsified records to cover up those delays, the agency’s top official said Wednesday.
Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said the VA has created an environment where workers are afraid to raise concerns or offer suggestions for fear of retaliation and has failed to hold employees accountable for wrongdoing or negligence.
The agency also has devoted too many resources to meeting performance metrics — such as prompt scheduling of patient appointments — that were subject to manipulation and may not accurately reflect quality of care, Gibson said.
‘‘As a consequence of all these failures, the trust that is the foundation of all we do — the trust of the veterans we serve and the trust of the American people and their elected representatives — has eroded,’’ Gibson told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Illustrating the depths of the agency’s woes, the VA’s Office of Inspector General said Wednesday it is investigating possible wrongdoing at 87 VA medical facilities nationwide, up from 69 last month.
Despite its problems, Gibson said the VA can turn itself around ‘‘in as little as two years’’ if given additional resources by Congress.
Throw money at it even though they got enough paid six figure salaries all over the place!
Gibson did not mention a compromise bill being considered by House and Senate negotiators, but the Obama administration has expressed support for a Senate bill approved last month authorizing $35 billion in new spending to build clinics, hire more doctors, and make it easier for veterans who can’t get prompt appointments with VA doctors to get outside care.
Gibson said he supports increased access to outside care for veterans, but added that he believes ‘‘the greatest risk to veterans over the immediate to long term is that additional resources are provided only to support increased purchased care in the community, and not to materially remedy the historic shortfall’’ for VA operations and facilities.
At a minimum, the VA needs $17.6 billion over the next three years to address shortfalls in clinical staff, office space, and information technology, Gibson said.
Gibson took over as acting secretary May 30 after VA Secretary Eric Shinseki was forced to resign amid a growing uproar over treatment delays and other problems at VA hospitals and clinics nationwide, including reports that dozens of patients died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix VA hospital.
Related:
"The nation’s third execution to go awry in six months has rekindled debate over the death penalty, and potentially handed new evidence to those building a case against lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment."
Also see:
Outcry after Ariz. inmate takes 2 hours to die in lethal injection
Execution of Ariz. inmate is postponed
Botched execution angers McCain
That's all that has been coming out of Arizona according to my Globe.
Government can't do anything right even doing what they do best: kill people.
The acting secretary told the Senate panel he is committed to restoring the trust of veterans and the American people through a series of actions, some of which have already begun, including outreach to 160,000 veterans to get them off waiting lists and into clinics.
Gibson also vowed to fix systemic scheduling problems, address cultural issues that have allowed problems at the agency to fester, and hold front-line workers and supervisors accountable for willful misconduct or negligence.
He also promised to improve transparency, including regular and ongoing disclosures of information about patient scheduling and care.
Lawmakers generally welcomed Gibson’s comments, but said the agency has a long way to go to restore trust.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent and chairman of the Senate veterans panel, said he has been impressed by the response of Gibson and other VA leaders to the current crisis, but added: ‘‘The simple reality is that the problems they face are staggering.’’
SIGH.
--more--"
"Report finds retaliation by supervisors common at VA" by Matthew Daly | Associated Press July 22, 2014
WASHINGTON — A pharmacy supervisor at the Veterans Affairs was placed on leave after complaining about errors and delays in delivering medications to patients at a hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. In Pennsylvania, a doctor was removed from clinical work after complaining that on-call doctors were refusing to go to a VA hospital in Wilkes-Barre.
Medical professionals from coast to coast have pointed out problems at the VA, only to suffer retaliation from supervisors and other high-ranking officials, according to a report Monday by a private government watchdog.
The Obama administration never did like whistleblowers.
The report compiled by the Project on Government Oversight is based on comments and complaints filed by nearly 800 current and former VA employees and veterans.
Those comments indicate that concerns about the VA go far beyond the long waiting times or falsified appointment records that have received much recent attention.
The group set up a website in mid-May for complaints and said it has received allegations of wrongdoing from 35 states and the District of Columbia.
