European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 13, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday april 13 2007 stars and stripes Page 7 panel Calls for speedup in closing Walter Reed by Steve Vogel the Washington Post Washington a top level Pentagon review panel has concluded that Walter Reed army medi Cal Center should be closed As soon As possible lowing revelations of poor care that the panel blamed on a perfect storm of failed leadership flawed policies and overwhelming casualties in a preliminary report released wednesday the panel appointed by defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended accelerating the clo sure of the Northwest washing ton Hospital under defense re alignment decisions made two years ago the hospitals facilities were due to move to the National naval medical Center in Bethesda my by 2011 a faster move could mean speeding up or waiving an environmental review and releasing Money to break ground on a billion expansion plan at Bethesda according to the draft report from the Independent review group construction of a larger army Hospital at fort Belvoir in Northern Virginia also should be expedited the report said the Navy is preparing a draft environmental study for the Bethesda plan which would include building a Large addition on the North Side of the hos Pital building and Tower it needs to be built and it needs to be built As quickly As possible said review panel member Marsh John Jyh Schwarz a physician and former Republican member of Congress from Michigan even As they urged a speedy shutdown members of the Pentagon group called for the immediate in vestment of hundreds of millions of dollars at Walter Reed for Short term infrastructure improve ments and to address shortages of nurses and other medical personnel keep Walter Reed going fully dying on the up to the moment they Are ready to turn the key at Bethesda said co chairman John 0 Marsh or Secretary of the army under president Ronald Reagan the nine member review Board was established by Gates after the Washington Post reported in february about decrepit conditions at some Walter Reed facilities and shoddy outpatient treat ment of wounded troops from Iraq and Afghanistan the revelations led to the abrupt Resig nations of army Secretary Francis Harvey and top army medical corps officers Togo West Secretary of the army under presi Dent Bill Clinton and co chairman of the review panel lambasted Walter Reed during a Public meet ing wednesday saying that though the primary med ical care was generally first rate patients perceived an almost palpable disdain among the staff for the need to provide support during outpatient treat ment West command to customize foreign military training by Leo Shane m stars and stripes Washington the Navy this week launched a new com Mand designed to help train for eign allies in waterway patrols bomb disposal and other critical Security skills officials say the new expeditionary training command which supports the navys expeditionary combat command will go beyond mentoring programs Al ready offered by the Navy and other services this is not just a Basic subject matter expert with Basic skills giving a course said cmdr David Somers head of the new com Mand this is something Well be Able to customize work with the foreign and take to them plans Call for a Core staff of 75 sailors to plan and run the train ing sessions the new command will be headquartered at naval amphibious base Little Creek in Virginia Somers expects most of the work will take place overseas already the trainers have plans to work with military personnel in several Central Ameri can countries Panama Nicara Gua Honduras and the Domini can Republic among them on topics such As naval construction expeditionary logistics Salvage operations and coastal warfare planning Somers said his office has also received several inquiries for help from african countries inter ested in bolstering their Security training we think the demand for this is going to be pretty High he said the coast guard and Navy have been doing some foreign training for the last 10 years but what weve seen is that the de Mand has risen dramatically in the last few years teams of five to 10 trainers will travel to the countries to assess the foreign troops skill Levels develop training programs and after weeks of mentoring return for periodic refreshers and Progress reports Somers said translators and other local experts will be pulled from outside the new command to help support the training so far the Etc has a staff of Only 15 Somers said he expects filling out the staff will take about a year these people have to be experts but not enough he said there also ambassadors there representatives of the us to other countries it be comes a cultural lesson As Well As a training lesson Emai Leo Shane at premiere saturday 14 april join us in celebrating the arrival of the All new land Rover lr2 All land Rover lr2 include these features 100 Usa specification i 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