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American Morning

Fort Stewart Conditions

Aired October 20, 2003 - 07:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Wounded and sick soldiers at Fort Stewart, Georgia, are sometimes forced to wait months for follow-up treatment, according to several Army Reservists. They say dozens of sick and wounded troops stay in open-bay barracks with concrete floors and sparse surroundings. Partially exposed toilets and a communal shower are outside the barracks, and soldiers on crutches, including one with a crushed foot, have to limp to these facilities, even at night.
An Army spokesman at the Pentagon tells CNN that a team is being sent to Fort Stewart today to assess matters there.

The conditions were first reported by "UPI's" Mark Benjamin, who recently visited that base. He is with us now in D.C., along with veterans advocate Steve Robinson, who accompanied Benjamin to the base.

Mark, I want to start with you. What were the conditions there when you arrived?

MARK BENJAMIN, "UPI" INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR: The conditions for many of the soldiers are very rough, as you described. Many of them are living in sort of what looked like World War II-era barracks, cinderblock barracks, 60 to a room on bunk beds. Yes, they walk through the sand and the dirt to a communal bathroom, not really the kind of place where you'd want to keep sick or injured soldiers.

HEMMER: The Army has responded to this, just so our viewers know here. They say, a spokesperson from Fort Stewart, there were only a handful of wounded soldiers in the medical hold unit, and also taking issue with that depiction, calling the conditions spartan and austere, but safe. He says there is no squalor in the military barracks. Is it hot? Absolutely. Adding some are air conditioned; others are not.

What did the soldiers tell you, Mark? How many did you speak to?

BENJAMIN: Well, I spoke with -- I probably interviewed more than a dozen. There are 600 soldiers there, Bill, on what the Army is calling medical hold. That means they're too sick to serve, and the Army is trying to treat them and figure out whether they should leave the Army and how much they should get in terms of benefits. About 40 percent of those soldiers served heroically in Iraq, and those soldiers believe that their injuries were due to whatever happened. Many of them believe that they were injured there or got sick there.

HEMMER: Steve, you know veterans affairs issues just about as well as anyone. How did these conditions appear to you? STEVE ROBINSON, EXEC. DIR., NAT'L GULF WAR RESOURCE CENTER: Well, as Mark said, and even as the soldiers say themselves, these barracks are fine for training purposes, but they're not fine for people that have wounds or for people that have, you know, conditions of respiratory illness. They're not good for sick people, and that was one of the concerns we had when we went down.

But additionally, it's not just the barracks. It's the long delays that these soldiers are facing in obtaining health care and trying to get their medical problems resolved.

HEMMER: Steve, why do you think that's the case?

ROBINSON: I simply think that the military at Fort Stewart is overwhelmed. You have to remember that the 3rd Infantry Division was the spearhead for the war in Iraq. They sustained the most casualties. When that unit redeployed back to Fort Stewart, they simply had too many sick people and injured people to take care of.

HEMMER: Mark, not to underscore the issue and the seriousness of the matter you're talking about here, but these soldiers are not dying, correct?

BENJAMIN: They're not dying, but many of them do seem to be very, very ill, some of them with heart problems which they say they didn't have before they left. Some of them have been injured, obviously serving their country.

And I agree, while they're not dying, in some cases we don't know how sick they are because they're not, they say, getting access to doctors that they need. For example, in the week before I got there, the soldiers told me there were about 585 soldiers on medical hold. They say there was one doctor available to treat those soldiers, and that's a tough ratio for sick soldiers.

HEMMER: And the point you both make is that the system right now is being overwhelmed. Thanks for sharing part of your story with us, Mark Benjamin and Steve Robinson from D.C.

By the way, Fort Stewart has invited CNN to come to that base and have a look for ourselves. We are sending a camera crew. We'll update that story as soon as we get more for you on that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired October 20, 2003 - 07:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Wounded and sick soldiers at Fort Stewart, Georgia, are sometimes forced to wait months for follow-up treatment, according to several Army Reservists. They say dozens of sick and wounded troops stay in open-bay barracks with concrete floors and sparse surroundings. Partially exposed toilets and a communal shower are outside the barracks, and soldiers on crutches, including one with a crushed foot, have to limp to these facilities, even at night.
An Army spokesman at the Pentagon tells CNN that a team is being sent to Fort Stewart today to assess matters there.

The conditions were first reported by "UPI's" Mark Benjamin, who recently visited that base. He is with us now in D.C., along with veterans advocate Steve Robinson, who accompanied Benjamin to the base.

Mark, I want to start with you. What were the conditions there when you arrived?

MARK BENJAMIN, "UPI" INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR: The conditions for many of the soldiers are very rough, as you described. Many of them are living in sort of what looked like World War II-era barracks, cinderblock barracks, 60 to a room on bunk beds. Yes, they walk through the sand and the dirt to a communal bathroom, not really the kind of place where you'd want to keep sick or injured soldiers.

HEMMER: The Army has responded to this, just so our viewers know here. They say, a spokesperson from Fort Stewart, there were only a handful of wounded soldiers in the medical hold unit, and also taking issue with that depiction, calling the conditions spartan and austere, but safe. He says there is no squalor in the military barracks. Is it hot? Absolutely. Adding some are air conditioned; others are not.

What did the soldiers tell you, Mark? How many did you speak to?

BENJAMIN: Well, I spoke with -- I probably interviewed more than a dozen. There are 600 soldiers there, Bill, on what the Army is calling medical hold. That means they're too sick to serve, and the Army is trying to treat them and figure out whether they should leave the Army and how much they should get in terms of benefits. About 40 percent of those soldiers served heroically in Iraq, and those soldiers believe that their injuries were due to whatever happened. Many of them believe that they were injured there or got sick there.

HEMMER: Steve, you know veterans affairs issues just about as well as anyone. How did these conditions appear to you? STEVE ROBINSON, EXEC. DIR., NAT'L GULF WAR RESOURCE CENTER: Well, as Mark said, and even as the soldiers say themselves, these barracks are fine for training purposes, but they're not fine for people that have wounds or for people that have, you know, conditions of respiratory illness. They're not good for sick people, and that was one of the concerns we had when we went down.

But additionally, it's not just the barracks. It's the long delays that these soldiers are facing in obtaining health care and trying to get their medical problems resolved.

HEMMER: Steve, why do you think that's the case?

ROBINSON: I simply think that the military at Fort Stewart is overwhelmed. You have to remember that the 3rd Infantry Division was the spearhead for the war in Iraq. They sustained the most casualties. When that unit redeployed back to Fort Stewart, they simply had too many sick people and injured people to take care of.

HEMMER: Mark, not to underscore the issue and the seriousness of the matter you're talking about here, but these soldiers are not dying, correct?

BENJAMIN: They're not dying, but many of them do seem to be very, very ill, some of them with heart problems which they say they didn't have before they left. Some of them have been injured, obviously serving their country.

And I agree, while they're not dying, in some cases we don't know how sick they are because they're not, they say, getting access to doctors that they need. For example, in the week before I got there, the soldiers told me there were about 585 soldiers on medical hold. They say there was one doctor available to treat those soldiers, and that's a tough ratio for sick soldiers.

HEMMER: And the point you both make is that the system right now is being overwhelmed. Thanks for sharing part of your story with us, Mark Benjamin and Steve Robinson from D.C.

By the way, Fort Stewart has invited CNN to come to that base and have a look for ourselves. We are sending a camera crew. We'll update that story as soon as we get more for you on that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.