Army official admits Bliss Warrior soldiers were mistreated
Hundreds of Wounded Warriors, including at Fort Bliss, were reportedly harassed and abused by staff between 2009 and 2013.
It has top military officials talking. There were allegations of “disrespect, harassment and belittlement of soldiers” at a place where they should have been getting help — the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Bliss.
“Was there in fact cause for concern at the WTU at Fort Bliss?” El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) asked Col. Chris Toner, the head of the Army’s Transitional Command, last week at a congressional hearing in Washington.
Toner replied: “There were challenges at Fort Bliss, beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
According to reports, some warrior transition unit soldiers were called “slackers” and told to “man-up and move on.”
“Was it leadership, was it processes, was it procedures, a lack there of?” O’Rourke inquired.
“All of the above,” Toner responded. “We’re talking about a period of time from 2009 to 2013. We had multiple issues over that time, everything from cadre members that did not have the right approach to the soldiers and the family members to failure to implement procedures and policies that created some issues in the program down there.”
Toner added the program is now “moving in the right direction.”
More than 64,000 soldiers have received care at Warrior Transition Units since its inception in 2007. Of them, 46-percent have returned to active duty and the rest have been discharged.
“The number one objective is to get these guys the proper care and treatment that they need to return them back to the active force to be major contributors to our Army,” Fort Bliss Spokesman LTC Lee Peters said.
“For about five years, I was a very angry young man. I had some issues,” said David Nevarez, a Marine veteran from El Paso who served during Desert Storm. He said he saw first hand in the past soldiers with PTSD issues being disrespected.
“It’s kind of disappointing to see that these things are still going on some 25 years after I got out,” Nevarez said. “The Army itself needs to a better job of handling these issues and staying on top of it, because ultimately, in this area, who’s it going to affect? It’s going to affect the community.”
The defense secretary’s office said there are routine site inspections to ensure the quality of care at Wounded Warrior programs, including at Fort Bliss.
