Washington – The Army forced its surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, to retire, officials said Monday, the third high-level official to lose his job over poor outpatient treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Kiley, who headed Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004, has been a lightning rod for criticism over conditions at the Army’s premier medical facility, including during congressional hearings last week. Soldiers and their families have complained about substandard living conditions and bureaucratic delays at the hospital overwhelmed with wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kiley submitted his retirement request Sunday, the Army said in a statement.
“We must move quickly to fill this position – this leader will have a key role in moving the way forward in meeting the needs of our wounded warriors,” Acting Secretary of the Army Pete Geren said.
Geren asked Kiley to retire, said a senior defense official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was not involved in the decision to ask Kiley to retire, the official said.
“I submitted my retirement because I think it is in the best interest of the Army,” Kiley said in Monday’s Army statement. He said he wanted to allow officials to “focus completely on the way ahead.”
Amid the focus on Walter Reed, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson on Monday ordered his department’s clinics to provide details about their physical condition by next week to determine if squalid conditions found at Walter Reed exist elsewhere.
Nicholson has been under pressure to reduce claims backlogs and improve coordination at the VA’s vast network of 1,400 hospitals and clinics, which provide supplemental care and rehabilitation to 5.8 million veterans.
The conditions at Walter Reed were detailed last month by The Washington Post.
Since then, Gates has forced Army Secretary Francis Harvey to resign, and Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was in charge of Walter Reed since August 2006, was ousted from his post.
A number of investigations have been ordered.
President Bush appointed a bipartisan commission to investigate problems at the nation’s military and veteran hospitals, and separate reviews are underway by the Pentagon, the Army and an interagency task force led by Nicholson.
