yourviews
MILITARY
TRICARE So Far Away
The results of the survey on fi nd-
OFFICER
“There are
more prob-
ing a doctor who accepts TRICARE
OCTOBER 2007 $4.50 THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF MOAA | ONE POWERFUL VOICE
[“Washington Scene,” September ®
WWW.MOAA.ORG
lems that
2007] were informative but missed
are so easy one vital question: “How far must
‘‘
Simply put,
to fix, and it
you travel to visit a primary care doc-
the nation
tor who accepts TRICARE?”
cannot leave
doesn’t take
its most
Sure, there’s no problem fi nding
severely
five appoint-
a [provider] who accepts TRICARE
wounded
ed commis-
— the TRICARE South offi ce handed
sions.”
me a whole list of them. The annoy-
heroes
—Col. Robert S. Terrill,
ing part is that instead of driving
behind to become USAF-Ret.
fi ve minutes into town, [my chosen
charity cases
’’
. provider] is a 35-minute drive to the
other side of the county! This might
provide an entirely new angle from
MOAA advocates 6 priorities
for America’s wounded warriors
haven’t had a transporter which the issue could be addressed.
46
or wheelchair, because … —Lt. Col. J. Trippon, USA-Ret.
someone stole the old de- via e-mail
crepit one. The one electric
cart is seldom workable No Sympathy for Guard
Oct_cover.indd
Support Disabled V
1
ets
9/6/07 6:57:15 PM
and has a metal front shopping basket Amanda Griffi ths questions a previ-
I read with great interest your edito- so large a handicapped driver cannot ous article dealing with [guardmem-
rial, “Clearing The Fog” [October get down the shopping lanes. This bers] saying “after these lengthened
2007]. The problem is everyone same problem [exists throughout] the deployments ... the way the Army has
jumped on the Walter Reed problem entire PX and commissary system. ... treated them is absolutely preposter-
— and they should get upset. How- While the commissaries are better ous” [“Your Views,” October 2007].
ever, there are more problems that than [civilian] facilities, they should The military has always had these
are so easy to fi x, and it doesn’t take do better for the veterans and wives different components and they have
fi ve appointed commissions. of all the confl icts. ... The manage- served the country well, especially
As the World War II and Korean ment of the PXs and commissaries now [when] it seems politically ex-
War retired military group grow older should reexamine the retired veteran pedient to call up the Guard and
and [later cohorts become disabled], handicapped situation related to all Reserves for extended deployments,
they and their wives need help being their facilities. Why should a premier rather then going to a draft and a
mobile. When you go into many of base like Fort Myer be in such a situ- “war-time footing.”
the post exchanges and commissaries, ation, and the same problem exist in Griffi ths questions “the way the
where veterans and their wives, who some Air Force and Marine and Navy families get treated,” telling [read-
also served lonesome tours, congre- retail stores? ers] she could “go on for days” about
gate, a very serious problem exists for I will say that some individual this — clearly [implying] poor treat-
many handicapped military retirees. facilities are better than others, but ment. [Griffi ths continues,] “I am so
At the PX or commissary entrances, PXs and commissaries all need an tired of seeing Guard soldiers and
there is a lack of suffi cient wheel- overall [standard] when it comes to their families treated like the red-
chairs and mobile electric carts, or making mobility for veterans and headed stepchildren of the Army,”
they are broken, or not charged regu- their spouses attainable. ... A stan- and then she tells us, “DOD does not
larly — or don’t exist. dard policy [by DoD] is in order. take the National Guard seriously,”
An example in the Pentagon’s back- —Col. Robert S. Terrill, USAF-Ret. suggesting that “maybe it’s time to
yard is the Fort Myer PX, where they via e-mail take power away from the president
14 MILITARY OFFICER DECEMBER 2007
ddec_yourviews.indd
14ec_yourviews.indd 14 111/6/07 7:17:33 PM1/6/07 7:17:33 PM
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