That website working, is it?
The report from the group came a day before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was to hold a hearing on the nomination of Robert McDonald to be VA secretary.
Related:
Senate panel backs former executive to lead VA
Obama nominee McDonald pledges to ‘transform’ VA
VA Gone Away
Yeah, some corporate CEO will clean it all up.
--more--"
"In rush to cut benefits backlog, VA made errors" by Matthew Daly | Associated Press July 15, 2014
WASHINGTON — In a rush to cut a huge backlog of claims for disability benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs is making payments to tens of thousands of veterans without adequate medical evidence that they deserve the benefits, the department’s inspector general’s office said Monday.
(Blog editor is shaking his head in disbelief! First of all, they deserve it anyway for being lied to wars, period. Secondly, after the fake appointment schedules that were so diligently worked on to provide promotional pay increases and extra bonuses, the VA is getting scammed by the soldiers. They don't even give a f*** about them, why would they give a f*** about you?)
Without improvements, the VA could make unsupported payments to veterans totaling about $371 million over the next five years for claims of 100 percent disability alone, said Linda Halliday, an assistant inspector general.
That's chump change compared to the $36 BILLION I'm told they need to fix the $y$tem.
The inspector general’s office also found widespread problems at VA regional offices in Philadelphia and Baltimore, including mail bins full of disability claims and associated evidence that had not been electronically scanned for three years.
I biggered that up because that kinda brought me to my tear-filled knees when I read it.
Spot inspections revealed that the VA also made errors in 1 in 4 claims involving traumatic brain injury, Halliday told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in testimony prepared for the panel’s hearing Monday night.
‘‘Improved financial stewardship at the agency is needed,’’ Halliday said. ‘‘More attention is critical to minimize the financial risk of making inaccurate benefit payments.’’
???????
(Blog editor gives a pffft and wonders why bother with this. I'm so disgusted!)
Special initiatives designed to remove older claims and speed processing of new claims are worthwhile, Halliday said, but in some cases they ‘‘have had an adverse impact on other workload areas such as appeals management and benefits reductions.’’
Blah blah double-talk what???!!!
The VA used the hearing to claim ‘‘tremendous progress’’ in reducing a disability claims backlog that reached about 611,000 in March 2013. The backlog is now about 275,000 — a 55 percent decrease from the peak, said Allison Hickey, undersecretary for benefits at the VA.
Is there really anything else to say?
Last year, the Veterans Benefits Administration completed a record 1.2 million disability rating claims, Hickey said, and the agency is on track to complete more than 1.3 million rating claims this year. More than 90 percent of the claims are being processed electronically, she said.
The VA has set a goal to process all claims within 125 days at 98 percent accuracy in 2015, but so far has fallen far short. The VA now processes most claims within 154 days at a 90 percent accuracy rate, compared with an accuracy rate of 86 percent three years ago, Hickey said. At one point, veterans were forced to wait an average nine to 10 months for their disability claims to be processed.
‘‘It has never been acceptable to VA . . . that our veterans are experiencing long delays in receiving the benefits they have earned and deserve,’’ Hickey said. She said the department has spent the past four years redesigning and streamlining the way it delivers benefits and services.
Halliday, however, said her investigators have found numerous problems in handling VA benefits, including faulty claims processing that ‘‘increases the risk of improper payments to veterans and their families.’’
Inspectors surveying Philadelphia’s VA benefits center in June found mail bins brimming with claims and associated evidence dating to 2011 that had not been electronically scanned, she said.
Inspectors also found evidence that staffers at the Philadelphia regional office were manipulating dates to make old claims appear newer. The findings are similar to problems that have plagued VA health centers nationwide. Investigators have found long waits for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics, and falsified records to cover up the delays.
In Baltimore, investigators discovered that an employee had inappropriately stored thousands of documents, including some that contained Social Security data, in his office ‘‘for an extensive period of time.’’
