Mark Benjamin's Veterans Reporting

  • The Pentagon's chronic neglect of Iraq vets

    Military officials knew long ago about the failure to take care of America's war wounded at the beleaguered Walter Reed hospital.
    By Mark Benjamin April 25, 2007

  • Kerry slams Bush pick for VA post

    Nominee knew of problems at Walter Reed in 2004.
    By Mark Benjamin April 13, 2007

  • New Walter Reed questions

    Democratic senators ask why the government failed to respond to 2004 warning about hospital conditions.
    By Mark Benjamin April 13, 2007

  • Why'd you nominate this guy?

    Responding to a Salon report, Sen. Barack Obama sends a letter to President Bush questioning his choice for a key VA job, saying the nominee knew of problems at Walter Reed.
    April 12, 2007

  • VA report found Walter Reed problems in 2004

    A task force learned nearly three years ago that wounded vets were unhappy with the hospital. So why does Bush want to promote the task force co-chair?
    By Mark Benjamin April 11, 2007

  • The Walter Reed focus group report

    Read the full report on what soldiers were telling the Bush administration about conditions at Walter Reed -- in 2004.
    April 11, 2007

  • Injured troops shipped back into battle

    Salon has uncovered further evidence that the military sent soldiers with acute post-traumatic stress disorder, severe back injuries and other serious war wounds back to Iraq.
    By Mark Benjamin April 9, 2007

  • Army deployed seriously injured troops

    Soldiers on crutches and canes were sent to a main desert camp used for Iraq training. Military experts say the Army was pumping up manpower statistics to show a brigade was battle ready.
    By Mark Benjamin March 26, 2007

  • Army pledges to investigate injured troop charge

    In a defense appropriations hearing, Sen. Patty Murray demanded that military leaders respond to Salon's article about medical reclassification of injured soldiers as fit for combat.
    By Mark Benjamin March 15, 2007

  • The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq

    At Fort Benning, soldiers who were classified as medically unfit to fight are now being sent to war. Is this an isolated incident or a trend?
    By Mark Benjamin March 11, 2007

  • Walter Reed, on the cheap

    The Pentagon's top civilian official in charge of military healthcare wanted more money for bullets and bombs, and fewer benefits for soldiers.
    By Mark Benjamin March 6, 2007

  • Gen. Kiley knew about vets' outpatient scandal

    Veterans groups told the Army surgeon general about the shockingly bad mental health treatment at Walter Reed two months before the latest expose, but there's no evidence he followed up.
    By Mark Benjamin February 27, 2007

  • The long-term wounds of Walter Reed

    Despite military officials' "surprise" at recent coverage, Salon exposed inadequate care and an overwhelmed system unfriendly to vets beginning two years ago.
    By Mark Benjamin February 23, 2007

  • Losing their minds

    More U.S. soldiers than ever are sustaining serious brain injuries in Iraq. But a significant number of them are being misdiagnosed, forced to wait for treatment or even being called liars by the Army.
    By Mark Benjamin January 5, 2006

  • Incalculable pain

    The Pentagon is underreporting the number of American soldier casualties in Iraq, say House Democrats.
    By Mark Benjamin December 10, 2005

  • Protecting America's wounded

    Democratic senators have stepped up to defend benefits for soldiers traumatized by combat.
    By Mark Benjamin September 24, 2005

  • Sticker shock over shell shock

    The U.S. government is reviewing 72,000 cases in which veterans have been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, claiming that misdiagnosis and fraud have inflated the numbers. Outraged vets say the plan is a callous attempt to cut the costs of an increasingly expensive war.
    By Mark Benjamin August 9, 2005

  • Military injustice

    Iraq vet Jullian Goodrum blasted his superiors for misdeeds that he says cost a soldier his life. His reward: The Army he once loved refused to treat his psychological wounds, then charged him with desertion.
    By Mark Benjamin June 7, 2005

  • Dinner is served

    A new Senate bill requires veterans hospitals to stop charging wounded soldiers for meals.
    By Mark Benjamin May 13, 2005

  • The invisible wounded

    Injured soldiers evacuated to the U.S. never arrive in the light of day -- and the Pentagon has yet to offer a satisfactory explanation why.
    By Mark Benjamin March 8, 2005

  • "Insult to Injury" update

    By Mark Benjamin February 22, 2005

  • Behind the walls of Ward 54

    They're overmedicated, forced to talk about their mothers instead of Iraq, and have to fight for disability pay. Traumatized combat vets say the Army is failing them, and after a year following more than a dozen soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, I believe them.
    By Mark Benjamin February 18, 2005

  • Insult to injury

    Some wounded soldiers back from Iraq are having to pay for meals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Veterans' groups say it's another symptom of fighting a costly war on the cheap.
    By Mark Benjamin January 27, 2005

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