Numbers of wounded down; Army care units to close

[unhappycamper]

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/01/numbers-wounded-down-army-care-units-close

Numbers of wounded down; Army care units to close
By Pauline Jelinek
The Associated Press
© January 9, 2014

WASHINGTON

With the number of seriously wounded and ill soldiers at a six-year low, the Army is closing down some of the special units set up to care for troops and reorganizing the program.

"That's good for the Army, good for our soldiers," Brig. Gen. David Bishop said of the declining population of severely wounded. Bishop heads the command that runs the so-called Warrior Transition Units, started in 2007 following the scandal over poor conditions at what was then Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, including shoddy housing and bureaucratic delays for troops who were outpatients.

Fourteen of the 38 units will be closed and some new community-based units will be established under the reorganization plan being announced Thursday.

Some 58,000 soldiers have passed through the special units since the start of the program, aimed at giving the most severely wounded, ill or injured soldiers comprehensive and coordinated medical and mental health care and provide counseling on legal, financial and other issues as they transition either out of the service to civilian life or back to military duty.

[Victor_c3]

1. I'd call that progress for a change