About 8,000 documents, including 80 claims folders, unprocessed mail, and Social Security information of dead or incarcerated veterans, were stored in the employee’s office, Halliday said.
The VA has long struggled to cope with disability claims. The backlog had intensified in recent years as more solders returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the VA made it easier for Vietnam-era veterans to get disability compensation stemming from exposure to Agent Orange.
Lawmakers in both parties have complained about the Obama administration’s handling of the problem and some have called for an independent commission to address it.
In a separate section of the federal health system, six states with backlogs for Medicaid enrollees were facing a federal deadline Monday to create plans for getting those low-income residents enrolled in health coverage.
Yeah, I'm going to mix those deceptions and agenda-pushing crap below.
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent letters dated June 27 to Alaska, California, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee asking those states to address gaps in their eligibility and enrollment systems that have delayed access to coverage for poor and disabled people.
The letter was sent months after the first national sign-up drive under President Obama’s health reform law.
The letters stated that those states had 10 days to come up with a response plan, but health advocates say there is no clear deadline for clearing the backlog.
The federal government “will remain in close contact with states to monitor their progress to ensure that they are facilitating Medicaid enrollment for those individuals eligible,” agency spokeswoman Marilyn Jackson said in a statement.
The states facing the federal deadline are a mix of those that opted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and those that did not.
--more--"
Yeah, about that ACA:
"Agents got health care with fake IDs" Associated Press July 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — Undercover investigators using fake identities were able to secure taxpayer-subsidized health insurance under President Obama’s health care law, congressional investigators said Wednesday.
The weak link seemed to be call centers that handled applications for frazzled consumers unable to get through online.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office told a House committee that its investigators were able to get subsidized health care under fake names in 11 out of 18 attempts — even after HealthCare.gov’s much maligned online system flagged some applications as problematic.
The GAO is still paying premiums for the policies, even as the Obama administration attempts to verify phony documentation.
GAO audits and investigations chief Seto Bagdoyan told the House Ways and Means Committee that the agency has not drawn any sweeping conclusions from what he called its ‘‘preliminary’’ findings. A full assessment will take several months.
The GAO’s report opened another line of attack for Republican lawmakers who have relentlessly tried to kill the 2010 Affordable Care Act. It raised questions about new sorts of flaws in the enrollment system, which experienced computer gridlock when it went live last fall.
Flaws in the enrollment system? You don't say? 'course it's "another line of attack for Republican." You know, who cares if Obummercare is a pile of unworkable $hit, you will deeply inhale the aroma of the dogma placed in front of you by agenda-pushing papers and $elf-$erving government.
--more--"
That is why after Obummer said 8 million signed up, success, it's been dropped by the agenda-pu$hing paper -- save for this one-day wonder:
"Reports find deficiencies in health care law enrollments; Say evaluation methods not always effective" by Amy Goldstein | Washington Post July 02, 2014
WASHINGTON — The new health insurance marketplaces run by the federal government and some states are not checking carefully enough that Americans who apply for health plans qualify for the coverage and federal subsidies to help pay for it, according to federal investigators.
A pair of reports, issued Tuesday by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, conclude that ‘‘internal controls’’ for evaluating applications were not always effective at verifying people’s Social Security numbers, their citizenship, and whether they are eligible to buy health plans through the marketplaces because they cannot find affordable insurance elsewhere.
Such deficiencies ‘‘may have limited the marketplaces’ ability to prevent the use of inaccurate or fraudulent information’’ by consumers drawn to the insurance exchanges created under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, one of the reports said.
Sigh.
Makes you $ick, doesn't it?
In the other report, the inspector general evaluated the marketplaces’ ability to verify the accuracy of information that consumers submit when they apply for the insurance and for financial help. By the end of last year, the report said, the federal marketplace alone had 2.9 million ‘‘inconsistencies’’ — gaps between the information applicants provided and various federal records. And 2.6 million of them could not be resolved because the computer system needed to do so ‘‘was not fully operational.’’
