JANUARY 3 IS ONE WEEK AWAY
by Sharon Rondeau
(Dec. 27, 2016) — On Tuesday the power of attorney for a U.S. Army soldier confined to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) told The Post & Email that the soldier has not yet been relocated closer to home and family as was discussed in a telephone conference among family members, Col. Matthew Boyle, and the soldier earlier this month.
Just before the call began, this writer was invited to listen in, which we did, publishing a report on December 18 reflecting the plan articulated by Boyle. In consultation with the soldier, Boyle proposed moving him to a Veterans Administration (VA) hospital in his home state while he remains on active duty, then discharging him on January 3 to veteran status.
The soldier was allegedly voluntarily admitted to Walter Reed on September 29 without warning, about which the POA has doubt.
She reported that a relative had “made arrangements to go visit the soldier but was advised not to come as they were relocating him,” but “that didn’t happen.” “So he ended up spending the holidays at Walter Reed without family,” she said.
In 2012, the soldier was stationed in South Korea, where he reported significant misconduct on the part of a number of officers, their wives, his own wife, and the unit chaplain.
He was reportedly then assigned to undesirable posts and ultimately reassigned to Ft. Lee, VA, where he was termed “delusional” and placed in the “Med Board” process, which normally leads to discharge for medical unfitness.
On April 29, 2013, the soldier suffered a traumatic brain injury after alleging he was sexually assaulted, abused in other ways, and thrown into moving traffic, where he hit his head on a car windshield. Eyewitnesses have made inconsistent statements to those issued by the Petersburg, VA Bureau of Police and the ambulance company which provided transport to the nearest hospital.
Initially, his family was told that his injuries were life-threatening. After several weeks, he was transferred to Walter Reed based on his active-duty status and placed under the care of Dr. David Williamson.
Over the next three years, the family and Williamson often clashed over the soldier’s care and the medical team’s failure to note the alleged sexual assault in his medical records. The POA filed numerous complaints naming Williamson and others as malfeasant and possibly criminal in their care and treatment of the soldier which to date have been either minimally addressed or remain unaddressed.
Williamson has reportedly left Walter Reed, although the facility’s spokeswoman will not confirm or deny whether or not an individual is employed there.
The POA has received death threats and experienced other types of intimidation which include phone harassment, the breaching of email accounts and laptop computers, and stalking outside of her home for months. Another family member has reported criminal breaching and destruction of thousands of dollars’-worth of telephone and computer equipment.
The POA has noted that Walter Reed has been unwilling to document telephone meetings regarding the soldier’s care and discharge plan.
Other issues remain open with Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU), which said it investigated the soldier’s claim that his identity was stolen the day of the assault and his account breached, with two signature loans having been taken in his name which are being repaid out of his funds as he attempts to recover from his nearly-four-year ordeal.