Bragg leaders address concerns about warrior transition complex

Nearly 500 soldiers are in the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Bragg. Some live in their own homes, some with family and some will soon live in an $88 million, 250,000-square-foot complex with rooms for 260 soldiers.

The Warrior Transition Battalion was created in 2007 in response to the scandal over shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Fort Bragg's unit is among more than 30 across the Army.

The battalion helps soldiers, many of whom were wounded in combat, navigate the medical system and monitors their progress and treatment.

In an informal meeting a few weeks ago, some soldiers complained of being over-medicated and said that doctors were telling them they were faking symptoms.

The charges were enough to prompt a top-down evaluation of the unit from Fort Bragg's inspector general. The results are due April 1.

“The perspective someone is sharing, it’s 100 percent accurate from their perspective, so we’re not going to critique what their perspective is. But we are taking every one of them very seriously,” said Col. Brian Canfield.

Fort Bragg's chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Michael Garrett, said initial findings from the inspection showed no "red flags" in medical procedures. His eyes moistened as he talked about soldiers struggling to heal.

“It’s not the fact that the Army’s not taking care of them. It’s the fact that something they love doing is being taken away from them,” Garrett said. “And our challenge is we want to do everything we can for them.”