One way to deal with Walter Reed: Stop soldiers from talking

The Army Times says military officials have laid down the law.

Published February 28, 2007 4:27PM (EST)

There are all sorts of ways military officials might deal -- or not -- with the problems at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Here's one that probably won't surprise anyone: According to the Army Times, soldiers in the facility's Medical Hold Unit say they're being told to get up early to have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., to stop talking to the media and to follow "their chain of command when asking for help with their medical evaluation paperwork, or when they spot mold, mice or other problems in their quarters."

The soldiers have also reportedly been told that they'll be moved soon from their current quarters -- just off the Walter Reed campus and thus accessible to the press -- to a building that's on campus and inaccessible to reporters unless they have an escort from Walter Reed's P.R. staff. Oh, and upcoming projects in which the Pentagon was going to give CNN and the Discovery Channel access to military medical facilities? The Army Times says those are off because the military has decided it would not be "appropriate to engage the media" in the face of a review into the problems at Walter Reed.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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