I watched a good bit of the senate DoD budget hearing on C-SPAN this morning. Lot's of interesting questions, including oxy-contin addiction, which I guess is one approach to calming shot nerves. But if anyone mentioned the USN/Marine Air lift/CAS disaster-in-progress, I missed it.

It's ironic that a 3-star tac-air brown shoe Admiral has taken the place of the 2-star F-35 JSF program manager that Gates fired. Marines may have to ride Army helos to the fight for the next decade or so, but their budget can still be shared with a platinum plated strategic stealth bird?

Huh.

I suspect certain leaders at Camp Lejuene (pronounced LeJurn), home to the 2nd Marine Division, probably don't want to be seen as not having a handle on what they don’t consider to be a major problem, and consider the doctor's complaints of his concerns as an affront to their leadership?

Much of this has to do primarily with some Marine leaders unwilling, due to the adverse or fragile appearing image they perceive it reflects on their "so called warrior" image, to admit that repeated exposure to combat in their profession is cause and effect for behavioral problems by more than a few Marines and Navy Corpsman - it has always been this way, and the Navy who supports and administers the Corps' medical needs aboard Lejeune, only enables this.

I am disappointed to see that some things never change. After Vietnam, some of us junior officers put together a support group because for those Marines that did seek help for what latter became known as PTSD, they were ostracized by the command leadership as weak sisters, and many turned to substance abuse and self-destructive behavior.

Anecdotally, a few years ago, I and many other former Marine/Navy personnel who had served aboard Camp Lejeune were contacted by DOD to inform us the ground water had been contaminated during our time aboard the base, and we and our dependents health might be at risk, and we should register on a watch list. Of course, this had to come about by a law suit brought about be a Marine on behalf of his family, which further pointed to a cover-up by base personnel.

The point being, there is a history down at Swamp Lagoon of covering-up.
I understand there are two sides to an issue, but I've seen both sides of this before, and I'm siding with the doctor until otherwise clued-in.

Maybe officer corps, especially ones that by routine, tradition or war environment, become isolated from the nation they serve. They develop a culture of self sustainability that emotionally dominates all else without consideration. This culture would not be susceptible to reform or even corrective feedback from its members (as in the JPWREL comment above). It fears the embarrassment of fault above all else.

Decades ago before the BRAC existed officers with an engineering degree were sometimes left to do a systems analysis of a military command or service organization as part of a military construction investment justification. I was a one such effort. In our analysis, we uncovered what appeared to be a very high percentage of military medicine involved in activities away from their hospital and clinical tasks at the military hospital - possibly moonlighting - while service members (below 06) and their family members were left awaiting care.

Because this medical center was near a metropolitan area known for very good hospitals and medical schools, we did a competitive cost analysis of sending our service members and families to top drawer commercial medicine - and- by God, it was cheaper to close the facility and send them to the best available private medicine. Our results were quashed by senior officers demanding their care from sources not contaminated by the private citizen.

Ever the believer in ethics and honor, I dropped a note to the service's surgeon general with our results and with a recommendation to eliminate doctor reserved parking. Without such free benefits, reserved parking in a city area, doctors, generally lazy about long walks, would at least muster early enough to make a call or two before greed would pull them away.

Results: 1) a blistering evaluation for me; 2) a directive from the surgeon general to eliminate reserve parking at this facility. Small victory but worth the cost.

Final note - center was eventually closed and property is a commercial training center for a professional sports team.

Believe there remains untapped private medical services available to our military members capable of better care than the officer curia is motivated to provide.

For those passing-bye, and interested. I have information that this situation, and the firing of the contract doctor at Camp Lejeune has the attention of Headquarters Marine Corps and is under review.

Thank you Tom for bringing it to the blog - Semper Fi

Have noted the Curia to be less than balanced when dealing with anything that is touched by a "contract" professional unless it is a "churched" mentor. A professional who becomes a contract person is thought to be without normal rights and obligations of a citizen.

Why though do we remain in the position that motivation for the top remains by "fear of embarrassment" exposure?

As a former enlisted Marine grunt who's had the displeasure of having to rely on what passes for "medical care" in the Navy, I wouldn't put anything past the quacks masquerading as medical doctors!