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Since acting SecNav Thomas Modly said there is “no situation where you go to the media, because the media has an agenda,” I ask my Pentagon Press Corps colleagues to reply with examples of how press coverage of an issue helped protect troops or improve their quality of life. Go!
Let’s start with atrocious conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center & the need for better armored vehicles to protect troops who were regularly getting killed by roadside. Here's how then Defense Secretary Robert Gates summed up press coverage of those two issues: " (2/X)
“I gained even more of an appreciation for the important accountability role of the press early in my tenure when newspaper reports exposed two glaring bureaucratic shortcomings, in the outpatient treatment of wounded warriors at Walter Reed ... (3/X)
"... and resistance to purchasing life-saving MRAPs for troops downrange. Responding to both of these critical issues, which only came to my attention through the media, became my top priority and two of my earliest and most significant management decisions." (4/X)
Link to Gates the press conference where Gates made those comments: https://archive.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4843 (5/X)
There are so many stories about pilots being starved for oxygen in numerous military aircraft. @TaraCopp, @StephenLosey, @ValerieInsinna, @laraseligman & others have covered extensively
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/08/the-death-toll-for-rising-aviation-accidents-133-troops-killed-in-five-years/
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/02/12/breathing-easier-after-years-of-t-6-hypoxia-scares-the-air-force-thinks-it-has-the-fix/
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/07/18/clearing-the-air-f-35s-to-get-upgrade-for-oxygen-generating-system-over-hypoxia-concerns/
(6/X)
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/08/the-death-toll-for-rising-aviation-accidents-133-troops-killed-in-five-years/
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/02/12/breathing-easier-after-years-of-t-6-hypoxia-scares-the-air-force-thinks-it-has-the-fix/
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/07/18/clearing-the-air-f-35s-to-get-upgrade-for-oxygen-generating-system-over-hypoxia-concerns/
(6/X)
The was the mold infestation at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, home to thousands of American troops. After learning about the conditions from @Oriana0214's reporting, then-SecAF @HONDeborahJames moved quickly to clean up the base
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2016/02/23/al-udeid-the-good-the-bad-and-the-very-ugly/ https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2016/03/03/congress-to-air-force-more-answers-needed-on-al-udeid/
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2016/02/23/al-udeid-the-good-the-bad-and-the-very-ugly/ https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2016/03/03/congress-to-air-force-more-answers-needed-on-al-udeid/
