Allan Mallinson, whose essay on military morale I highlighted in my previous post, makes a point that’s worth highlighting separately. He argues the UK’s care for wounded soldiers has been a “national scandal.” What he says next is surprising, indeed, after the Walter Reed fiasco:
But we should first look to America, the country that does more than any other for its Servicemen, wounded or not. Its network of veterans’ hospitals, for example, is humbling. Despite this, in April President Bush established a commission on the Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors.
Whether this is empirically true, I couldn’t say. Certainly, the quality of military health care system is the object of much bitterness and ridicule within the ranks. My guess is that a man who served 35 years as a British cavalry officer would have a pretty good idea, though, of the consensus view of those who would know best.
