Plan to cut services for injured soldiers draws fire

Army Maj. Ray O’Donnell bears the scars from a 2007 deployment to Af­ghani­stan and the Humvee rollover that ejected him from the vehicle.

Some of those scars are visible, some are not.

The 33-year-old has a couple on his forehead and nose.

Less obvious are the injuries from a crushed pelvis, spinal damage, a fractured hip, traumatic brain injury and a paralyzed lower leg, which he compensates for with a carbon-fiber brace from his knee to his toes.

The Hawaii man said he plans to spend this Veterans Day doing nothing special, just relaxing with his wife and 15-month-old daughter.

But he’ll be doing it as an active-duty soldier, grateful for the medical care that allowed him to recover, stay in the Army and take command of a company of headquarters soldiers in 2010.

That care included nearly a year spent in the Warrior Transition Battalion at Schofield Barracks, a special unit for wounded warriors.

"My perspective is, I am living proof of what I consider to be the best medical care in the world and what it is capable of," the 2003 University of Hawaii ROTC graduate said.

But as the Army re-evaluates its warrior transition units nationwide, five members of Congress have raised alarm at plans to downsize Schofield’s Warrior Transition Battalion.

U.S. Reps. Colleen Hana­busa and Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii; Madeleine Bor­dallo from Guam; Eni F.H. Faleomavaega from American Samoa; and Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan from the Northern Mariana Islands sent a letter Oct. 31 to the U.S. Army Medical Command saying a "degradation of warrior transition support (at Schofield) is concerning to us, and we seek further explanation from the Army regarding this proposed decision."

Hanabusa is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Gabbard is an Iraq War veteran.

"While we appreciate that the Army must balance limited resources in these times of budgetary challenges, we have significant concerns about cutting support to those who have given so much in defense of our nation," the letter says.

The letter was sent to Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army’s surgeon general and commander of U.S. Army Medical Command, which oversees the warrior transition units.

The Warrior Transition Battalion provides personal support to wounded soldiers who require at least six months of rehabilitative care and complex medical management, and is one of 29 warrior transition units and nine community-based programs serving more than 7,500 soldiers.

The five members of Congress want the Army to report on details of the planned downsizing, including a projection of the number of soldiers who will need care this fiscal year, and the cost to divert some of those soldiers elsewhere if capacity is reached in Hawaii.

The $5.8 million Schofield program has 281 soldiers, with an influx of 60 to 90 Guam National Guard soldiers expected with the return of the 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry, from Af­ghani­stan in January, according to the Army and an Oct. 18 "information paper" put out by the Warrior Transition Battalion.

The number of soldiers in the program fluctuates. In 2008 there were 268. The high was 310 and the low was 170, the Army said.

"Before making any drastic changes, the Army must first guarantee that downsizing the Hawaii unit will neither hamper its abilities to help our troops in need, nor negatively affect other units assigned to the Pacific region," Hana­busa said.

However, the downsizing appears to be a foregone conclusion made by Army cost-cutters far removed from the care provided by Schofield and Tripler Army Medical Center.

The transition from a battalion to a company capable of treating a maximum of 220 soldiers will be carried out sometime this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, U.S. Army Pacific said in an email.

It won’t happen right away. The Army said it will be "maintaining a battalion staff to handle the expected short-term increase," adding, "Locally, we expect a surge, and (we) will be staffed to support those soldiers. Non-negotiable."

At the "appropriate time" over the next 11 months, the transition from a battalion to a company will result in an unspecified reduction in the staff of 122, officials said.

"Currently, we will maintain a battalion until we reach lower levels by natural attrition," the service said.

The Army said it would "do everything possible" to avoid transferring wounded warriors to units elsewhere.

"Regardless of the population and WTB structural organization, we will care for our men and women and provide the same level of quality service," U.S. Army Pacific said.

Warrior Transition Command, in Alexandria, Va., said the average stay for those in the program is 307 days for active-duty soldiers, 417 days for the National Guard and 412 days for Army reservists.

Matthew Herrmann, legislative director for Bordallo, questioned the logic of trying to find savings by cutting back on wounded warrior care.

"When you are starting to talk about a warrior transition unit, it concerns us because that type of care that you want to be providing at a (Warrior Transition Battalion) is something that’s really important to all of us, and it’s not really an area where you are going to find a savings," Herrmann said.

The topic of care for the wounded is sensitive, particularly as a result of deficiencies found at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which prompted the creation of the warrior transition units in 2007.

As the nation’s wars have wound down, the number of soldiers in the program has fallen from 9,500 in 2009 to more than 7,500 now, with the potential to eventually reach between 3,000 and 6,000 receiving care, the Warrior Transition Command said.

As reviews of the transition programs continue, the Schofield battalion argued that it shouldn’t be downsized.

The Oct. 18 "information paper" put out by the unit, which found its way to members of Congress, said Army forces in the Pacific would "continue to require a full Warrior Transition Battalion to support complex medical care."

The paper also notes that the Warrior Transition Command and the Army’s Mobilization Office-Force Management Program recommended keeping a battalion-size unit in Europe even though its soldier population was below 200.

Geographic isolation was one rationale given.

"These same factors apply to Hawaii," with the transition battalion serving units in Hawaii, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa, the memo says.

At Schofield, 25 percent of the cases are deployment-related. The rest involve illnesses or injuries that take time to heal. On average, 50 percent of the soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder.

O’Donnell, the soldier seriously injured in 2007 when his Humvee went into a gulch, rolled and split in half after it hit some trees, is a big believer in the Warrior Transition Battalion. He also now is its executive officer, or second in command.

"I realized that this was an environment for me to get better, and the Army took that seriously," he said.

The unit offers adaptive sports and other activities, and closely monitors medical progress.

So if a soldier has an orthopedic appointment, a neurology appointment and a pain management appointment, "we provide case managers to help you navigate the system, to help you get those appointments," O’Donnell said.

In 2012, construction was started on a new $59 million warrior-in-transition barracks and office complex at Schofield. The 120-soldier barracks is expected to be occupied in October.