So out of 8 million registered -- allegedly -- 5.5 million have some sort of problem. That's a bad chart.
As The Washington Post has previously reported, the most common inconsistencies involve applicants’ income and their citizenship.
The reports are the first to emerge from a series of reviews undertaken by the Health and Human Services investigative arm to evaluate aspects of the new federal health insurance marketplace and 14 separate state-run marketplaces. The inspector general’s mission is to ferret out fraud and waste in the department’s programs.
Tuesday’s reports, from independent investigators within the executive branch, lend credence to the contention of the health care law’s Republican detractors that the administration has not employed sufficient safeguards to prevent improper payments of the new insurance tax credits and other financial help to consumers under the law.
The broader of the two reports was required by Congress last year at the insistence of House Republicans, who made it a condition of the budget agreement that ended a partial shutdown of the government last fall.
Both reports were based on the marketplaces’ experiences from October through December. Those three months were part of half of the first six-month sign-up period for insurance under the health-care law for new health plans that became available at the start of this year. By the end of the sign-up period in early spring, 8 million Americans had chosen a health plan, 5.4 million of them in the federal insurance exchange, and 85 percent had received financial help.
So told.
The finding in the broader report was based on a random sample of 45 applications from the federal exchange and separate exchanges in California and Connecticut — states whose marketplaces have worked more smoothly than most....
Congressional Republicans immediately pounced on the inspector general’s findings. ‘‘This report tells us that the administration was more concerned with appearances than getting anything in Obama-care done right,’’ said Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the ranking Republican on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
He's been out there a lot lately. Must be an election year for him.
--more--"
More tax loot wa$ted on web$ites:
"Hazards tied to medical records rush; Subsidies given for computerizing, but no reporting required when errors cause harm" by Christopher Rowland | Globe Staff July 20, 2014
The cause of Robertson’s crisis was the result of a medication error, lawyers for her family say, and that error can be traced in part to a major innovation in modern medical practice: electronic health records.
President Obama and Congress poured $30 billion in taxpayer subsidies into the push for digital medical records beginning in 2009, with only a few strings attached and no safety oversight of the vendors who sell the systems.
(Blog editor shakes head)
The move was touted as a way to improve patient care and help rein in medical costs. Five years later, the explosion in the use of the electronic records has created the potential for efficiencies and safety benefits but also new risks for patients, the scope of which still is not fully understood....
Multibillion-dollar subsidies for electronic health records were part of a campaign promise Barack Obama made during the 2008 campaign. Installing the systems, he said, was crucial to reforming the health care system....
He also said if you like your doctor and plan you get to keep it, and we all see how that promise -- along with all the other ones -- were betrayed.
The scramble by doctors and hospitals to cash in on the incentives has thrust complex, balky, unwieldy, and error-prone computer systems into highly sensitive clinical settings at a record pace....
Obummercare $ucks!
The scope and pace of change has been far beyond the capacity of medical institutions and government regulators to track, many officials and health care safety advocates agree.
Yet, facing staunch resistance to any regulation by the politically influential health records industry, the Obama administration has opted against mandatory reporting that would enable officials to track unsafe conditions, injuries, and deaths relating to these systems — to draw lessons, that is, from the tragedies of patients such as Theresa Robertson....
She died, meaning at the very least we are looking at negligent homicide.
--more--"
Yup, there are savings not fully realized, deadly errors, costly fixes, but look who benefited. Kinda makes it all worth it.
Also see:
Courts issue opposite decisions on health care
Budget office revises estimate of federal spending on health care
UnitedHealth Group’s move signals industry shift
Union, hospital clash on worker who spoke to Globe
I always say keep the nurses happy.
"Medicare providers decry repeated audits" by Kelli Kennedy | Associated Press July 10, 2014
MIAMI — Health care companies say they are losing millions of dollars that are tied up in appeals because of increasing numbers of Medicare audits. But the rise in the often duplicative audits has failed to reduce Medicare fraud, according to a report released Wednesday.
