The top Pentagon health affairs official, William Winkenwerder, believes the Defense Department’s new plan to merge—where it can—elements of the military health care system will make a good system better. He told American Forces Press Service: “Our system does work well now; we have great outcomes in battlefield medicine and in the care of our wounded—the best in history. … “We have a clear set of ideas that things can work even better.” The Pentagon plans to create a transition team to work toward “major changes in governance” by 2009.
The Pentagon’s new Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military has 90 days to find ways to combat the problem within the ranks, and the group will consider all options to address an issue that has “shattered the dreams” of many service members who joined with optimism about…