A high-ranking general said Monday that the Army wanted to learn more about shortcomings at its Warrior Transition Units, which treat soldiers with physical injuries and severe psychological trauma and have come under criticism from service members and their families.
On a visit to a unit at Fort Carson, Colo., Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, said that most soldiers in the units had had positive experiences, but that problems would be examined.
The general’s remarks came in response to a New York Times article published last month in which more than a dozen soldiers and health care professionals at Fort Carson described a raft of serious problems in the unit.
“This is definitely uncharted ground,” General Chiarelli said at a news conference. “And W.T.U.’s are really, really new units, and we learn every day. I think you all know the article that was in The Times pointed to some things we want to make sure we are looking at not only here in this W.T.U., but all our W.T.U.’s.”
Soldiers interviewed by The Times described waiting for months to be medically processed out of the Army. Others told of being treated with prescription drugs in lieu of therapy, and described drug addiction in the unit, including heroin abuse. Some said noncommissioned officers dealt with troubled soldiers too harshly.
Army officials have since defended the Warrior Transition program, pointing out that more than 80 percent of soldiers who pass through the units have reported being satisfied with their care. That number is even higher at Fort Carson, Army officials noted, and some soldiers at Monday’s news conference spoke positively about their experience there.
“We are going to try our darnedest to get better than that, but I don’t think we’ll ever get up to 100 percent because of the complexity of the cases we are talking about here,” General Chiarelli said, adding that similar articles could have been written about other transition units around the country.
Over the past week, the Army has moved swiftly to address assertions that transition units — particularly at Fort Carson— have troubles. Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, head of the Warrior Transition Command, traveled to Fort Carson last week to meet with soldiers, family members and staff members from the unit and returned to the post on Monday.
In particular, Army officials said they were taking a closer look at how to speed the process by which soldiers can leave the transition units and enter the Veterans Affairs health care system, as well as how prescription medication is managed.
Colorado’s senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, both Democrats, have also traveled to Fort Carson recently. Mr. Bennet was there last week, and Mr. Udall joined General Chiarelli on Monday.
Mr. Udall said he planned to ask the Army’s inspector general, who is compiling a report on the Warrior Transition program, to take a fresh look at Fort Carson’s unit and determine whether prescription medicine was given too readily to soldiers.