This government is a total f***ing failure, sorry.
In recent years, the Obama administration has added manpower to investigate cases, increase audits, and analyze more data to fight fraud in the taxpayer-funded Medicare program. Yet a report from the US Senate Special Committee on Aging criticized the government for not targeting its resources more effectively.
Improper payments within Medicare’s largest sector increased for the first time in five years, rising from $30 billion to $36 billion, despite the Obama administration’s all-out campaign to prevent fraud.
Same amount the VA needs.
Medicare fraud in the fee-for-service program had steadily declined since 2009, but improper payments rose between 2011 and 2012, according to the report, which cites the most recent data available. During that time, federal health officials launched a $77 million technology screening system designed to proactively prevent fraudulent providers from joining the system and prevent bogus claims from being paid in the first place.
The only decent $oftware $y$tem is bank ATMs.
What's another $77 million wasted amongst billions and billion, austerity-whipped Amurkn?
And Obummer wants $4 BILLION for illegal immigrant kids.
The priorities of this government are so f***ed up, but one thing is clear: YOU, legal citizen of the United States, are NOT ONE of THEIR CONCERNS (unless it is the NSA to spy on you)!!
But the committee expressed concern that the government’s ‘‘strategy to reduce improper payments is actually a strategy aimed more at identifying and recovering improper payments that have already occurred,’’ according to the report.
Federal health officials said in the report that new policy changes confused providers. They also noted the new screening technology prevented $210 million in fraudulent payments in its second year of operation.
The Medical Equipment Suppliers Association said some providers experienced between 24 and 228 audits in one year, according to a letter to federal health officials included in the report.
Ascension Health had 66,613 claims audited and about half were alleged to be improper payments. The company says the government withheld about $200 million in payments while it appealed. Less than one-fourth of appealed recoveries were upheld, according to the report. Catholic Health Initiatives said it has appealed 87 percent of cases and won the vast majority but complained significant funds were withheld during the process.
‘‘What has been created is an overly complicated system with duplication where virtually any [durable medical equipment] claim payment can be recouped,’’ according to prepared testimony from Walter Gorski, head of Gorski Healthcare Group, in a roundtable with Senator Bill Nelson and health care stakeholders.
The report also blamed the US government for lax oversight of its confusing maze of private fraud prevention contractors, noting a fundamental flaw in the way certain contractors are paid based on the dollar amount of fraud identified. Experts say a more effective system would incentivize contractors by paying them based on their ability to reduce fraudulent payment.
Medicare has been a highly sensitive political issue for the Obama administration partly because of a backlash from seniors about program cuts to help finance the president’s health care overhaul.
It is going to be a bad, bad November for Democrats.
--more--"
But back to the VA, exhibit A for government-run health care:
"Congressional committees offer up competing VA fixes" Associated Press July 25, 2014
WASHINGTON — With Congress scheduled to recess in a week, the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees offered competing proposals Thursday to fix a veterans’ health care program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records covering up the delays.
Looks CRIMINAL to me.
Both proposals would scale back separate House- and Senate-passed bills after lawmakers in both parties expressed shock at price tags totaling more than $35 billion. The new proposals would still allow veterans to go to private doctors if they face long waits for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics or if they live more than 40 miles from a VA site.
They don't give a flying f***, either. Now go fight, kill, and die where they tell you.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and chairman of the Senate panel, made the first move, announcing a proposal that would cost about $25 billion over three years to lease new clinics, hire thousands of doctors and nurses, and make it easier for veterans who can’t get prompt appointments with VA doctors to get outside care.
The proposed price tag is $10 billion less than a bill passed by the Senate last month and nearly $20 billion less than a House-backed measure.
Representative Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican, chairman of the House veterans panel, countered hours later with a proposal that would require only $10 billion in emergency spending, with a promise of more spending in future years under the normal congressional budget process. Miller’s bill would keep most of the provisions in the Senate-passed bill and also would authorize about $100 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs to address shortfalls in the current budget year.
Miller announced his plan at a hastily scheduled meeting of House and Senate negotiators who have been working on the veterans bill for more than a month. Sanders skipped the meeting, as did all Democrats on the negotiating committee except one, Representative Ann Kirkpatrick from Arizona.
House Speaker John Boehner called Democrats’ nonappearance at the meeting ‘‘shameful’’ and said that if President Obama cares about America’s veterans, ‘‘he needs to pick up his phone out in California and tell Senate Democrats to get to work.’’
Where were your oversight committees all this time?
This political bullshit is at and end, sphincter.
Despite the partisan divide, Miller said talks on the veterans had not collapsed and that he remains optimistic a deal can be reached before Congress adjourns next week until September.
Sanders called Miller’s proposal a ‘‘take-it-or-leave-it gambit’’ that showed a lack of good faith.
‘‘We don’t need more speeches and posturing. We need serious negotiations — 24/7 if necessary — to resolve our differences in order to pass critical legislation,’’ Sanders said.
Miller said his proposal was merely ‘‘a public offer’’ that allows everyone to see what negotiators have been discussing in private for weeks.
‘‘I am prepared keep negotiating for as long as it takes to reach a deal, and I hope Senate Democrats will work with me to address VA’s delays in care and accountability crises,’’ Miller said.
The Obama administration says it needs about $17.6 billion to hire thousands of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals; lease new facilities; and upgrade its computers to reduce a backlog of veterans awaiting care at VA hospitals and clinics. The administration’s request does not include money to allow more veterans to go to private doctors to avoid long waits for VA care. Expansion of private care was the biggest cost in the bills approved by Congress.
Republicans complained that acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson’s budget request was thinly documented. Miller told Gibson on Thursday he was surprised that such a large request was made in a slim, three-page memo.
Like what Paulson submitted when he asked for $700 BILLION in TARP funds for bank bailouts.
Just GIVE IT TO 'EM, right? NO QUESTIONS A$KED!
--more--"
"House panel OK’s Obama lawsuit over health care reform" | Associated Press July 25, 2014
WASHINGTON — Over Democratic objections, Republicans cleared the way Thursday for a House vote on legislation authorizing an election-year lawsuit accusing President Obama of failing to implement the health care law as it was written.
The vote in the Rules Committee was 7 to 4, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed.
Republicans say the lawsuit is necessary because Obama is exceeding his authority as president by failing to carry out legislation that Congress passed and he signed into law.
‘‘The Constitution that we have sworn to uphold provides separate powers for each branch of the federal government so that no single branch can trample upon the liberties of the American people,’’ said Representative Pete Sessions, the Texas Republican who chairs the panel. ‘‘Unfortunately, the president has ignored the requirements of the Constitution.’’
Then impeach him! Don't pull this silly political stunt that will take years to resolve. The $hit-$how fooley ain't working no more, guys!
Democrats swiftly countered that the suit is a political maneuver designed to improve Republican prospects in the November elections. In a statement released shortly after the vote, the party’s House leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, said constitutional law specialists have said the suit is without merit.
‘‘But you don’t need to be an expert to see it’s nothing more than a desperate partisan stunt,” she said. “Republicans should drop the distractions and join Democrats in addressing the priorities of the American people: creating jobs.”
Even so, Democrats conceded that majority Republicans have enough votes to prevail when the measure comes to a scheduled vote in the next few days, shortly before lawmakers begin a five-week vacation.
Republicans have long asserted that Obama has selectively enforced the health care law, pointing to a series of executive orders he has issued since its enactment. The administration disputes that view.
They are factually correct, but no one seems to give a hoot about the law these days. This is fiat dictatorship, and don't you dare question the benign ruler.
Sessions expanded the list of allegations, saying Obama had unilaterally waived work requirements for welfare recipients, ended accountability provisions in the education law No Child Left Behind, and refused to inform Congress of the transfer of Taliban prisoners from the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
--more--"
Picking up on that last part:
"Bowe Bergdahl returned to regular Army duty" by Robert Burns | Associated Press July 15, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Army has given Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl a desk job, ending the formal phase of his transition from Taliban prisoner to not-quite-ordinary soldier, and setting the stage for Army investigators to question the Idaho native about his disappearance that led to five years in captivity.
In a brief statement Monday, the Army said Bergdahl has been assigned to US Army North at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston in Texas.
Bergdahl has been decompressing and recuperating from the effects of captivity since his arrival there from a military base in Germany. Since he was handed over to US special forces in Afghanistan on May 31, he has been debriefed for any possible intelligence he might have gleaned in his time with the Taliban.
Translation: they are hiding this traitorous deserter away so he won't talk. This p.r. move blew up in Obummer's face, and is impeachable.
Otherwise, he has been gently coaxed back into a normal routine and a normal life, both physically and psychologically.
Where's muh waders?
Bergdahl’s case is one of the most extraordinary of recent times: for the length of his captivity; for his apparent decision to abandon his unit during a combat deployment; and for the controversy triggered by the circumstances of his release.
He's a deserter. This coverage is weird!
It is not clear when Bergdahl will face investigators. Their findings will help determine whether the 28-year-old is prosecuted for desertion or faces any other disciplinary action. The investigation is headed by Major General Kenneth R. Dahl, deputy commanding general of First Corps at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state.
I was told the Army already did an exhaustive investigation (full of vagaries, but....).
Numerous other questions are lingering, including whether Bergdahl will collect the estimated $300,000 in back pay he has accumulated over the past five years.
Is that the price of his silence?
Bergdahl walked away from his unit after expressing misgivings about the US military’s role — as well as his own — in Afghanistan.
That would seem to merit forfeiture of pay.
He was captured by Taliban members and held by members of the Haqqani network, an insurgent group tied to the Taliban. He was released as part of a deal in which the United States gave up five top Taliban commanders imprisoned at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The terms of the deal sparked a political storm in Washington.
Some former members of Bergdahl’s former unit have labeled him a deserter, asserting that he chose to walk away and saying some were wounded or killed looking for him. The Army has not ruled out disciplinary action against Bergdahl, who was promoted twice during captivity, from private first class to sergeant, as a matter of standard procedure.
Meaning his pay and pensions were bumped up. This guy was on a mission, folks. Has all the hallmarks of a U.S. spook.
Bergdahl’s exact administrative duties at US Army North were not immediately disclosed, but a Pentagon spokesman, Army Colonel Steve Warren, said Bergdahl is not restricted in any way. The Army said that in his assignment to US Army North he ‘‘can contribute to the mission,’’ which is focused on homeland defense.
‘‘He is a normal soldier now,’’ Warren said.
At the time of his disappearance, Bergdahl was a member of First Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, Fourth Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. An initial military investigation in 2009 concluded that Bergdahl deliberately walked away, based on evidence available at the time.
Bergdahl, whose family lives in Hailey, Idaho, arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston on June 13 after nearly two weeks recuperating at a US military hospital in Germany. Warren said he did not believe Bergdahl has seen his parents since his return to the United States. Army officials have refused to discuss the question of Bergdahl’s contact with his parents, saying the family requested that it be kept private.
The focus of his recuperation period in Germany and at San Antonio has been to prepare him for returning to normal life.
He's been reprogrammed.
--more--"
Then he disappeared again.
Also see:
Amy Adams proves actions speak louder than thoughts
Thousands run for veterans at Fenway
N.H. veteran Ryan Pitts receives Medal of Honor
Childhood trauma more likely in military
You know, maybe I'm wrong in using the language but that pales in comparison to the massive propaganda operation known as the AmeriKan ma$$ media.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Congress near deal on fixes to VA system
Few details of the agreement were released, but the Senate is expected to vote this week to confirm former Procter & Gamble chief executive Robert McDonald as the new VA secretary.
